With alcoholism, as with any disease, the effects on family and society can be, and usually are devastating. I would like to take this time to explain, from a family members point of view, how this disease affects the family, with emphasis being on the children in the household.

This disease is contagious - I am not saying contagious in the typical, if you are around an alcoholic you will become one, way. I am saying that if you are around an alcoholic you will become part of the disease. This is just an unfortunate fact. there are several ways this happens, but the most common is becoming codependent.

What is Codependency?

Codependency describes the unhealthy behaviors that develop when people adapt to the dysfunctional life of the alcoholic. Codependent individuals tend to base their actions and feelings on the needs of the alcoholic, often failing to meet their own needs or serve their best interest. Codependents may exhibit many of the symptoms of dependency that the alcoholic displays, however, this is in reaction to the disease instead of as a result of the disease.

Important Facts to understand in dealing with children of alcoholics -

Alcoholism affects the entire family -


Living with a non-recovering alcoholic in the family can contribute to stress for all members of the family. Each member of a family is affected differently, so there is not one treatment that will work for everyone.

Children, who were raised in alcoholic families, have different life experiences than children raised in non-alcoholic families. These may be similar to children raised in other types of dysfunctional families.

Children living with a non-recovering alcoholic often score lower on measures of family cohesion, intellectual-cultural orientation, active-recreational orientation, and independence. They also usually experience higher levels of conflict within the family.

Many children of alcoholics often have issues relating to other family members, and consider them distant and non-communicative.

Children of alcoholics may be hampered by their inability to grow in developmentally healthy ways.

My hope with this article is that more people will start to understand the many obstacles families of alcoholics have to deal with on a regular basis. As with all my articles this is a starting point and would love to hear all your comments on this topic, so that we can start to take the veil off of this subject.