Alcohol and Family Problems

Is Alcoholism A Problem in Your Family?

Do You Worry About The Affects
On A Child?

Alcohol and family problems go hand in hand. Alcohol addiction (alcohol substance use disorder) is deemed the most common form of addiction. It is a number one health problem with its destructive effects spreading beyond the addicted individual to include not only the larger society but also family members including the youngest of children.

Children whose parents suffer from a substance use disorder (SUD), including an alcohol use disorder (AUD) are children at risk. The stressors within the family that intersect with AUDs, and other SUDs in a parent create risks for children growing up in these families. These include risks, when compared to children whose parents who do not suffer from a SUD, for developing a range of cognitive, psychosocial, learning, behavioral and emotional concerns. They may show increased risk for developing various disorders such as anxiety and/or depression, antisocial personality disorders and relationship difficulties. Children with parents who suffer from an AUD are 4 times more likely to develop an AUD, than children who grow up in families where an AUD is not a problem. 

If alcohol and family problems, or a family member's addiction to other drugs  are a concern in your family, it is important to intervene early and take preventative steps to help the children  growing up in these often troubled families. Otherwise the psychological concerns they exhibit may escalate and become more difficult to reverse and deal with. Unless we help these children now, the psychological risks they face can follow them into adulthood.

It is essential that parents, caring adults and helping professionals focus on the plight of these children. They must develop an awareness of their issues and the strategies and skills to help them.

Alcohol and Family Problems
A Psycholological Assessment Can Help

Are you worried about a child who is growing up in a family where parental addiction  is a problem? Is he or she showing signs of psychological distress, such as learning, behavioral and/or social and emotional concerns? 

Dr. O'Connor provides in depth, comprehensive school neurpsychological assessments to  get to "the root of the problem."

The school neuropsychological assessment provides a detailed, comprehensive understanding of the problem. It leads to diagnoses that apply to the problem and provides the foundation required to support evidence based interventions to address it. Without a comprehensive assessment to provide this understanding and what is contributing to and maintaining the psychological concerns that worry you will be difficult to address.  

The assessment becomes part of the solution; its findings lead to evidence based interventions to address the psychological concerns in a young person that worry you. 

Learn how a young person is doing when a family member suffers from alcoholism, and/or other substance use disorders. Where are things going well?  Where do you need to intervene to help? What kind of strategies can reduce the risks for these children?

Assess how a child is doing when alcohol and family problems affect your family.  Use this information to develop strategies to help children of addicted parents and reduce the risks they face.

These negative effects are not tied solely to AUDs, or other SUDs, but are also associated with various adverse childhood experiences that intersect with AUDs. There are also protective factors that can reduce or eliminate the risks these children might otherwise face. Not all of these children will show detrimental effects.  Some will show resilience and healthy coping strategies to deal with the challenges and stressors in their lives. 

Nevertheless, children of addicted parents, regardless of the substance use disorder, are children at risk. They are more likely to develop Substance Use Disorders (SUDs) than children of non-addicted parents. They are also at risk, as noted above, for developing various  other psychological mental-health concerns.

Great numbers of these children exist. One in eight children (8.7 million) in the United States under the age of seventeen lives with at least one parent who suffers from a SUD disorder. One in ten children (7.5 million) live in a household with at least one parent with an AUD. They are four times more likely than children who do not grow up in families where alcoholism is a problem to develop an AUD.

Hence, these children are at risk of perpetuating the inter-generational cycle of alcoholism in their own lives.

I CAN BE ME CAN HELP