Could My Child Be an Alcoholic?
From the moment you have a child, you feel responsible for every choice they make. For some parents, they want to control their children because of the way the child’s choices reflect on their parenting. Others want to control their children to protect them, to shield them from harm. Still others simply feel authoritarian parenting to be the best approach.
Regardless of your reasoning, you probably feel the need to control your child’s relationship with drugs and alcohol. This is the case even when your children are adults.
When it comes to your child’s relationship with alcohol, you may be even more troubled because you know there is a genetic component. What if you passed on the gene?
Before you get too stressed, you need to objectively look at the behavior your child shows when dealing with alcohol. You may not be getting the full truth. You may never even see your child drink, but there are other signs you should be aware of as well.
If you believe your child is showing signs of an alcohol use disorder, you need to help them. You can’t do the treatment for them, but you can research it and lead them to the resources they need. Contact Disorders.com at 888-647-0051 (Who Answers?) and speak to someone who can help you with your research into alcohol treatment.
Genetics
As genetics play a role in alcoholism, it’s good to discuss them in a conversation about whether or not your child is an alcoholic. According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, genetics certainly influence the chances that someone will be an alcoholic, but it isn’t as simple as people make out. Genes are responsible for about half of the risk of alcoholism; other factors make up the remaining 50 percent.
If you or someone in your family have an alcohol abuse problem, the chances that your child inherited that genetic trait increase. If multiple people in the family have a problem, those odds go even higher. If this is the case in your family, your child may be and alcoholic or may develop into one.
High Functioning Alcoholics
Genetics are responsible for half of one’s risk of becoming an alcoholic.
If your child is a low-functioning alcoholic and their life is a mess and they smell like liquor, you probably know they have a problem. High-functioning alcoholics, on the other hand, are harder to detect and therefore face more danger of remaining untreated.
Look for:
- a single alcoholic drink setting off a craving
- an obsession about the next drinking opportunity
- personality changes and/or compromised morals when intoxicated
- repeated unwanted drinking patterns and behaviors
- skill at living a compartmentalized life (separating their professional and drinking lives)
A high functioning alcoholic child won’t send out the usual signals. You will have to keep a very close eye on them and look for smaller hints.
Addictive Personality
If your child is not showing clear signs of alcoholism: like blackouts and drunk driving and a crumbling life, they may still show signs they have addiction potential. Although addictive personality is not an actual medical diagnosis, studies show that there are traits common among addicts. They include:
- Inability to Control Impulsive Behavior
- Addictive personalities are drawn to living on the edge. If your child has difficulty resisting their urges and actively seeks out chaos because it feels good, they may be at increased risk of alcohol addiction.
- Weak Commitment to Personal Goals & Values
- Because addictive personalities chase urges on a whim, they tend to be unable to commit to goals and behaviors for any length of time. Combined with the escapist elements of alcohol abuse, inability to commit may become crippling.
- Constant Stress and Anxiety
- Addicts tend to be high strung. Constantly following desires and failing to achieve goals are the foundations of a very tense life. As everyone around your child is able to settle down and achieve, your child will feel pressured to do the same and rather tense because they can’t. This can lead them to depend upon alcohol as the means to relax.
- Recurring Themes of Social Alienation
- Addicts tend to be isolated. Just as they struggle to achieve goals, they struggle to maintain connections. Their commitment to impulsivity makes them hard to keep up with and thy may also be too intense for casual relationship building.
- Mood Swings & Negative Self Worth
- Isolation and stress lead to low self-esteem among those with addictive personality. In addition, regular trouble achieving goals further erodes their self-respect.
If your child shows some of the signs listed above and you have a history of alcoholism in your family, your child may be struggling with alcoholism. To connect to resources and better understand the situation you find yourself in, contact Disorders.com at 888-647-0051 (Who Answers?) .
https://www.disorders.org/growing-up-sober-a-challenging-journey-for-adult-children-of-alcoholics/
