My Life Is Different Than Other Kids ' My Age '

For the entirety of my life, my father has struggled with alcoholism. My father’s addiction left me and my family with no choice but to separate ourselves from him eight years ago. For those eight years, I resented the man we had left. How could I not? His alcoholism, his selfish addiction, had taken my childhood memories of laughter and happiness, and left me with ones of worry and fear. I wondered how he could be selfish enough to idly watch his family suffer as a result of him.

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

As a recovering addict I know firsthand how my addiction affected my family. Addiction to alcohol or drugs is a disease; it affects everyone in the family, not just the substance abuser.

Substance abuse disorders are common in our society. It is a disorder that each one of us will most likely experience through a family member, friend, or our self. I felt very drawn to this topic due to the fact that I have a family that has background of substance abuse and I myself have battle the demon. Not until I struggled with my own addiction did I become more tolerable and understanding to those that have a substance abuse disorder. Substance abuse is not something anyone wants to have; it is a disorder that takes control of a person’s life. It is a beast that tears a person apart; from their being to the lives of their loved ones. This disorder is not biased in anyway; rich or poor, male or female, employed or unemployed, young or

It was never my intention to work with addicted clients, but nearly every family therapy course I have taken has, either overtly or covertly, stressed the need to understand addictions. While I understand the concept on a cognitive level, I had judgements about the type of people that become addicted and did not feel compelled to work with them, until my niece died. Her drug addiction deeply affected all members of her immediate family. Her parents and her step-dad, my brother, each reacted to my niece’s addiction in different ways but none were successful and the family began to fail under the stress.

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.

Addiction is a disease that not only affects the person with the addiction but the family as well. The children that grow up in this environment take on different roles in their family to try and cope with their environment. According to American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy, there is an estimate of 26.8 million children that are exposed to alcoholism in the family (2015). As these children grow up they develop many common characteristics into adulthood. These characteristics have a lasting impact on their lives.

One issue that has made me passionate about social work is substance abuse, an issue that has made a deep impact for communities everywhere. Not only does it affect the mental and physical health of the individual, but it also burdens the friends, family, and community as a whole. This concern is a personal interest because of my mother and grandfather’s past struggle with alcoholism, as well as because of a childhood friend who was killed by a drunk underage driver on her second offense. While my mother won her fight against her addiction during the time that she was in therapy for depression, I know the tragic effects of addiction firsthand from my grandfather’s death from the consequences of alcoholism and my friend’s death at the wheels of a drunk driver. I wish to address and understand this social issue in detail during and after graduate school.

My father’s girlfriend has coped with alcohol addiction most of her life. Initially, her dependence only strained her health and their relationship; however, over time, her actions began endangering everyone around her. I caught her driving drunk on multiple occasion through the cul-de-sac my father resided, where he had neighbors whose children regularly frequented the streets

In life things do not always go as planned, sometimes we make some tough choices, which may cause burdens to the ones that love us the most our family (Intervention Videos, 2012). I will be conducting a family analysis on twenty- one-year-old Kaylene from Bernardsville, North Carolina (Intervention Videos, 2012). Kaylene has been battling her drug addiction since the age of thirteen where she started using cocaine and marijuana (Intervention Videos, 2012). For five years now she has been addicted to prescription drugs and she also sells them for money. It all began in Kaylene’s childhood she was abused as a child for some of the simplest things by her estranged father who was an alcoholic at

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.

In the United States alone, there are 28 million children of alcoholics - seven million of these children are under the age of eighteen.   Every day, these children experience the horrors of living with an alcoholic parent. 40%-50% of children of alcoholics grow up and become alcoholics themselves. Others develop eating disorders or become workaholics. Children of alcoholics receive mixed messages, inconsistency, upredictability, betrayal, and sometimes physical and sexual abuse from their parents. They are made to grow up too fast because they must help keep the family structure together by doing housework and taking care of siblings since the alcoholic is not doing his or her part. Children form roles that

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

Millions of people every year are affected by alcoholism. Both those suffering from alcoholism, and their family members. Out of the millions effected, only a fraction of them seek help in taking control of their addiction. There are many similarities between individual cases of alcoholism, and countless resources to help those who wish to stop drinking, and rekindle their relationships with their families.

Growing up is a mandatory part of life. There are situations and circumstances that shape one’s future and impact one’s life. These events can be either positive or negative. One event that has a negative impact on a person’s life is alcoholism. It changes the very essence of the family. When one parent in a family is an alcoholic, counseling for the entire family is necessary because it provides understanding of the disease process, acceptance of the need for help, a chance to express emotions, and unification of the family. Overall, it focuses on putting the family back together as a unit.