The Affects of Substance Abuse on Family Essay

Alcoholism, although thought mostly of its impact on the alcoholic themselves, it is also a very present problem in the ruining of his or her friends and their families lives. Someone who may be a fully functional, great person to his or her family may be extremely dangerous, dishonest, and destructive while they are under the influence of alcohol. This instance occurs in "The Glass Castle" with Rex Walls and also occurs regularly in our society today, such as abusive parents, and husbands. Without alcohol Rex was intelligent, responsible, honest, and a overall respectable father figure, but when under the

Even though there are many studies that highlight the damaging effects of maternal alcohol use on a fetus in utero, there are a multitude of other substances that are used by pregnant mothers that have similar and even, in some cases, more extreme repercussions such as marijuana, heroin, and cocaine. When speaking about pregnancy and drug use, the most common drug that comes to mind is alcohol. During 12 years of schooling, most people are exposed, at one point or another, to the idea of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and the detrimental effects of alcohol on a fetus in utero. The effects of maternal use of the aforementioned illicit drugs is less studied, partially because they are used less frequently. It is important, however, that as a population, we become more educated about these drugs and the potentially life threatening outcomes for babies in utero.

The short-term impacts of substance abuse, nutrition, and stress on a baby include a premature birth, stillbirth, SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome), and a low birth weight. The long-term impacts, however, greatly exceed the short-term impacts. The long-term physical impacts include cleft lip or palate, clubfoot, obesity, facial disorders, and deformed limbs.

Children of alcoholics (COAs) frequently take on roles of parents and feel responsible for their parent’s problems. Young children often exhibit problem behaviors because of high levels of tension and stress at home. These behaviors may range from younger children having nightmares, bed wetting, and crying to older children, displaying signs of depression, obsessive behaviors with perfectionism, hoarding, or self-consciousness. COAs have no consistency in their home life, which results in learning from their parent’s behavior. This often leads to significant behavior problems because they are unable to control themselves at home or school. Typically, COAs develop pervasive problems that significantly affect their abilities to learn, communicate, and develop friendships. COAs are exposed to more crime and violence due to their alcoholic parent. COA’s have a higher rate of becoming alcoholics themselves and a lower rate of graduating college.

It was a calamitous knock, a knock that brought with it the worst of news that commenced a series of devastating events to follow for years to come. This knock arrived at our door at 5:00 a.m. one morning and it was my brother, Andrew. He refused to reveal the contents of his night, but in his insensible stupor he incessantly demanded for our help in finding his lost car, keys, phone, and wallet. After hours of much endeavor from each family member, Andrew’s car was discovered in a ditch with a blown out tire, his keys in another city miles away from the crash scene, and his wallet and phone were never recovered. My brother’s desperate knock and our cautious opening of the door revealed that Andrew’s misfortunes of that night had derived from the abuse of methamphetamine. This event remains in my mind as the initial incident that began our continuous familial struggle over the past five years.

There are many defects that can happen to your child when you’re drinking while pregnant. There is a disability collectively known as fetal alcohol syndrome disorder. Alcohol also increases the risk factors such as increased risk for other pregnancy problems such as miscarriage, still birth, and preterm birth (Centers for disease control and preventions). Drinking while pregnant can affect the baby even at the beginning of the pregnancy sometimes even before the mother knows she is pregnant. Fetal Alcohol is completely preventable if the

In reading chapters eight and nine of the textbook “Substance abuse and the Family” I found a couple of things that caught my interest. In chapter eight it examines the issues in substance abusing families the forms of power and control placed over the children and the partner who is not taking substances or drinking alcohol. Many times when we hear the term domestic violence our minds immediately go to physical abuse but it can take on other forms of abuse such as sexual, psychological, emotion and economic. The power and control wheel on page 115 really helped me to gain more knowledge on how a person gains power and control over there partner. The eight pathways inside of the wheel demonstrate how easy and often these situations take place

Psychoactive drugs can not only act on the nervous system, but it can also change your moods and modify perceptions (Santrock). Psychoactive drugs can range from consuming caffeine products to taking methamphetamine; but alcohol can be devastating on the mother’s offspring. Alcohol can cause abnormalities, disabilities, and deformities to the fetus when the mother consumes a heavy amount of alcohol. Any form of alcohol can leave a bad affect on the fetus, but it will not get better throughout the child’s life.

Teenage substance abuse can damage relationships and the foundation of the family. Substance abuse puts a lot of stress on the teenager's family members or any one who is part of their life. Drug users are likely to find themselves isolated and withdrawn and have trouble bonding with family members. They often prefer bring in the company of other drug users or participate in some other form of antisocial activity.

In reading chapter one of the textbook “Substance Abuse and Family” I found a couple things that caught my attention and felt were important to know. The first being the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) I first heard about this manual in my Anthropology class two days ago when examining attributes that can lead to disorders such as non-attachments, interpersonal disorganization and mother and child strain. The textbook describes DSM as providing criteria for varies types of substance (mental health) issues, they are clustered by different symptoms that impact individual functioning. Another interesting piece of the chapter was the four species of alcoholism found in the disease model being one of the three primary models of addiction.

A woman who drinks while pregnant can cause harmful effects on the developing fetus because the alcohol passes from the mother’s blood to the child’s blood. This can cause the mother to have a miscarriage, stillbirth, or the child to have developmental issues. A little alcohol might not affect the mother but it can severely harm the fetus. This can cause the fetus to have short term or long term affects. This type of newborn damages is called fetal alcohol syndrome.

Addicts affects their family by a lot of negative aspects on their parents or their children such as felt hurt, rejection, betrayal, devastation, loneliness, jealousy, abandonment, shame, isolation, humiliation, and anger, as well as loss of self-esteem and being lied to repeatedly. Moreover, it also affects the couple's sexual relation which leads to a failed relations that ended by divorce.

Although according to American Academy of Children and Adolescent Psychiatric (Alcohol Use in Family) the child might try to keep a secret the parent alcohol disorder from their others family members, friends, neighbors, and teachers; however, teachers and others should show and express concerns if the child presents truancy, isolation, violence, crimes, constant illnesses, aggression, withdraws, the child may be prone to become an alcoholic as well, and last for not least dangerous behaviors and actions toward themselves or others. Other dangers that a child of an alcoholic parent might encounter besides the emotional abuse and instability are the physical and the sexual abuse. These children are prone to be abuse by their own parents or others and their prone to be become abusers or victims. The effect of an alcoholic parent is not only physical and emotional; it’s also medical and financial. Often when parents are alcoholics according to the America Academy of Experts in Traumatic Stress children are prone to develop diseases and illness due to stress, medical neglect, and birth defects.

Monday thru Friday, Tina wakes up, goes to work, comes home from work, takes off her work clothes, and cracks open a beer, Joose, or a bottle of wine. She does not do this because she had a bad day at work, but because it has truly become a routine in her life. My mom arrives home an hour or so later and if she wanted to go somewhere for dinner or even go for a walk, she knew she would not be able to do so because Tina was already in her nightclothes and drinking. Unfortunately, like many addicts, my step mom, Tina, does not see the impact this is having on her relationship with my mom and family. To say my step mom is an addict would truly be an understatement because of her need and crave for it each day. Unfortunately, alcohol abuse is

Alcoholism, although thought mostly of its impact on the alcoholic themselves, it is also a very present problem in the ruining of his or her friends and their families lives. Someone who may be a fully functional, great person to his or her family may be extremely dangerous, dishonest, and destructive while they are under the influence of alcohol. This instance occurs in "The Glass Castle" with Rex Walls and also occurs regularly in our society today, such as abusive parents, and husbands. Without alcohol Rex was intelligent, responsible, honest, and a overall