Drug Addiction : Tearing Families Apart

Growing up in the household under substances influence can cause severe damage to the child. Parental substance abuse has a significant impact on family function, and it may also contribute to child maltreatment. It heightens the risks to both of the physical and emotional safety of the children, and it generates children’s problematic outcomes. Children who grow up in such families may also experience mental health issues, social isolation, financial difficulties, and exposure to stressful life events and so on.

Drug and chemical abuse affect many families and that particular family that lives through a loved one who is an addict and the priority is to get help for the individual. In any intervention that involves drug addicts, a family's disposition is very important. Full recovery of any drug addict involves the restoration of the person's life as well as ensuring that those who are around the addict have the best ability when it comes to helping with abstinence which is a long-term goal. Abusers are often in denial or even believe that they are totally in control of their use of drugs

Substance abuse is an issue that continues to grow in America at an alarming rate. Families are an important factor for the onset of substance abuse as well as the sustainment of the addiction (Gruber & Taylor, 2006). The National Institute of Drug Abuse defines substance abuse as “A chronic disease characterized by drug seeking and use that is compulsive, or difficult to control, despite harmful consequences” (“Understanding Drug Use and Addiction,” 2016). In order to prevent relapse, success is found in the formation of familial and social relationships (Baharudin et al., 2014). Substance abuse is a major stressor in the family system and it not only impacts the family’s relationships with those outside of the family but

Substance abuse, the abuse of drugs or alcohol, is known to have a lasting impact on members of the abuser’s family (Crosson-Tower, 2013). Ultimately there are two ways in which a family can experience the detrimental effects of substance abuse within the family system itself, and those ways are through either substance abuse on the parent’s behalf or substance abuse by the adolescents or children in the family unit (Crosson-Tower, 2013). Substance abuse can have many negative impacts on a family unit; the negative impacts are known to be emotionally, physically, and mentally damaging (Gruber & Taylor, 2006).

Although all sorts of families can be devastated by addiction, but single parent units (the most common lower class structure) are the most obscured. Behavioral Health of the Palm Beaches supports, “In every family unit, each person plays a role (or multiple roles) to help the family function better and to maintain a level of homeostasis, stability and balance. When substance abuse is added to this dynamic, the family roles naturally shift to adjust to the new behaviors associated with drug or alcohol use, and to continue maintaining order and balance.”4 In single parent units there is an inability of a second parent to fill the void role of the addicted parent. The National Center for Biotechnology Information states, “Frequently, children may act as surrogate spouses for the parent who abuses substances. For example, [young] children may develop elaborate systems of denial to protect themselves against that reality of the parent’s addiction. Because that option does not exist in a single‐parent household with a parent who abuses substances, children are likely to behave in a manner that is not age‐appropriate to compensate for the parental deficiency.”2 So a child growing up in a compromised family unit where addiction is present may develop altered norms and mature into an addict themselves.4

Annotated Bibliography Thesis: In the American society today, many families today and individuals are affected by the constant abuse of drugs and alcohol. Both alcohol and drug abuse victimize children and teens of all ages, ruin lives and damage families. Crimando, William, and T. F. Riggar.

A person, especially a parent, who is dependent on alcohol or drugs destroys a family because family members not only see how miserable the addicted really are, but they also witness, firsthand, the way substance abuse can deteriorate a person’s physical and mental body, as well as the fact that family members notice the money that is spent on the abused substances, which sometimes leaves families living in poverty for no reason other than the simple fact the addict has to have their fix. Addicts are the destroyers of happiness, self-worth, and any amount of money.

The Psychodynamic View suggests that those with substance abuse problems have strong dependency issues that can be traced to their early years. They also directly suggest that when parents fail to provide nurturance, love, and stability, which this can urge the child to find other means to provide these items as they grow. Drugs can provide a means for comfort, even if only temporary and they can provide a source of constant companionship in the mind of a substance abuser. In the case of this book, he describes drugs as being his way to stop thinking about his mother and father, and even though he did not like the anxiety and constant need for them, they were his "companion" and never let him down.

In reading chapters four and five of the textbook “Substance Abuse and the Family” I found a couple of things that caught my interest. In chapter four, the middle phrase of an alcoholic family is discussed on page 58, regulatory behaviors of the family enabling whatever use of alcohol is occurring hiding and maintaining for others not to see the alcoholism. The children are usually pressured not to talk about the situation at school, work, etc. I have seen parents threaten their children if they were to tell, saying things like “ if you tell they will take us away from you forever and it will be your fault” or “ if you tell punishment will be sure to follow”. Therefore, the family must endure the negative impacts of an alcoholic parent falling

Along with illegal behavior often a substance abuser will find themselves as homeless, spending their paychecks on their habits of using substances (Tracy, 2005). Children of abusers are affected by both possessing negative role models that set the example that drug use is not wrong and sometimes the children are placed into the care of the community because of neglect and abuse by the substance user (National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Division of Adolescent and School Health [CDC], 2009). Other medical, social, and economic issues also are being experienced from substance abuse and use.

Parental attachment, defined as a persevering emotional bond and involved interaction between parent and child, has not been critically studied with respect to the development of substance use disorders (SUDs) (Zhai, Kirisci, Tarter, & Ridenour, 2014). One probable reason for this is the consideration that attachment is generally established by two years of age and the manifestation of SUDs often appears nearly two decades later (Zhai et al., 2014). Therefore, long-term documentation is necessary to track the influence of parent-child bonding on SUDs and SUD etiology (Lander, Howsare, & Byrne, 2013). Additionally, there are several factors occurring during the developmental period, which have an impact on

It was a calamitous knock, a knock that brought with it the worst of news that commenced a series of devastating events to follow for years to come. This knock arrived at our door at 5:00 a.m. one morning and it was my brother, Andrew. He refused to reveal the contents of his night, but in his insensible stupor he incessantly demanded for our help in finding his lost car, keys, phone, and wallet. After hours of much endeavor from each family member, Andrew’s car was discovered in a ditch with a blown out tire, his keys in another city miles away from the crash scene, and his wallet and phone were never recovered. My brother’s desperate knock and our cautious opening of the door revealed that Andrew’s misfortunes of that night had derived from the abuse of methamphetamine. This event remains in my mind as the initial incident that began our continuous familial struggle over the past five years.

Drugs and alcohol have been used for medical and recreational purposes throughout history. With advancement of technology it has become easier and easier to access these substances. It is not only illegal drugs but prescription drugs that are being misused and wreaking havoc across the world. Even with billions of dollars being paid out to stop the war on drugs, the problem persists. People from all walks of life have been affected by drugs or are becoming drug addicts themselves. One particular group afflicted by the misuse of these substances is the children of drug addicted parents. According to Cattapan and Grimwade, “Drug use seen in one generation affects the lives of the next”. Children with one or both parents on drugs face huge

Drug addiction is a serious issue in not only America today, but globally. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, substance addiction is a “chronic, relapsing brain disease that is characterized by compulsive drug seeking and use, despite the harmful consequences” (“What is drug addiction?”). Drug abuse affects not only the user, but those around the user as well. The actions of a drug user place a significant amount of worry on the people that are closest to them such as friends and family. Children with parents who are addicted to drugs or alcohol can be severely affected by the actions of their parents which can cause them much harm in terms of biological and

Parental substance abuse directly affects the emotional well-being of children within the family. It is estimated that one in four children in the United States are exposed to a family member’s alcohol abuse or dependence, and one in six children lives with a parent who has used illicit drugs in the past year (Journal of Child and Family Social Work). Children exposed to parental substance abuse are at an increased risk for various problems such as, emotional and behavioral disorders, poor developmental outcomes, physical abuse, sexual abuse, and neglect (Child Welfare League of America, 2001). Mental health professionals recognize two additional problems, which include emotional abuse and secondary abuse that occurs when a child witnesses abusive behavior between the parents. Exposure to abuse can be particularly traumatic for children aged 5 years and less due to lack of coping skills and the increased vulnerability in terms of physical and emotional development (The Journal of Child and Family Social Work).