Childhood Trauma and Alcoholism
Alcoholism has negative social, economic, mental, and emotional effects. However, the effects are not only felt by the people who take alcohol, but also by their children who suffer indirectly. The exposure to alcohol at their young age traumatizes them, and if they do not receive any psychiatric help, they may suffer from the effects of the trauma in their adult life. It is for this reason that this paper will explore the different effects that arise as a result of being exposed to alcoholism in their homes.
Bellis, M. A., Hardcastle, K., Ford, K., Hughes, K., Ashton, K., Quigg, Z., & Butler, N. (2017). Does continuous trusted adult support in childhood impart life-course resilience against adverse childhood experiences-a retrospective study on adult health-harming behaviors and mental well-being. BMC psychiatry, 17(1), 110.
This article discusses the impact of the harmful behaviors that adults engage in on the children under their care. Bellis and Colleagues (2017) argue that the existence of adverse childhood experiences and household issues such as domestic violence put children in the households at risk of experiencing trauma in their current and future experiences in life. This being so, alcoholism is the main cause of the household issues experienced in the majority of the homes, and therefore can also be attributed as among the main causes of childhood trauma. When people are under the influence of alcohol, the possibility of them losing control of themselves and acting inappropriately even in the presence of children and the possibility of the children being traumatized and becoming mentally and emotionally scarred from the experiences that they are subjected to. Additionally, the children raised in households experiencing issues as a result of being raised in homes with such issues have higher possibilities of also becoming alcoholics and being abusers in their families, creating a vicious cycle of abuse.
Berent, D., Emilien, G., Podgórski, M., Kusideł, E., Kulczycka-Wojdala, D., Szymańska, B., & Pawłowska, Z. (2017). SSTR4, childhood adversity, self-efficacy and suicide risk in alcoholics. Translational neuroscience, 8(1), 76-86.
This article discusses the effects of exposing children to alcoholism. On a positive note, children who come from homes that have witnessed alcoholism are likelier to develop life skills such as self-efficacy. The negligence that they are exposed to due to their parents’ alcoholism makes the children develop the skills to help them survive the harsh conditions that they are exposed to as a result of lack of close adult supervision and care. The children are therefore likelier to be independent and self-sufficient and develop problem-solving skills quicker and earlier in life than those who are not exposed to such conditions. However, the traumatic experiences in the children are likely to lead to depression and the possibility of the children being at risk of committing suicide. If left unchecked, the trauma experienced may lead to depression and other mental health conditions such as anxiety which may complicate the lives of the children into adulthood. When the coping mechanisms that the children from such homes do not work, they may turn to other forms of coping such as drug and alcohol abuse, and when these do not work too, they may seek the permanent solution to the problem, which is suicide.
Berenz, E. C., Vujanovic, A., Rappaport, L. M., Kevorkian, S., Gonzalez, R. E., Chowdhury, N., … & Amstadter, A. (2018). A multimodal study of childhood trauma and distress tolerance in young adulthood. Journal of aggression, maltreatment & trauma, 27(7), 795-810.
Childhood trauma exposes children to issues that they are not supposed to be experiencing at their tender ages. The continued exposure creates a situation whereby the children have to formulate solutions to the social, mental, and emotional effects of the trauma and move towards healing. Therefore, children and young adults who have gone through traumatic experiences due to exposure to alcoholism by their parents develop tolerance to distress and difficult situations both at their young ages which cross over into adulthood. Tolerance to trauma helps them to develop skills through which they can stay calm and objective even in difficult situations and formulate solutions to the problems as the situations demand. However, tolerance to distress may lead to adverse ends, especially when the tolerance is built up over a long period and there are no outlets for the built-up stress. In such cases, the people who have these issues may end up developing mental disorders, which may inadvertently lead them to become alcoholics.
Farrelly, C. M. (2017). The Role of Trauma in Alcoholism Risk and Age of Alcoholism Onset
Trauma in children due to alcoholism by one or both of the parents poses the possibility of the children suffering from trauma. The trauma causes mental and emotional damage to the children concerned, and therefore they may look for ways through which they can cope with the stress that they are exposed to. Due to the impressionable nature of children, the possibility of the children exposed to alcoholism at home taking up alcoholism is increased. Because of the availability of alcohol in their homes and the behaviors of parents which encourage them, children who come from homes with alcoholic parents are likelier to start drinking at a considerably lower age compared to their peers who do not have exposure to alcohol at home. Additionally, children may take up drinking alcohol as a way of expressing rebellion to the set rules and regulations, which may end up with them becoming addicted to the lifestyle. Therefore, children who are exposed to alcoholism at home should be given extra attention so that they can be averted from possibly taking up alcoholism and following the same path set by their parents.
Hagström, A. S. (2019). Childhood narratives about the experience of growing up with alcoholic parents. Nordic Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 36(3), 299-301.
Despite different adults giving their narratives, the existence of trauma as an effect of growing up with alcoholic parents was evident. Alcoholism changes the thinking of the parents, in that they subjected their children to social and economic friction due to their addictions. For example, the respondents in the study mentioned suffering from the lack of basic needs such as food and clothing as their parents sought to satisfy their addictions. The results include the children dropping out of school, suffering from emotional and physical abuse, and the development of mental problems and complications such as depression and anxiety. There was also the development of life skills such as hard work, problem-solving, and self-efficacy from the children who grew up in homes with alcoholic parents. People who grew up with alcoholic parents also had to learn how to become responsible for themselves and others from an early age, since they needed to develop systems through which they could regulate themselves and those who were under their influence, such as younger siblings.
Moustafa, A. A., Parkes, D., Fitzgerald, L., Underhill, D., Garami, J., Levy-Gigi, E., … & Misiak, B. (2018). The relationship between childhood trauma, early-life stress, and alcohol and drug use, abuse, and addiction: An integrative review. Current Psychology, 1-6.
The trauma that children are exposed to early in life creates room for the development of mental health issues. First, the children develop stress due to the issues brought about by the alcoholism of their parents. The socioeconomic effects of alcoholism in the parents are felt by the children since the preference of alcohol to taking care of the basic needs of their children leads to the children living in fear and anxiety. Also, there is the development of trauma and stigma when one comes from a family known to have alcoholic parents, and therefore this leads to the development of social anxiety in the children from the respective families. The stress associated with these conditions leads to the children taking up alcohol and other drugs as a way of coping with the stress that they experience. When the stress experienced is not addressed by a psychiatrist, then the behaviors will become addictions which they will suffer from even in adulthood.
Price, A., Cook, P. A., Norgate, S., & Mukherjee, R. (2017). Prenatal alcohol exposure and traumatic childhood experiences: A systematic review. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 80, 89-98.
The effects of being under the influence of alcohol by parents are discussed in this article. The exposure of parents to alcohol leads to trauma in the children concerned. The trauma leads to harmful effects on the nervous and neurobiological system of the children, which results in behavioral changes. This explains the antisocial and unruly behavior expressed by children who come from homes where the parents are alcoholics, whereby the children are affected and traumatized, leading to changes in their thinking, attitudes, and behaviors, making them aggressive, which leads to bullying and other forms of mischief in the society. Therefore, the negative effects of exposure to alcohol affect children mentally, emotionally and socially, and due to the negative example set on turning to alcohol for consolation, the possibility of the children using alcohol as a coping mechanism to help them keep up with the situations at home and the effects of the trauma that they got. The effects of exposure of children to alcoholism at homes may also result in the children concerned taking up crime to support themselves during their time at home and when they leave as adults.
Schwandt, M. L., Heilig, M., Hommer, D. W., George, D. T., & Ramchandani, V. A. (2013). Childhood trauma exposure and alcohol dependence severity in adulthood: mediation by emotional abuse severity and neuroticism. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 37(6), 984-992.
The negative outcomes of childhood trauma as a result of alcoholism at home are linked to the possibility of the children from the said homes becoming alcoholics themselves later in life. Children learn through observation of the people in their lives, and therefore exposure to alcohol-intake by their parents leads to them normalizing the behaviors. The possibility of the children taking up alcoholism later in life is also increased in the process since they will have normalized the behaviors, as well as making them turn to alcohol as a coping mechanism to the issues that they will face in their lives, as well as the trauma that they experienced while growing up. Homes in which either one or both of the parents take alcohol experience domestic issues which results in the children becoming mentally and emotionally traumatized. When this happens, the children experience issues in their lives, and if they do not get the emotional support that they require, they will end up taking up alcoholism as a way of coping with the issues in their present and past lives.
Skaflestad, A. (2019). Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and Alcohol Use in Native American Young Adults: A Systematic Review.
Adverse childhood experiences are the leading cause of trauma in children. When parents are alcoholics, the possibility of their behaviors leading to harsh conditions at home is increased. Alcoholism causes people to be unable to hold jobs for long, therefore making it hard for them to provide for the needs of their children. When children’s needs are unattended to, they may develop trauma, in that they may feel emotionally and mentally affected to the point of being unable to function properly in childhood and into adulthood, if the conditions go unchecked. The exposure to adverse childhood experiences and the trauma that follows has been attributed to the increased numbers of young Adults of Native American heritage becoming alcoholics. In the study conducted, many attributed their alcoholism to the lack of proper support systems to help them adapt to the needs of the situations that they went through, such as psychiatric services, support groups, or the availability of counseling services. This, therefore, shows that despite the trauma suffered during childhood, the effects of the situation can be contained through the use of proper intervention methods.
Stolzenburg, S., Tessmer, C., Corrigan, P. W., Böttge, M., Freitag, S., Schäfer, I., … & Schomerus, G. (2018). Childhood trauma and self-stigma of alcohol dependence: Applying the progressive model of self-stigma. Stigma and Health, 3(4), 417.
Alcohol dependence is at times categorized as a mental illness, and there is a stigma attached to the social problem. The social stigma associated with alcoholism leads to the problem becoming more aggravated since the people suffering from alcoholism further develop the complication of self-stigmatization. Self-stigmatization occurs when an alcoholic is aware of the stigma associated with alcoholism, internalizes, and agrees to the stereotypes associated with alcoholism and applies them to their lives. It is therefore through the stigmatization of alcoholism and alcoholics in society that many people suffering from the condition worsen since they increase their intake of alcohol as a way of showing their rebellion to the stigma that they face. The situation is worsened when one suffers from childhood trauma from growing up with alcoholic parents, since the stigma is also felt by the children, who may, in turn, take up alcoholism as a way of pushing back to the way society has been treating them while they were victims, thus resulting in the increased rates of alcoholism in society.
Conclusion
Alcoholism has adverse effects on the people who take it directly and those around them. When children live with alcoholic parents, they end up becoming traumatized, and this results in mental and emotional damage to the children. Additionally, children who grow up with alcoholic parents are likelier to start drinking alcohol and abusing other drugs at a younger age than normal, and they are also more susceptible to suffering from mental complications due to the trauma that they were exposed to from a young age. It is therefore advisable that children from homes that had alcoholic parents be taken through counseling and psychotherapy so that the negative effects of alcoholism does not affect their lives in adulthood.
References
Bellis, M. A., Hardcastle, K., Ford, K., Hughes, K., Ashton, K., Quigg, Z., & Butler, N. (2017). Does continuous trusted adult support in childhood impart life-course resilience against adverse childhood experiences-a retrospective study on adult health-harming behaviors and mental well-being. BMC psychiatry, 17(1), 110.
Berent, D., Emilien, G., Podgórski, M., Kusideł, E., Kulczycka-Wojdala, D., Szymańska, B., … & Pawłowska, Z. (2017). SSTR4, childhood adversity, self-efficacy and suicide risk in alcoholics. Translational neuroscience, 8(1), 76-86.
Berenz, E. C., Vujanovic, A., Rappaport, L. M., Kevorkian, S., Gonzalez, R. E., Chowdhury, N., … & Amstadter, A. (2018). A multimodal study of childhood trauma and distress tolerance in young adulthood. Journal of aggression, maltreatment & trauma, 27(7), 795-810.
Farrelly, C. M. (2017). The Role of Trauma in Alcoholism Risk and Age of Alcoholism Onset.
Hagström, A. S. (2019). Childhood narratives about the experience of growing up with alcoholic parents. Nordic Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 36(3), 299-301.
Moustafa, A. A., Parkes, D., Fitzgerald, L., Underhill, D., Garami, J., Levy-Gigi, E., … & Misiak, B. (2018). The relationship between childhood trauma, early-life stress, and alcohol and drug use, abuse, and addiction: An integrative review. Current Psychology, 1-6.
Price, A., Cook, P. A., Norgate, S., & Mukherjee, R. (2017). Prenatal alcohol exposure and traumatic childhood experiences: A systematic review. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 80, 89-98.
Schwandt, M. L., Heilig, M., Hommer, D. W., George, D. T., & Ramchandani, V. A. (2013). Childhood trauma exposure and alcohol dependence severity in adulthood: mediation by emotional abuse severity and neuroticism. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 37(6), 984-992.
Skaflestad, A. (2019). Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and Alcohol Use in Native American Young Adults: A Systematic Review.
Stolzenburg, S., Tessmer, C., Corrigan, P. W., Böttge, M., Freitag, S., Schäfer, I., … & Schomerus, G. (2018). Childhood trauma and self-stigma of alcohol dependence: Applying the progressive model of self-stigma. Stigma and Health, 3(4), 417.