Alcoholism in family systems
Mental health professionals are increasingly considering alcoholism and addiction as diseases that flourish in and are enabled by family systems.
"The chances of recovery are greatly reduced unless the co-dependents are willing to accept their role in the addictive process and submit to treatment themselves.
[9][10] According to the American Psychiatric Association, physicians stated three criteria to diagnose this disease: Adults from alcoholic families experience higher levels of state and trait anxiety and lower levels of differentiation of self than adults raised in non-alcoholic families.
In pregnant women, alcohol is carried to all of the mother's organs and tissues, including the placenta, where it easily crosses through the membrane separating the maternal and fetal blood systems.
[11] FAS is known to produce children with damage to the central nervous system (general growth and facial features).
The levels of dysfunction and resiliency of non-alcoholic adults are important factors in effects on children in the family.
[4] For example, a parent might pay for expenses and take over responsibilities (i.e. car payments, the raising of a grandchild, provide room and board, etc.
A spouse or significant other may overcompensate by providing all the care to the children, being the sole financial contributor to the household, covering up or hiding the addiction from others, etc.
"[4] Other children "trivialize things by minimizing all serious issues as an avoidance strategy [and] are well-liked and easy to befriend but are usually superficial in all relationships, including those with their own family members.
[4] However, alcoholic family roles have not withstood the standards that psychological theories of personality are typically subjected to.
The evidence for alcoholic family roles theory provides limited or no construct validity or clinical utility.
Impaired parental monitoring and negative affect correlate with COAs associating with peers that support drug use.
Alcoholism affected approximately 4.65 percent of the U.S. population in 2001–2002, producing severe economic, social, and medical ramifications.
Substance abuse is one of the two largest problems affecting families in the United States, being a factor in nearly four-fifths of reported cases.
Some of these symptoms include crying, lack of friends, fear of going to school, nightmares, perfectionism, hoarding, and excessive self-consciousness.
[34][35] COAs are also shown to have difficulty with abstraction and conceptual reasoning, both of which play an important role in problem-solving academically and otherwise.
Although not necessarily universal or comprehensive, these traits constitute an adult children of alcoholics syndrome (cf.
Suggested practices to mitigate the impact of parental alcoholism on the development of their children include:[38] Professor and psychiatrist Dieter J. Meyerhoff states that the negative effects of alcohol on the body and on health are undeniable, but individuals should not forget the most important unit in society affected, family and children.
If a good starting point is given, it is less likely that when a child becomes an adult, has a mental disorder, or is addicted to drugs or alcohol.
[40] According to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP), children are in a unique position when their parents abuse alcohol.
Dependence on alcohol creates large amounts of harm to childhood and adolescent psychology in a family environment.
Paternal alcoholism, and general parental verbal and/or physical abuse can cause the fears of children and the internalization of symptoms, with a greater likelihood of child aggression and emotional misconduct.
[41] Research on alcoholism within families has leaned towards exploring issues that are wrong in the community rather than potential strengths or positives.
In failing to use non-COAs as controls, an opportunity is missed to see if the negative aspects of a person are related to having an alcoholic parent, or if they are simply a fact of life.
In a study conducted in a Midwestern university, researchers found that there was no significant difference between ACOA and non-ACOA students.
[48] Counselors serving ACOAs need to be careful to not assume that the client's presenting problems are due solely to the parent's alcoholism.
[45] Many factors can affect marital and/or parenting difficulties, but there has not been any evidence found that can link these issues specifically to ACOAs.
[47] Counselors serving ACOAs can also help by working on building coping mechanisms such as creating meaningful relationships with other non-alcoholic family members.
Cognitive performance in infants and children is not as impacted by mothers who stopped alcohol consumption early in pregnancy, even if it was resumed after giving birth.
[49] An analysis of six-year-olds with alcohol exposure during the second trimester of pregnancy showed lower academic performance and problems with reading, spelling, and mathematical skills.
