Addiction and Family Dynamics: What You Should Know

Impact on the children:

Studies show that about one in five children grows up in a home with a parent who has SUD (substance use disorder).  When a parent is addicted, they are either high or sleeping it off and aren’t meeting the child’s basic needs.  These children are often left hungry and unclean.  Secondary needs of the child are also neglected such as their social life or education.

Research also shows that the neglect and abuse these children experience can increase their chance of becoming substance abusers themselves later in life.

Also, there is a correlation between parental addiction and a child’s self-confidence, physical and emotional health, and social development.

Broken promises = broken trust:

Somewhere deep inside, an addicted person may mean to keep their promises, obligations, or commitments.  However, the effects of the substance they abuse render them unable to do so.  After repeated instances of broken promises, family members, especially children, lose trust in the individual.  This lack of trust can lead to broken marriages and dysfunctional children.

High levels of stress:

Most substance abusers leave it for family members to take care of daily responsibilities.  Things like paying bills, cooking, cleaning, and taking care of the kids are left for the spouse to perform.  Taking on all of these responsibilities in addition to taking care of the addicted child or spouse can cause stress-induced issues such as high blood pressure, anxiety, depression, and other health problems.

When this added stress puts family members on edge, physical abuse can occur in addition to the emotional abuse.  This behavior can cause children or adults to act out in unexpected ways.  Eventually, it becomes a cycle that no one in the family knows how to break.

Financial distress:

Financing a drug or alcohol addiction is costly.  It becomes even more of a financial issue when the person loses their job due to the SUD.  Eventually, he or she depletes the savings account, if there was one.  Family members have to begin paying for basic needs such as food, utilities, clothing, or rent.

Fear and confusion:

Substance abusers often display unpredictable behavior.  Family members never know what to expect from one day to the next.  Their fear of being physically or emotionally abused leaves them walking on eggshells so as not to upset the addicted individual.  This culture of fear and confusion keeps everyone living a joyless life.  Addiction and family dynamics often include these negative emotions that often affect a person’s life outside the family.