All too often the drinker believes their habits are only effecting them and do not notice how their excessive drinking, alcoholism, or addiction to alcohol impacts the people that love them most. Today, we at Meehab Addiction Recovery would like to take the opportunity to share just how drinking alcohol affects the family.
How Does Alcohol Abuse Affect the Family Structure?
Parent’s misuse of alcohol affecting their children: The parent’s impact on the rest of the family has a marked effect. When they are down in a bog, they often bring everyone else down with them. More often than not the parent is often able to get grounded and then the rest of the family follows suit, but it starts with tackling and rectifying the alcohol problem. Many times the children are forced to adopt the role of the parent and as a result their own needs are neglected.
Effects on spouses and significant others: When one partner has a drinking problem, the other that is relatively sober can have difficulty living under the conditions. The drinker is frequently wrestling with conflict as they are torn between needing that drink and not wanting the negative impacts that cause harm. They also have a tendency to blame their partner for anything that goes wrong and that can take a heavy toll. The sober spouse will also start to doubt themselves in a number of ways that include being a good partner. Their concern towards any children becomes prominent and the worry of keeping the issue from family, friends, and neighbors keeps them shut in. More often than not the partner feels hurt, fearful, and ashamed with the overwhelming sense of failure. In an effort to conceal their loved one’s drinking problems, they take on more responsibilities and do everything they can to hide the problem. Not only does the drinker need counseling and support, but the sober partner should make time for themselves and seek support and counseling from an outside source.
Child’s drinking effect on their parents: Parents and the rest of the family will commonly fall apart when their child has become dependent on alcohol. The two parents will often blame the other for the child’s shortcomings as well as bump heads when trying to get a handle on the issue. Siblings get dragged in and are pointed the blame because of the example they showed. The child with the addiction gets so much attention that the others get neglected. In an effort to resolve the problem, fighting and resentment become regular companions in the household and the family starts to fall apart.
Help to Stop Alcohol Addiction
Not only does drinking impact the family members around you, but it can affect careers and school as well as outside relationships with friends and co-workers as well as any potential relationships with a partner for the single drinker. Having an alcohol addiction does not suggest weakness, but it is truly a disease and with the help of the professionals of Meehab Addiction Recovery, we can get you or your loved one back on track. If you are looking for guidance, support, and counseling during your road to sobriety, let Meehab Addiction Recovery assist. We invite you to download our helpful app for free today. To learn more, click here. To download for free on android, click here. To download for free on iphone, click here.
