Alcoholism's Children

Approximately 76 million Americans have been exposed to some form of alcoholism within their family; of that number, as many as 27 million are children. While most children of alcoholics (CoAs) remain invisible, a disproportionate number also enter the criminal justice system, courts, prisons, mental health facilities, Employee Assistance Programs, and are referred to school authorities. Alcoholism is a family affair. Every member suffers its effects. In time, all become as sick as the addicted person. CoAs adapt to the chaos and inconsistency in their families by denying their feelings. Many also develop these characteristics: an inability to trust, an overdeveloped sense of responsibility, an addiction to excitement, and fears of abandonment, conflict, loss of control. Priests and men and women religious who grew up with chemically dependent parents also can remember their family's pain. In later years many realize that entering the seminary or formation center gave them some distance from the problems at home. Similar to their fellow ACoAs, they often suffer from feelings of isolation, depression, shame, and experience low self-esteem as well as difficulty maintaining satisfying relationships.This book, written for adult children of alcoholics (ACoAs) and those who know and care about them, is a fully revised and updated text of an earlier edition of Alcoholism's Children: ACoAs in Priesthood and Religious Life. It provides a simple and straightforward explanation of the difficulties ACoAs face and what they must do to recover. Like its predecessor, the book begins by offering an overview of the disease of alcoholism and its progression. The text then moves on to explore the impact that this disease has on each member of the family and the family as a whole. Finally, the process of intervention and the journey of recovery are discussed. The book does not exhaust conversation about alcoholism or its children; rather, it tells briefly the story of a potentially fatal disease that affects millions of Americans and their families. The text also points out that recovery from alcoholism and its legacy is possible, today perhaps more so than ever before. If you are a child from an alcoholic family, reading this book may help convince you of the wisdom of this paradox: the disease that you once thought might take your life can be the very thing that makes it worth living.