Brittany Donofrio
Week 4 Discussion Post
COLLAPSE
Good Morning Everyone!
Children that are born into an addictive family have a rough time growing up. There are multiple struggles that these children go through. Most of these stuggles take away parts of their childhood and cause them to grow up faster than children should have to. They also miss out on important life skills because their parents are lacking on teaching them important things as they are growing up. Some of these struggles include, a lack of family unity, mental and physical health, finances and even family dynamics. Personally, I was not raised in an addictive family household. I did have a very close friend that had a parent who struggled with substance abuse. This was hard seeing her grow up because her lack of parent guidance was hard to watch. Since her father left at a young age and her mom was struggling with addiction, she had her older brother raising her. The problem with this was, the daughter was working to pay the bills because her mother was unable. This caused her to miss a lot of school and ended up falling behind. Making the choice that food on the table was more important than school, she lacked a educational knowledge and she also had emotional struggles due to the environment that she was living in. I do think multiple roles are worse than others. Obviously the addict is the main source of the problem. The scapegoat is another role that is harmful. This is harmful because this person is not able to take accountablility for his or her actions. This means that without being able to own up to their mistakes, he or she will continue to blame others for their choices and/or mistakes. Therapy can be important when dealing with the alcoholic family because most of the time, the alcoholic does not see the damage they are causing. Therapy is a good way for children and parents to have an outlet for their emotions and opinions in a controlled and safe environment.
Word Count 340
Alvernia University. (n.d.). Coping With Addiction: 6 Dysfunctional Family Roles. Retrieved August 26, 2021, from https://online.alvernia.edu/infographics/coping-with-addiction-6-dysfunctional-family-roles/
Isis Funez
Week 4 Post 1
COLLAPSE
Hello classmates and Dr. Aaron Brown,
Growing up with extremely young parents and had two children, one of them being an alcoholic and coming from generational addiction in the family, was very difficult. I noticed at a very young age I had a father who had an addiction to alcohol, with my father being gone for long periods of time at parties, to weekends not being present with us, coming home to the smell of liquor from his breath, him not acting like himself when holding a bottle you are not allowed to taste because it is for adults only, and having to take care of yourself rather than the parent take care of you. They were even times my father had accidentally left me and my sibling at a bar or a park from the forgetfulness of his addiction. I think these roles are harmful in the sense of physical, psychological, and emotional. I think especially about the role of the child of the addict; it is more harmful because they’re in the position that they cannot leave and have the least control of, unlike others. Children are in harm’s way of dealing with characteristics of chaos, uncertainty, and having to take care of themselves at a young age.
According to Capuzzi & Stauffer (2020), emotional and physical neglect, high levels of conflict, partner instability, disorganization, violence, and/or physical and sexual abuse are all common. Instead of a place of safety and love, the family environment consists of tension, fear, and shame, and a basic lack of safety, all of which play into the child’s sense of self. These are one of the few things children of addicts have to go through in the future while growing up. Many of these things I had to deal with, though luckily it was not as bad or traumatizing as other kids had to go through and my father was young, ignorant, and loved me and my siblings very much. One article even mentions the long-term effects to children of alcoholics that these children are at higher risk to develop a problem with alcohol and other drugs compared to children of non-alcoholics, and are more likely to marry an alcoholic as well (Children of Alcoholics 2019). I think family therapy can be effective for the alcoholic families’ suffering because by using the addicts’ family members to best encourage and motivate their recovery process and even help strengthen the family system and support the person and their family with this alcohol abuse.
WC: 422
American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy. (2019). Children of Alcoholics. Children of alcoholics. https://aamft.org/Consumer_Updates/Children_of_Alcoholics.aspx?WebsiteKey=8e8c9bd6-0b71-4cd1-a5ab-013b5f855b01.
Capuzzi, D., & Stauffer, M. D. (2020). Foundations of addictions counseling (4th ed.). Pearson.
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