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How Does Alcoholism Affect Families

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How Alcoholism Effects the Entire Family
An Alcoholic has an unhealthy relationship with alcohol. They look forward to drinking the alcoholic will look for reasons to drink. They crave alcohol simply because is a drug. It reduces stress, stimulates pleasure within the brain and gives a sensation of a high. Two of the most common problems found within the families of alcoholism they are Codependency and Parentification. The codependent person can have characteristic such as the need to have the approval from others, indecisiveness, denial of problems, feels responsible for others feelings and behavior. Parentification is when the child takes the role of the adult often left to make decisions the parent should be doing. Adults who drink lose their jobs, mistreat the families and friends. Children that drink often have hang out with others who drink. …show more content…

Some family members such as a spouse or partner tend to become a codependent person making excuses for the alcoholic and justifies the alcoholic’s irresponsible and violent behavior. Some partners enable the alcoholic by purchasing alcohol to please their love one. This makes the alcoholic grateful and pleased. In some cases a person will lie to the alcoholic’s employer stating they have the flu when in reality they are actually too drunk to go to work.
Another common problem found within families of an alcoholic is Parentification. This where the alcoholic’s children have had to take the role of the parent. Generally having to fend for themselves because the parent is too drunk to function. For example, a child may have to make themselves something to eat, make sure they get themselves dressed and to school. A will clean up after the alcoholic parent and make excuses to their parent’s employer, so that they don’t lose their job. A child would prepare something for the parent to eat in hopes they would sober

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