Is true what they say that you don’t have to be an alcoholic to have a drinking problem? No one wakes up one morning and decides to have a drinking problem, it’s a ripple effect that happens over time even to the best of us, and while not intentional, the problem gets out of hand and before you know it you are labeled an “addict.” Ask anyone who has struggled with alcohol use disorder, and they will probably tell you that they don’t know how having an occasional drink turned into a full-blown alcohol dependence because truth be told, not everyone turns to alcohol only because of stress as many would have you believe.

Alcohol use disorder can also start at an early age, and as the body’s tolerance levels increases, physical dependence on alcohol becomes a comfortable habit. Individuals who do actually turn to alcohol to relieve stress, maybe from their jobs or lack thereof, or from an extremely stressful personal life, or maybe as a result of something that they feel they can’t control are more likely to turn into heavy drinkers.

Did you know that a family history of alcoholism can increase a person’s predisposed to alcohol dependency? This is in part due to genetics or environmental factors such as being constantly around an alcoholic parent, sibling, or relative that directly influences you to emulate their behavior. This may be a hard pill to swallow, but our genetic structure determines all our human traits and numerous studies have been carried out to show that approximately 50% of alcohol dependency is attributable to genetics.

Since our DNA (passed on to us by our parents) dictates our physical characteristics as well as our behavioral characteristics, people who are genetically predisposed to alcoholism can inherit alcoholic tendencies, thus making them susceptible to alcoholism in the future.

Alcoholism Vs. Binge Drinking

While binge drinking and alcoholism are both forms of alcohol abuse that pose similar health and physical risks, they are not identical, for lack of a better word. In fact, they are two different concepts. Take this for example, we know by now that alcohol is both psychologically and physically addictive, but it’s your attitude about or toward alcohol that can help you determine whether or not you are suffering from alcohol addiction.

You may not realize that you have an alcohol dependence until members of your family or your close friends mention called out on your drinking. Additionally, there are individuals who don’t know they have a drinking problem until it begins to take a negative toll on their health, finances, relationships, work, school, etc.

Binge drinking, on the other hand, is characterized by consuming copious amounts of alcohol in a short span of time. Where a “normal” person will drink one or two drinks in a span of two hours, a binge drinker will consume up to or more than five drinks in a 2-hour period for both men and women. Where most people can drink moderately and have a glass or two to relax, unwind or celebrate, an individual with a binge drinking problem only downs alcohol for the sole purpose of getting drunk or “wasted.”

Statistically speaking, binge drinking is more prevalent than alcoholism. An issue that is very common among young adults and usually turns into a disconcerting problem very quickly. Characteristically, most bingers habitually drink excessively on the weekends and get through an entire week without a single drop of alcohol. Unlike a full-blown alcoholic who will present with all the signs of alcohol dependency, you wouldn’t know a binge drinker unless you are in their company because they seem “normal” and function perfectly fine without alcohol.

While a binge drinker “may” not suffer from alcohol withdrawals or have a compulsion to drink every single day as would an alcoholic who has a physical addiction, both individuals are in the same vicious cycle of alcohol abuse.

When binge drinking becomes a problem

Everything in moderation, right? After all, it promotes the idea of a balanced approach to life, but why is it such an easy concept for some people to adopt yet challenging for others? When you are struggling with a weight issue, and someone tells you to eat in moderation, isn’t it a neat and simple way of saying you can have all the junk food you want, provided it’s in small portions?

The negative effects of imbibing are pretty obvious; however, new studies have shown that pregnant women can drink alcohol “moderately” without harming their babies. In fact, apparently mothers who drink moderately have children with better mental health than children of mothers who abstain. The jury is still out on this one.

Imagine telling a binge drinker to do so in moderation. It is safe to assume that the majority of individuals who develop an alcohol use disorder engaged in or began with binge drinking at one point in their lives. So, when does binge drinking become a full-blown problem because even though habitual binge drinkers might not qualify as alcoholics, they do meet the criteria of heavy drinking, don’t they? Consider the following signs of a binge drinker:

• Drinking more than five drinks in a short span of time
• Drinking more alcohol than originally intended. From just one to more than five
• May not drink daily but drinks excessively on weekends or “holidays”
• Becomes defensive when others express their concern or tries to rationalize their excessive drinking
• Having blackouts and issues with memory after a binge
• Engaging in risky behavior during a binge
• Mixing drugs with alcohol
• Neglecting their responsibilities (work, school, family, etc.) after a bingeing episode
• Neglecting personal hygiene
• Not eating or developing poor eating habits
• Giving up on social or recreational activities

Types of binge drinking

There are certain people who are fortunate enough not to have a drinking problem. They can limit themselves to a certain number of drinks and walk away when they’ve had enough. They do not get drunk and are in control of their alcohol intake instead of letting alcohol take control of their lives or relationships. The term “responsible drinking” probably does not appear in a binge drinker’s vocabulary mainly because drinking is a crutch. What is more alarming is that more women than men aged 16-34 have emerged as the biggest binge drinkers, especially career women with more money to spend on drinking sprees, irrespective of the alcohol-related risks and illnesses.

For one reason or the other, alcohol becomes rooted in a binge drinker’s life that any form of intervention would result in outright denial or defensiveness. And even though a binger will not reach for a drink the second they wake up, it’s a lack of control over the amount one imbibes, regardless of how often they actually drink or the reason for drinking that matters. Consider the following types of binge drinkers:

• De-stressed drinkers who drink to cope with stress
• Depressed drinkers will drink when they crave comfort
• Boredom drinkers use alcohol for stimulation due to their lack of social skills
• Conformist drinkers will drink to seek structure in their lives
• Hedonist drinkers use alcohol to prove something because they crave stimulation
• Community drinkers want to fill the need to belong when they drink
• Macho drinkers as the name would suggest, they drink to stand out from the crowd
• Border dependent drinkers will always be at the pub regardless of the time of day

Regardless of the type of binger you are, excessive consumption of alcohol is considered extremely because, in addition to exposing yourself to physical injury, continued use of alcohol could potentially cause loss of productivity, life-long diseases that can’t be easily treated, and even death.

Effects of binge drinking

Make no mistake about it; alcohol is alcohol and binge drinking is dangerous. There are both short and long-term effects of binge drinking a continuous exposure to ethanol leads to a variety of mental, physical, and emotional problems, some, which are irreversible. For starters, around 2 to 8% of the alcohol you drink is lost through urine, sweat, or the breath, the rest (92 to 98%) is metabolized by your body by an enzyme in the liver known as alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH). How quickly you absorb the alcohol content depends on the concentration of alcohol in your drink, whether your stomach is full or empty, or whether your drink is carbonated.

The amount of alcohol in a standard drink is about 10 grams, which takes an average person about an hour to process it. You can imagine a binge drinker who consumes more than five drinks in less than two hours. When you drink copious amounts of alcohol, the liver has to process it over a very short period of time, which is, essentially what causes people to experience a hangover and consequently cause metabolic harm to the body. From the moment you take your first sip, the impact of alcohol on your body is almost instantaneous, and the cumulative effects of over consumption take its toll slowly but gradually. The following are some of the negative effects of excessive alcohol use:

• Alcohol dependence
• Damage to your nervous system
• Liver cirrhosis /liver damage
• Psychological problems such as depression, anxiety, paranoia, hallucination
• Impaired thinking – up to 30 days after a binge
• Irresponsible behavior – drink driving, risky sexual activities
• Lack of motivation
• Blackouts and memory loss
• Cardiovascular disease
• pancreatitis
• Damage to the digestive and endocrine glands
• Diabetes complications
• Lung infection that makes you susceptible to pneumonia and TB
• Chronic fatigue
• Infertility
• Sexual dysfunction
• Malnutrition
• Lack of coordination
• Thinning bones or osteoporosis
• Tingling and numbness in your extremities
• Muscle cramps, weakness, and eventually muscle death
• Death from alcohol poisoning

Causes of alcohol abuse

We all experience “one of those days” where we would rather be run over by a garbage truck than get out of bed. While some have mastered the art of de-stressing without a stiff drink such as exercising, meditating, dancing, and so forth, others not so much. A glass of your favorite drink may help in the short term, but certainly not in the long term because situations arise in everyday living that causes us to experience sadness, anger, fear, anxiety, etc. Individuals who do not handle stress well and those who exhibit impulsivity, novelty seeking, negative emotions and anxiety are more likely to developing alcohol use disorder. These traits are all linked to an increased risk for substance abuse disorders.

As mentioned earlier, genetics also play a major role in the development of alcohol use disorder. However, if someone is not genetically predisposed, there are certain factors that may increase an individual’s risk of developing alcohol use disorder, for example:

• A mental health problem such as schizophrenia
• Consuming more than 15 drinks (male) and 12 drinks (female) per week
• Binge drinking more than five drinks at least once a week
• Experiencing peer pressure as a young adult
• Low self-esteem
• Drinking alone

Are you a binge drinker?

Maybe no one has mentioned it or pointed out your alcohol dependence, or maybe they have but you are still in denial, or you feel you are in control of your drinking. If the aforementioned negative health effects of excessive alcohol use such as irreversible liver damage, obesity, a chronic dependence and even damage to the brain and entire nervous system haven’t sunk in, consider taking a self-test. Ask yourself:

• Are you happy when you drink or do you drink to get drunk?
• Is drinking affecting your personal, work, or school life?
• Do you feel guilty about drinking and how do you feel after the effects of alcohol wear out?
• Are you an irritable or violent drunk?
• Do you make excuses to have a drink?
• Do you sometimes tell yourself that it would be better if you cut back on your drinking?
• Do you experience blackouts or exhibit reckless behavior during a binge?
• Do you experience severe alcohol withdrawals such as tremors, irregular heartbeat, sweating profusely, high blood pressure, anxiety, nervousness, nausea, vomiting, seizures, hallucination, and delirium?

You may not necessarily experience all the above signs of alcohol misuse, in fact, some of the short-term effects of binge drinking such as headaches, hangovers, nausea and vomiting, unpleasant as they are, wear off pretty quickly. Drawing the line between safe alcohol use and alcohol misuse is the most difficult thing for individuals with alcohol use disorder. Not all hope is lost because you can seek help.

There is help

Any type of addiction is often seen as a sign of weakness or something you can just snap out of. This can’t be further from the truth. Like heart disease, cancer, or diabetes, addiction is a disease that is brought on by a combination of biological, environmental and behavioral factors and it involves changes in how the body and brain functions. Researchers are hard at work trying to develop various medications that can return balance to the body’s stress-response system, primarily to prevent relapses in individuals who are recovering from alcohol use disorders.

Withdrawals are the hardest to deal with, especially for people who have been drinking for a long time and many newly sober individuals will return to drinking again to alleviate these symptoms. The thing to understand is, hard it may be to ask for help, consequences of untreated alcohol dependency or any type of addiction for that matter becomes more severe, disabling and life-threatening. While addiction cannot be completely cured, it is a progressive, long-lasting and chronic disease that can be controlled with intensive treatment, continuing aftercare, monitoring, as well as family and peer support to manage it.

Often, individuals struggling with substance dependence are blamed by those around them for suffering from addiction. While we always have a choice when it comes to certain pertinent matters of life, no one can choose how his or her brain and body will respond to drugs or alcohol use. Such is the case with addiction, and even though an addict can stop drinking altogether, it is much harder to maintain recovery without proper treatment including help and support of family and friends.

There are a couple of different medications that can be administered to mitigate alcohol cravings including various treatment options for alcohol use disorder that are designed to help sufferers stop drinking and abstain from alcohol altogether. Individuals who choose to seek help can do so at an inpatient facility that provides 24-hour care to monitor a person’s withdrawals and recovery from alcohol dependence. Depending on individual needs and level of addiction, treatment for alcohol use disorder may include:

• A medically managed program of detoxification and withdrawal at an inpatient treatment center or a hospital
• Rehabilitation involving alcohol treatment specialists to help a recovering individual establish new coping skills, behavior change techniques and much more
• Psychological counseling and therapy to address aspects of alcohol use and to help individuals understand their addiction better
• Support from 12-step programs such as Alcoholics Anonymous
• Administration of oral or injected medication that helps to reduce the urge to drink and combats alcohol cravings. Patients may also receive medical treatment for alcohol use disorder-related health conditions
• Certain patients may also require to undergo psychological evaluation and treatment for issues such as depression, anxiety or other mental health conditions that may arise as a result of alcohol use or mental issues that may have led to the addiction
• There are aftercare programs available as a form of continuing support that help people recovering from alcohol use disorder to manage relapses and cope with future lifestyle changes
• Newly recovering individuals can also receive spiritual support

Life without alcohol

Reducing your risk of binge drinking may seem like an uphill battle, but it’s possible. It may seem difficult at first but being able to set solid boundaries for yourself when drinking is a start. Deciding to quit drinking in totality, especially when alcohol begins to call the shots in your life is even better and advisable, your body and mind will thank you for it. It is still not clear how some individuals are able to achieve sobriety on their own, however those who aren’t able to abstain from alcohol need to seek treatment. Remember, you are not alone, statistically speaking, one in six adults binge drink about once a week, that makes over 37 million people who consume an average of seven drinks per binge. Whichever way you choose to look at it, binge drinking is a serious but preventable health problem that has been attributed to thousands of alcohol-related, life-long diseases and deaths.

Recovery from alcohol dependence may take time, but you can change your narrative. Do not wait for the negative effects of alcohol use to get their claws on you when you can do something about it sooner rather than later. Binge drinking will cause damage to your brain cells, increase your risk of developing dementia, cause nerve damage, pancreatitis, high blood pressure, depression, and much more. This is certainly not the life you envisioned yourself living, and you can certainly overcome alcohol dependence by seeking help from the right people.

There are a few things that you can do to help you steer clear of alcohol use especially during the first few weeks of living sober. Adopting an exercise routine is always recommended because not only does working out increase your overall well being, but it also helps the body heal from the damage left behind by alcohol use. Drinking alcohol has been shown to slowly diminish a person’s ability to feel pleasure, which is why most alcoholics abandon social or recreational activities that used to bring them pleasure.

A good workout will not only boost a person’s mood, but it also helps the body release chemicals known as endorphins, or “feel good hormones” that trigger a positive feeling in the body to help ward-off feelings of stress, anxiety, depression. Regular exercise has also been proven to improve sleep, boost self-esteem and self-worth, something that many addicts lack. Therefore, develop healthy habits, adopt a positive attitude, and surround yourself with wholesome people.

We have all seen it, depicted in movies or in real life situations. Broken marriages and hopeless children are always the highlight of alcoholic families. Sometimes we think it is an exaggeration or just something that only happens in movies. Unfortunately, the situation on the ground is much more intense that depicted in movies. Alcohol is the most abused drug in the world. 80% of individuals battling drug abuse suffer from an alcohol use disorder. Alcoholism is a disease that results from excessive use of alcoholic beverages. The American Psychiatric Association gives three criteria for the diagnoses of alcoholism. The criteria includes:

1.) Physiological problems. Examples of these problems are hand tremors and blackouts.
2.) Psychological problems. These are issues that affect the mental health of a person such as cravings for alcohol and an obsessive desire to drink.
3.) Behavioral problems. These are issues related to the life of a person and affect their social and work life.
Just like any other addiction, alcoholism begins with experimentation. Before anyone is deemed to be an alcoholic, they first began by experimenting whether they were driven by curiosity or other life challenges. It is not surprising that a majority of alcoholics did not intend to be alcoholics but found themselves in such a situation.

After experimentation, the use of alcohol becomes regular. A person begins to incorporate alcohol in their daily lives. Over a long period of time, the regular use becomes problematic. It turns out to be risky use where a person’s behavior significantly changes with or without taking alcohol but most especially when they do not take it. Symptoms of dependence begin to emerge where a person exhibits agitation or tremors without having a drink. At this point the body and mind are reliant on the alcohol. Serious behavioral changes are now noticeable. At this point, it is essential to help the person seek treatment.

When all these stages progress, the person ultimately becomes addicted to alcohol. A person becomes hooked to the continual use of alcohol and can be referred to as an alcoholic. In such cases, professional help is the only way to help treat the addiction. The ‘uniqueness’ of alcohol as compared to other drugs is that it is easy to acquire, easy to get addicted to and affects the entire family unit, alcoholic or not.

Alcoholism does not discriminate on the basis of age, background, income level, social group or ethnic group. On the contrary, research shows that alcoholism is very common in highly educated people. Furthermore, highly motivated people are more likely to be alcoholics compared to less motivated people.

Alcoholism is viewed to be a hereditary disease. 50% of all alcoholics can attribute their addiction to a hereditary or genetic factor. It is common to find children picking up alcoholic habits from their parents. Besides the fact that it is deemed to be hereditary to some extent, alcoholism is a family disease because it disrupts the lives of everyone in the family. Alcoholism can cause life lasting harmful effects on any family.

76% of American adults have been exposed to alcoholism in the family. Alcoholism is the single most cause of family problems than any other problem. Statistics show that one in every four families has problems with alcohol. Parents, children and adolescents have all fallen victims to these disease called alcoholism.

Parental Alcoholism

Alcoholism can affect children even before they are born. When a pregnant takes alcohol, it circulates throughout the mother’s organs and tissues. The alcohol circulates to the placenta as well. Ultimately, the alcohol passes through the membrane separating the maternal and fetal blood vessels. It is important to note that the level of alcohol in a mother’s system is the same will be the same in the blood system of the child they are carrying. Alcoholic pregnant women have been found to give birth to children suffering from Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS). This is one of the leading causes of birth defects in children. More than 40,000 babies are born with a mild or severe form of FAS every year.

Effects of FAS on a Baby

The more alcohol a pregnant woman takes, the more the severe FAS is in an unborn baby. Such babies are shorter and underweight unlike normal babies. Furthermore, they have brain and skull deformities with very characteristic facial features. These facial deformities include:

• Small eye openings,
• thin upper lips
• long flat faces
• a long groove in the middle of the upper lips.

The alcohol in the infant’s bloodstream does not only damage their physical traits, but also their central nervous system (CNS). A damage to their CNS means they have difficulties in learning, attention span, judgment, memory, problem solving and behavioral problems.

Children with FAS lack social skills. They become easily frustrated and angrier as they grow older. They are hyperactive in such a way that they are unable to stand or sit still for a long time. Children with FAS are more often than not impulsive, poorly coordinated and have impaired speech and hearing. The effects of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome are permanent. Generally, they lead to lifelong problems and eventual mental retardation.

Psychological Problems from Parental Alcoholism

Parental alcoholism does not only affect unborn children, but the living ones as well. However, those who are already born tend to suffer from psychological problems rather than physical issues. Children with alcoholic parents suffer from low self-esteem, loneliness, guilt, feelings of helplessness, fears of abandonment and chronic depression. For such children, they have a tendency to feel that they are the cause of the alcoholic problem their parents are facing. They feel responsible and the creators of the problem. Eventually, they begin to experience high levels of tension and stress. Young children may experience nightmares and frequent bed wetting. Children of Alcoholics (COAs) may never have friends are always afraid of going to school.

Older children are obsessive perfectionists, hoarders, stay by themselves and are excessively self-conscious. They are mostly depressed because they feel different from other people. As a result, they develop a poor self-image which closely resembles that of their parents. Teenagers may develop phobias.

COAs have problems in schools because their stressful home environment prevents them from concentrating in school. There are unable to perform well since they cannot clearly express themselves. The situation is exacerbated by the fact that they cannot form meaningful relationships with other students or teachers. Generally, they end up repeating academic years or dropping out of school altogether. Statistics show that at least 30% of young women who dropped out of high school grew up with alcoholic parents.

It is common for COAs to suffer from behavioral problems such as truancy, lying, stealing and fighting. Their home environments are greatly unstable and they never know what to expect from their alcoholic parents whose moods are unpredictable. Inevitably, they do not know how to behave themselves. The feeling of being responsible for their parent’s alcoholism drives COAs to think that they can alleviate their parents’ alcoholism by performing good works such as getting good grades. They always seek to please their parents, something that never works. They are always walking on eggshells around their alcoholic parents because they don’t want to ‘make them angry’. COAs always want to rescue their parents form the devastating condition and always feel guilty when they fail. This takes a heavy toll on their emotional and mental state.

Adult children of alcoholics (ACOAs) suffer from depression and aggression. They are incapable of establishing healthy relationships of any kind with other people. Moreover, the presence of a poor self-image causes them to make poor career choices with feelings of worthlessness and failure developing.

ACOAs are unable to be intimate because the do not trust other people. They are afraid of falling in love due to feeling like they will let their loved one down as their parents let them down. Unfortunately, they end up being intimately involved with other alcoholics or abusive partners. They are more likely to become alcoholics than children from non-alcoholic families. They have higher rates of developing psychological or mental disorders such as anxiety.

Physical Problems from Parental Alcoholism

Alcoholism is associated with crime and violence. Alcoholic families have a proliferation of rape, incest and battering cases. Recent studies show that 75% of domestic violence cases involved alcoholic parents while 30% cases of incest involved alcoholic fathers. Victims of incest and battering always blame themselves. They end up feeling guilty, ashamed and helpless which may drive them to drink as a way of escaping the pain.

These children may also be neglected when it comes to provision of their basic needs. Alcoholic parents neglect their responsibilities to provide for their children. Eventually, the children suffer from malnutrition or have to find ways to fend for themselves.

Adult daughters of alcoholics have been shown to have more reproductive problems and eating disorders.
Aside from abuse from parents, adult children of alcoholics are prone to the abuse of psychoactive substances.
It is a sad state of affairs when the unit that is supposed to provide safety and security for children, is the same unit that breaks them, some beyond repair.

Spousal Alcoholism

It is common to find one spouse as an alcoholic. This situation negatively affects the other spouse. Feelings of hatred or self-pity may develop. Furthermore, they may avoid social contacts and suffer from mental and physical exhaustion. One spouse will have to perform the roles of both parents since the other cannot live up to their responsibilities. These responsibilities may be too confounding for the non-alcoholic parent that they end up being inconsistent, demanding while often neglecting the children. Since one spouse has stability it terms of work, financial difficulties mat overwhelm the family. The alcoholic spouse may spend all their money on alcohol or may even be jobless. The financial instability affects the children as well. They will have to give up certain privileges.

Alcoholism is one of the major reasons for widowhood or divorce. Many marital problems are a result of alcoholism. Spouses and children can contribute to the alcoholic persisting in their habit by allowing the heavy drinking rather than dealing with the serious alcoholic problem. For such families, it is more important to keep the family together even if it means allowing the habit to go on. Many family members of alcoholics face denial. The denial is an excuse to rationalize the alcoholic’s behavior. Denial s expected because the natural instinct of every person is to protect their loved one. However, this denial becomes detrimental in the long run. It prevents them from seeking help, triggering emotional problems for the non-alcoholic spouse or the children.

Adolescent Alcoholism

Alcoholism is not just a reserve for the old. Teenagers and young adults are falling victim to the disease as well. Unfortunately, the contributing factor in most of such cases is the behavior modeled by alcoholic parents. Emotional frustrations that they face may drive them to drinking. In the end, they become just like the people they did not want to be. It is more difficult for adolescent alcoholics because they have to deal with their own baggage and that imposed on them by their alcoholic parents.

Since they have no jobs, they resort to uncouth means to sustain their alcoholic problems. Lives are cut short too early by alcoholic related diseases or getting caught up on the wrong side of the law when undertaking illegal ventures. Alcoholic adolescents face a myriad of physical, emotional and mental challenges.

The General Aspects of Alcoholic Problems

Psychological Problems

Alcoholism can cause problematic issues in a family. From emotional instability to mental disorders, alcoholism deprives family members of a sound mental health. Children suffer whether born or unborn, young or adult. Spouses suffer as well. Psychological torture can be worse than physical ailments because our mental health is what predetermines our physical health in most cases.

Furthermore, members of alcoholic families develop codependency. A codependent person is someone who is unconsciously addicted to another person’s abnormal behavior. There are times when alcoholics can let go of the bottle for a while. In such a situation, the codependent person may believe that the problem has been solved. However, the alcoholic falls of the wagon again and the codependent family members do everything to hide the problem. Their agenda: ‘to preserve the family’s prestige’ and project an image of the ‘perfect family’.

Codependent people eventually become enablers (one who unknowingly helps the alcoholic in continuing the habit) because they clean up the mess the alcoholics leave behind. They clean the vomit, make excuses for them and lie to protect them. They forget about their needs and devote their lives to cure the drinker.

It is not surprising to find that some members of alcoholic families becoming psychotic. The mental and emotional turmoil of alcoholism can be too painful to bear causing psychotic breaks.

Social Problems

Alcoholic families do not like leaving in the public eye. They do not want their lives to be scrutinized. For this reason, they avoid social gatherings and interactions. Moreover, their children cannot form long lasting relationships because they always feel short. They are withdrawn and may have no friends.

Social relationships can also be destroyed when families lie to friends or bosses to cover up their loved one’s alcoholic problem. At times, alcoholic families are embarrassed about their alcoholic family member and would not want to be seen together with them. Unfortunately, most alcoholic families have no social life which is redundant because the community can help.

Health Problems

Alcoholism comes with a myriad of health issues which affect both the drinker and his/her own family. We have seen that alcoholic women who are pregnant as well give birth to children with deformities which last for a lifetime.
Besides the unborn children, alcohol slowly swindles the life out of an alcoholic. They experience health issues related to the liver such as liver cirrhosis. This condition is life threatening and leads to death if the person does not give up their drinking habit. More than just the liver, other organs of the body are affected by the constant abuse of alcohol. Without treatment, alcoholics end up dying robbing the family of parents or spouses who were the bread winners of the family.

Financial Problems

Sustaining an alcoholic habit is very expensive. Most times, alcoholics are unable to hold down a job or perform poorly in their jobs. Their salaries are spent on alcohol and nothing else. Inevitably, basic needs cannot be met and children are deprived of their needs.

Finances are also needed in the treatment of alcoholic addictions or alcoholic related problems. On average, treating an alcoholic addiction requires $28,000 annually. For many families, this is a price they cannot pay.
In the end, alcoholic families end up with large amounts of debt, joblessness and no way to fend for themselves. Money becomes tight and dreams have to be given up because they cannot be sustained.

Behavioral Problems

Alcoholism takes a toll on the behavior of children or non-alcoholic spouses. Children become frequent delinquents. They end up dropping out of school. Furthermore, COAs are aggressive and have impulsive behavior tendencies, always getting in to trouble with society and with the law.

The financial troubles they face may lead alcoholics or their families to result in crime to sustain their habit or to provide for their basic needs.

Marital Problems

Alcoholic families lack stability. Widowhood and divorce are inevitable in such family settings. The family unit breaks apart because emotional and mental fatigue is prevalent. It is impossible for children from such families to come out unscathed.

Alcoholic families are scarred with stories of physical abuse, battering or rape. Sadly, most spouses or children who undergo abuse from an alcoholic parent and spouse defend their actions. Rarely do they take action against such behavior. In the end, the physical abuse is no longer just physical but emotional abuse as well.

Adult children of alcoholics tend to move away from home to distant themselves from their alcoholic parents. They try as hard as possible to keep themselves from being associated with their alcoholic parents. This may be due to fear of discrimination or of a greater fear of ending up like them.

Children need stable home environments to develop socially and mentally. When they do not experience such stability, they will have nothing to relate to. All they know is neglect and hopelessness. Eventually, their marriages will not work as well and the cycle goes on and on.

Is there hope for alcoholic families?

There are various ways that alcoholics can receive treatment such as Alcoholic Anonymous groups. These groups help people dependent on alcohol to stop drinking and improve their lifestyles. Frequently, most alcoholics relapse and kicking off the habit can be very challenging.

However, this is not the only solution because alcoholism affects the whole family unit. Alcoholic families need treatment just as much as the alcoholics do. This is achievable through family and marital therapy. Families can be assisted by family and marriage counselors to reduce the tensions at home. Furthermore, school counselors can help adolescents who have an alcoholic home background.

Those who suffer most from alcoholism are children and non-alcoholic spouses. It is unfortunate that society maligns such people while labeling them as undeserving on their account of their parents’ mistakes. This should not be the case. They need help and such families should accept any assistance offered because their future relies on just how they deal with an alcoholic issue.

Alcoholism is something one would not wish on their worst enemy. It destroys lives, some which cannot be recovered even with treatment. Unfortunately, our society is ailing from the many prevalent alcoholic homes. Action must be taken to snatch our innocent children from the claws of alcoholism.

It is not the desire of any person to live in an alcoholic family. However, when faced with this situation, one has the choice to follow the footsteps of the alcoholic or to charge themselves and crawl out whole from that situation. It is not easy. But, is there anything easy in this life?