The Adult Child of an Alcoholic

Paper Summary:

This paper looks at the adult child of an alcoholic. It includes the family dynamics and roles each member plays in the family of the alcoholic. The paper also includes definitive personality traits which extensive research has found in most adults who grew up on homes with alcoholic parents. The paper includes a personal perspective.

Paper Outline:
Family Rules
Rigidity
Silence
Denial
Isolation
Family Roles
The Family Hero
The Scapegoat
The Lost Child
The Mascot
Characteristics of the AcoA
References

From the Paper:

"Denial is an unconscious rejection of an unacceptable reality. Denial plays a central role in the life of every alcoholic family. The first and most basic lie is the family's denial of the problem. For CoAs, accepting their parents' denial is the path to peace and openly rejecting it is the gravest of offenses (Deutsch, 1982). Children are taught to ignore the behavior of the alcoholic and pretend that nothing is wrong; they are taught to pretend they are 'normal'. Inside feelings rarely match what family members are feeling on the inside. Denial becomes embedded in the CoA. Denial continues on into adulthood. AcoAs denial stems from an internal preoccupation with avoiding pain. Once the real source of feelings is denied, pain becomes source less, and therefore all the more difficult to acknowledge (Cermak, 1988). For children, denial becomes extremely important."

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