Alcoholism

Alcoholism

Alcoholism is a disease of epidemic proportions, affecting 9.3 to 10 million Americans, and many professionals
believe the figures are closer to 20 million (Weddle and Wishon). Alcoholism is a "physiological or physiological
dependence on alcohol characterized by the alcoholic’s inability to control the start or termination of his
drinking"(Encyclopedia Britannica 210). It consists of frequent and recurring consumption of alcohol to an extent
that causes continued harm to the drinker and leads to medical and social problems. Alcoholism, however, does not
merely cause harm to the alcoholic, but to the entire family as well, affecting an estimated 28 million children in this
country (Weddle and Wishon). These children grow up in the unhealthy and abnormal family systems harmed by
alcoholism, carrying the negative effects of this environment with them into adulthood. Consequently, adult children
of alcoholics are the innocent victims of a disease which has shaped thei!
r personalities and behavior as children and will, if not treated, promote their personal disintegration as adults.
Most alcoholics don’t fit the stereotype of the lying in the gutter drunk. Alcoholics are likely to be persons of
intense, if sometimes brief, enthusiasms. They often try to do too much too fast. They tend to demand perfection in
themselves and in others. Frustrated, they may become painfully depressed or overly aggressive. There is a lack of
inner stability with which to fac...

Alcoholism

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