List Of Identifying Information : Stan

Many people across the world suffer from alcoholism, a family disease. It is called a family disease because the addiction harms the alcoholic, and everyone who has to live with them. Children consistently suffer when they share a house with an alcoholic. Unfortunately, alcoholism is common and many children find themselves in this situation. The emotional and psychological scars that children can develop in alcoholic homes can be so deep that they can last well into adulthood. Youth who grew up in an alcoholic home can develop similar personality traits and characteristics. Approximately 26.8 million children are exposed to alcoholism in the family and 6.6 million children 18 and younger live in households with at least one alcoholic

     In the United States, twenty million children are experiencing physical, verbal and emotional abuse from parents who are addicted to alcohol. Growing up in an alcoholic house can leave emotional scars that may last a lifetime. This is tragic because we consider that childhood is the foundation on which our entire lives are fabricated. When a child’s efforts to bond with an addicted parent are handicapped, the result is confusion and intense anxiety. In order to survive in a home deficient, of healthy parental love, limits, and consistency, they must develop “survival skills” or defense mechanisms very early in life.

According to a 2017 study done by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, “More than 10 percent of U.S. children live with a parent with alcohol problems.” The author Jeannette Walls uses the book, The Glass Castle, to talk about her childhood struggles of growing up with an alcoholic father. The reason this book was appealing was because I grew up with an alcoholic father as well and I found it interesting to read about someone who had gone through similar situations. In the first 90 pages the author tells us about her chaotic family life. Her father, who is weary of civilization and authority, packs up the family camp often to roam around the desert. Due to their frequent moving her father is not able to keep a stable job,

Gruber, K.J., & Taylor M.F. (2006). A family perspective for substance abuse: Implications from the literature. Journal of Social

In “Under the Influence” by Scott Russell Sanders, an American novelist, the author explains the struggles he had to go through while dealing with his alcoholic father. Alcoholism has slowly transformed his father into a completely different person, and even a different creature at times. Every time his father would get drunk, Sanders and his family felt as if he was losing a piece of his dad. The family felt ashamed of the disease that had consumed their father and this developed where telling other people was impossible, making their father’s alcoholism a secret that the family kept hidden and closed away from the rest of the world. They felt the need to try and help their troubled family member. Sanders even states how he thinks that

The majority of children living in a dysfunctional family with a drug addicted parent will not develop a secure attachment with another individual, where the relationship revolves around intimacy and mutual understanding. Parents who are codependent on each other have learned to regard the dysfunction as normal, and their children could be susceptible to numerous scenarios. They could become the target of their parent’s abuse, either sexual or physical. The children of codependent parents could easily gain access to drugs or alcohol since no one is paying attention to the child. The codependent parents are preoccupied with the alcoholic or drug addicted parent, and they might never bother to realize their child is in grave danger. The codependent parent’s children might never recover fully from the trauma, abuse, or neglect inflicted on them. In addition, the children learn to become adults who repeat the vicious cycle of domestic violence or abuse themselves. Children of codependent parent might grow resilient despite

While looking on the Internet for yet another social role study, I came upon an old friend that also happened to be online. I decided to discuss his situation rather than one of which does not effect me as personally as this. My friend was and I guess still is a victim of alcoholism. My friend Matt is now out of the house and on his own and his parents are now divorced. Matt and I grew up together, so many of his pains I felt as well. While he was growing up his father was quite a heavy drinker and at many times became violent as well as abusive towards Matt, his two younger siblings and his mother. I can remember at times Matt telling me how his father the night before would hit him. Matt would tell me "better it be me then my mother or

He would still have Negative feelings but his actions wouldn 't have been so extreme. Nurturing come in again with learning and conditioning. If his father was around more to reinforce his behavior, he wouldn 't have been the young teenaged boy who lashed out. Operant Conditioning is a way of learning and Sam needed to learn that his actions have consequences. Sam has a problem with substance abuse. In an intense seen with his father, he admits to have been using since he was twelve years old. Along with the stress of his parents divorce his drug abuse is a factor contributing to his extreme behavior. It is said that “a striking consequence of drug use by young people is its association with violence and delinquency” (Winters, 2010, p.118). Sam has become so accustomed to the use of drugs, since hes been taking them for so many years, that he even steals his fathers Vicodine. Anything to ease his pain. Not only does he suffer with drug abuse he also seems to have depression. Depression is a common illness for those who have divorced or absent parents. “Depressed teenagers are more reactive to the environment than depressed adults. In addition, they act irritable. In classical depression, you are depressed all--or almost all-of the time. Depressed teens ' moods are much more changeable. If an adult male gets depressed and you take him to a party, he is still depressed. In fact, he may depress others

Drug abuse is thought to be a multidetermined, maladaptive way of coping with life problems that often become habitual and leads to a progressive deterioration in life circumstances. Drug abuse is a disease in its own way. It’s damaging, mentally, physically and emotionally with each party involved. When it comes to each party involved that also means family members as well. Youth will find a way to but some sort of blame of the family for their drug addiction. Family members can be a crucial part or a great aspect of the therapy depending the situation or how important that family member plays a role in their life. Family plays an important role in our emotional development since each individual in the family system impacts and its impacted by the others. Its design to address issues that affect the health of family and the addict’s life transition or mental health conditions.

For much of my childhood, my dad was drunk. For my brother and I, it became our normal. We learned to anticipate when our father would be the brilliant, selfless man he is, and we learned when we couldn’t count on him to be our father. One day, my brother told me he was never going to drink and demanded I promise the same. My brother was ten years old. I didn’t know what to tell him, but had I known it then, I would have said “What has made us who we are does not have to be what we become.”

The client, Mrs Freeman has been a drinker for 15 years and she currently drinks a fifth of Vodka a day and a six pack of beer. She is the mother of three girls and three boys. She has developed health issues related to her long term drinking habit. Mrs. Freeman wants to quit drinking for her own health and the health of her children.

Inside my family structure, my mother’s parents struggled with addiction. My grandmother, Ellen Sweeney, who has since deceased, was addicted to opiates, and my grandfather, Wayne Smith, who has also passed away, was an alcoholic. My mom was one of five children, her siblings included, Margaret “Markie”, the eldest, , Catherine “Kerrie”, the second eldest, my mother, Marian, the middle child, Amy, the second youngest, and lastly, Matt, the youngest. Moreover, my mother and my aunt Margaret “Markie” Smith have also battled alcoholism and my aunt Amy has since been diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder. Due to my mother’s family struggle with alcoholism, addiction, and mental disorder, my mother’s childhood was particularly difficult. Not only was she undoubtedly influenced by her parent’s substance abuse when she was a child, but it has continues to affect her as an adult raising her own children.

Ms. A reported she was exposed to domestic violence within the home. Reportedly, Ms. A’s said her father was physically, verbally, and emotionally abusive towards her mother and herself. The patient recalled being awakened at nights by her mother and being told they were going on “vacations”. According to Ms. A, as she grew older she understood the her family “vacations” her mother later explained that the “vacations” were merely an escape from her abusive father. The patient described her parent 's divorce as "messy". She opined that her parents’ divorce resulted in her “bouncing back and forth” between their homes. She reported living with her father for a brief period andbecause she was allowed to do "whatever she wanted". She further described her father as her “drinking buddy” during her adolescent years.

When looking at parental addiction to alcohol, Sharon Wegcheider-Cruse developed a concept of certain behavioral roles that children of alcoholics take on in order to cope with the addiction issues of the parent which can often lead to emotional harm. Wegcheider-Cruse separates the behavioral roles into four distinct categories each with a different name comprising a hero, a scapegoat, a lost child, and a mascot. When a child takes on a “hero” behavioral role, they are often referred to as the “model child” and are known to take over the family responsibilities which the parents are not addressing. Although there are many positives to a young child taking on this role in the family, including becoming independent, being responsible, and often over achieving, there are many negative impacts made on the child’s emotional state and behavior as well. These negatives consist of having a fear of rejection, having feelings of low self worth, striving for perfection, ignoring