Alcoholism and the Effects on Family Essay

Does alcoholism really affect a family’s household? In the book, The Glass Castle, by Jeannette Walls, the father named Rex Walls, is an alcoholic. While i was reading the book, i got interested in the fact that he’s an alcoholic, because not many people know how much, or if alcoholism affects the families household; but the 3 most common factors of alcoholism, are stress, financial burden, and emotional hostage.

What is alcoholism and how does it severely affect people? It is a chronic condition characterized by uncontrolled drinking and preoccupation with alcohol. In The Glass Castle, Jeannette’s father Rex, is an alcoholic. We assume he enjoys drinking when on page nine, Jeannette recalls her father smelling of whiskey. “As he held me close, I breathed in his familiar smell of Vitalis, whiskey, and cigarette smoke. It reminded me of home.” While it is concerning that young Jeannette knows what whiskey smells like, it is not concerning enough until page fourteen, paragraph six. “In my mind, Dad was perfect, although he did have what Mom called a little bit of a drinking situation. There was what Mom

He also told stories to match. Whether he was telling the children stories about how a, “…demon was terrorizing an entire town, and [he] fought it off in hand-to-hand combat” (Walls 37) or about the time, “…when he was in the air force and his plane’s engine conked out, he made an emergency landing in a cattle pasture and saved himself and his crew” (Walls 240, Rex was always telling stories to entertain his children. Rex also was not a very strict rule follower…at all. On one such occasion, Rex let his children pet a dangerous tiger in a zoo, despite protests coming from on-lookers and zoo workers (Walls 108-109). His reckless behavior often had consequences and even, at times, put his children and family in danger. Rex’s drinking problem also consumed a lot of his time. Disappearing at odd hours and stating out until even later was something that he often did. He acted strangely in this aspect because he hardly ever came home at a regular time of day. One time when he was drinking in a bar, he even let Walls go upstairs with a random, older man (212-213), not even checking on her. He often times had a lapse of judgement when he drank and that is a serious issue for adequate

Alcoholism does not only affect a person’s physical, mental, and emotional state, but it also changes the lives of people close to the drinker forever. It ruins relationships and trust that took years to build up, and may never be able to be restored. In Jeannette Walls’s memoir, The Glass Castle, she tells the story of her childhood in which her father was an alcoholic. Jeannette’s father, Rex Walls, was brilliant and charismatic when he was sober, but when he drank, he was destructive and dishonest.

The journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research found a link between abuse and alcoholism. They found the more severe the abuse, the more severe the drinking. Neglect and abuse were the top traumatic experiences that leads to alcoholism. Even though the book only hints that he was sexually abused, this study shows the potential reason behind Rex’s heavy drinking. According to Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research there are two important reasons for this studies. “First, it supports the notion that genetics alone are not sufficient to account for a person’s vulnerability to addiction. Second, the results point a direction for areas that need to be explored in treatment.” In The Glass Castle, three out of the four kids did not drink like Rex. Moreover, if alcoholism was genetic they all would be alcoholics. Fortunately, as far as we know, their life’s turn completely around for the better.

I was very one sided as I walked into a AA meeting. I thought that the meeting where boring and little bit too much for people who wont to stop drinking. I couldn’t understand why people look forward to these meeting when they can simply talk to someone at home. Nevertheless, I was wrong. Hearing these people story who suffer from alcohol addiction was very heart breaking. I remember one story about this man losing his son to car accident. The only way he dealt with the pain of losing his son was to drink. He stated ever night he drunk him self-asleep. He was so adamant about telling his story because if it wasn’t for the hospital staff he would have lost his life. Alcoholism is an addiction to the consumption of alcoholic liquor or the mental illness and compulsive behavior resulting from alcohol dependency. alcohol is the main common substance abuse in the united states. The reported show over 16.3 million adults over 18 years older had a least try alcohol in the life time. 71 percent reported that they drank in the past year. 4.7 percent of people ages 18 or older reported that they engaged in binge drinking in the past month. 6.7 percent reported that they engaged in heavy drinking in the past month. 50 percent of marriage fell due to the spouse drinking uncontrollably (Burke, 2015)

Alcoholism is defined as an addiction to the indulgence of alcoholic liquor and the compelling behaviour which results from alcohol dependency. In the novel “Medicine Walk” by Richard Wagamese and the essay “Mother’s Milk” by Christie Blatchford, the reasoning behind and dire repercussions of alcohol abuse are evident through the characters Eldon Starlight and Christie’s mother. However, Eldon’s reason for alcoholism is much more traumatic and its effect on both himself and those around him is of greater severity as opposed to Christie’s mother. As a teenager Christie’s mother suffers from social nervousness and uses alcohol as a means of reducing her anxiety, whereas Eldon begins drinking after he was forced to leave his home as his mother chose her abusive husband over him. After Christie was born her mother began drinking at a higher degree while Eldon’s alcoholism heightens after he must kill his only friend to ensure his own survival. Occasionally Christie’s mother would quit alcohol for around a month’s time and her health would improve, contrastingly Eldon’s attempt to abstain from alcohol lasts only a couple of days and results in the deterioration of his health. Despite her alcoholism Christie’s mother lives past the age of 80 and even outlives her husband by 15 years, on the other hand due to his alcohol abuse Eldon suffers from liver failure which results in his early death. Her mother’s

Jeannette Wall’s memoir, The Glass Castle, displays Jeannette’s life growing up as a child living in an impoverished family. It is surprising to see that Jeannette is truly loving and caring towards her family despite how completely irresponsible and negligent both her parents were. Rose-Mary and Rex Walls are unfit parents to their children.

Rex Walls, the father of the family had the abuse of alcohol is the major resource of the family’s suffering. It seems that alcoholism is an individual behavior, however, many family and social issues caused by it make it rather to be a social problem. Such as domestic violence, suicide, murder, drinking driving, sex assault, unemployment, child neglect, poverty and many other mental health problems are all the result of alcoholism. In the book, Rex Walls is a typical victim of alcoholism. He cannot take a

Visible symptoms of borderline sociopath include; physical aggression, the inability to sustain relationships and shows a lack of regret in his or her actions. Sometimes I truly hate myself for what I have done to my children and family and it is a constant struggle to stay focused on my recovery.

The Glass Castle What happens to a kid when they are young, can affect how successful they will become in the future. A parent helps to teach their kid what they should work for so they will be able to support themselves when they grow up, but this doesn’t always happen. In the memoir The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, Rex and Rosemary Walls used poor parenting skills when raising their children. They didn’t keep their children safe from many of the amiss things that happened in the book, that could have been easily prevented.

The addiction to alcohol emulates the Biopsychosocial-spiritual model. According to the text, the “biology of chemical use relates to the formidable hereditary components in the etiology of this illness and the physical problems that may arise with extended use.” (Wormer & Davis, 2018 p.12). Nick’s father an alcoholic and could explain the heredity and learned behavior portion of this model. Psychological concepts are present in Nick’s life such as the

Alcohol has the most affect on the family. Many alcoholics do not believe this because they think what they do has no affect on their family and friends. But often times the

Alcoholism not only affects the individual who drinks, but it also affects members of the their families (McGoldrick et al., 2016). It goes beyond the nuclear family, meaning not just the mother and father, it can affect generations after generations. Each family member takes on a different role and conflict arises out of resentment along with other feelings that are present in this situation. Some sociocultural factors such as gender, race, ethnicity, age, and socioeconomic status can shape the onset and progression of alcoholism (McGoldrick et al., 2016). There are factors that are present within an unhealthy family that will bring on the development of alcoholism, for example, when you have adolescents in the home, when they are dealing

The purpose of this investigation it to learn more about alcoholism, and to explore the reasons of why an alcoholic decided to stop or continuing drinking. Alcoholism is an addiction to consumption of alcoholic liquor. In other terms alcoholism id drinking alcohol in excess frequently. Per BMC Systems Biology, almost 14% of alcohol consumers in the United States meet the criteria for alcohol dependence at some point in their life (BMC Systems Bio.). There are people that decide to drink, and some of them decide to stop drinking because they have fond reasons to stop. People decide to continue drinking even if they have pass for a lot of bad things that could change their life. On my ethnography, I will be able to reach some information about the alcoholism. On this paper, I will have two persons that will tell me their experiences with alcoholic. One of this person was an alcoholic but he stops