by Mary Tyrer

Created on: January 25, 2008   Last Updated: June 29, 2009

Common effects of alcoholism on a family:

Alcoholism is a very large problem in our country. It affects approximately 57% of people over the age of 25. Alcoholism considered a disease. If one has a family member that is an alcoholic chances of other family members of alcoholics will also suffer from alcoholism.

Problems a family suffers:

Much of domestic violence suffers occurs while the alcoholic is drinking and becomes angry over something trivial, and blows everything out of proportion and it builds to violence.

Alcoholism is a horrible circle, one that is hard to break. Though there is so much information available today. The alcoholic has many resources in which they can get information that will help them with their alcoholism. Nevertheless, they choose the drink over the education. If only the alcoholic would take the help people offer them, they might be able to stop the cycle of alcoholism within their family.

There are interventions, and Alcoholics Anonymous, the alcoholic may participate in, some will succeed. Others will stay away from alcohol for a time, but many fall off the wagon as they say. Still others will continue their ways. There are some success stories, and those are the best case scenario's. The ones that do succeed realize it is a life time battle and live with it for the rest of their lives.

Many families are now aware alcoholism is a disease. The alcoholic who is aware of it being a disease use this as an excuse not to get help or go into rehab. Most alcoholics refuse to acknowledge they have a problem with alcohol; some hide their drinking from family and friends. Though those who are close to the alcoholic are very aware they are drinking.

One of the major problems with alcoholics is that many become violent when they are drunk. They are not only physically violent they are also verbally abusive. Some are unable to remember what they did or said while they were drunk. Once they have 'slept' it off they often go out to the family to find everyone upset with him/her and not understanding why they are angry, and upset.

Sadly, since the alcoholic is normally a parent there is a vicious circle that starts, and the child/children begin to experiment with alcohol. Rarely does suspicion fall to the child/children for taking alcohol from the home, since the alcoholic has no idea what or how much they drank the night or day before. If one or both of the parents are alcoholics there is little doubt the child/children will also become an alcoholic.

Health concerns:

As a family member gets older and continues to drink, they will face many health issues. The pancreas and liver are always affected; other problems in regards to health issues are high blood pressure, and diabetes. Even with these health problems, it is hard to convince the alcoholic to stop drinking. Now it is up to the child/children to take care of the parent, or parents that are ill from years of drinking.

If the child/children see what type of health issues the alcoholic is going through again maybe the cycle could be broken. However, unfortunately this is not usually the case. Since by this time the adult child/children are already alcoholics, and the cycle continues.

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