Mental health experts have identified a set of emotional traits and behaviors that are typical of adult children of alcoholics or parents with other mental health issues. In this article, you’ll learn more about what adult children of alcoholic trauma syndrome is, and how having a parent growing up who struggled with alcoholism may impact your life today. It can take a lifetime for adult children of alcoholics to repair the emotional damage from their childhood. Now you know more about adult children of alcoholic trauma syndrome and certain challenges you may experience if you had a parent that was an alcoholic. Individuals with adult children of alcoholic trauma syndrome may have trouble making and keeping relationships.
- Scientists have compared DNA of family members with addiction issues and found groups of similar genes and the way proteins bind to them in relatives.
- Childhood abuse also increases your risk of addiction in adulthood.14
- A 2012 study that considered 359 adult children of parents with AUD found that they tended to fall within five distinct personality subtypes.
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- Individuals with adult children of alcoholic trauma syndrome may have trouble making and keeping relationships.
Lifestyle Quizzes
Or you may have witnessed them become extremely emotionally volatile while drinking. Pursuing healing through rehab or therapy can help you develop a truer sense of self-love. Your focus becomes avoiding any reason for people to criticize or blame you. And especially when you’re young, the only parts of your life in your control are often your performance in school or extracurriculars. And when someone becomes addicted to alcohol, drinking becomes the priority.5 As a result, working, providing food, and attending school functions fall by the wayside.
Therapy and Counseling for Adult Child Syndrome
Children largely rely on their parents for guidance learning how to identify, express, and regulate emotions. According to a small 2016 study involving 100 children ages 7 to 14, those who had fathers with alcohol dependence were more likely to show signs of impulsivity than those whose fathers did not have alcohol dependence. Below, you’ll find seven potential ways a parent’s AUD can affect you as an adult, along with some guidance on seeking support.
The Impact of Growing Up with an Alcoholic Parent
Moreover, whenever possible, our highly experienced family therapists support young adults to repair the ruptures in their relationships with parents. Overall, adult children often have difficulty with functioning in the adult world, including holding a full-time job and maintaining healthy friendships and romantic relationships. According to research on adverse childhood experiences, having a parent with a mental illness or addiction is a primary cause of childhood trauma.
Initially identified in the context of children of alcoholics, ACS encompasses those from various dysfunctional backgrounds, including addiction, neglect, and abuse. Because of the chaos they experienced at home, adult children of alcoholics often have a strong need for control. Research shows one of the characteristics of adult children of alcoholics is maladaptive attachment styles. The adult child of an alcoholic parent can be triggered in their current life by events that remind them of the negative experiences of childhood. In addition to a higher likelihood of mental health issues, adult children often struggle with intimate relationships. Research shows that adult children of alcoholics have significantly higher rates of anxiety, depression, panic disorder, phobias, and substance use disorder.
If your parent with AUD is willing to attend therapy with you, family therapy can often help rebuild trust and pave the way toward healing. The type of therapy you pursue may depend on the issues you’re most concerned about. “In this process, you’ll process unresolved traumatic experiences and develop tools to formulate healthy relationships and communicate your needs,” she explains. Coping with the lasting effects of a parent’s alcohol use can be difficult, but you don’t have to do it alone.
Help & Support
This may be tied to the fact that mental health disorders have a genetic component and people who have them may abuse alcohol and drugs to cope with the symptoms. Your parents’ substance abuse hinders their ability to be a trusted, stable figure in your life. If your parents abused substances, you may have a genetic predisposition to alcoholism. The unpredictable environment, lack of trust, relationship challenges, and fear can greatly wound a child who depends on their parents for physical and emotional safety. Not many people escape the effects of an alcoholic parent unscathed. However, if young adults find that feeling like a child is negatively affecting their life and social development, it’s important for them to seek help from a mental health professional.
As defined within the context of mental health, an adult child is someone who grew up in a dysfunctional family environment that prevented them from fully maturing emotionally. As an adult, though, you can learn to manage and change specific behaviors that no longer help you, which can improve your overall well-being, quality of life, and relationships with others. The impact of a parent’s alcohol use doesn’t disappear when you hit adulthood, even if you’ve moved out and started life on your own. That’s what makes it so important to get professional support if you find yourself using alcohol to numb emotional distress or mental health symptoms. Conversely, Peifer notes that some children who grow up in these environments may become more attention-seeking in order to fulfill the needs their parents couldn’t meet. Yet while your parent didn’t choose to have AUD, their alcohol use can still affect you, particularly if they never get support or treatment.
According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, nearly 29 million people in the U.S. struggled with alcohol use disorder in 2023. Discover how object permanence in ADHD impacts daily life and strategies to manage related challenges effectively. The modern facility provides a welcoming environment for therapy sessions. We also offer online therapy sessions for your convenience.
- And studies show that ACoAs learn to be hypervigilant20 from a young age to protect themselves.
- Coping with the lasting effects of a parent’s alcohol use can be difficult, but you don’t have to do it alone.
- Consider whether your childhood involved dysfunction, neglect, or trauma.
- Your focus becomes avoiding any reason for people to criticize or blame you.
- Research suggests childhood trauma could double your risk of mental illness later in life.
Dysfunctional Family Dynamics causing Adult Child Syndrome
Because so many children of alcoholics experience similar trauma, many ACoAs face similar challenges. Your childhood and your relationship with your parents can have a significant impact on your mental health and well-being as an adult. Inevitably, this can lead many children with parent(s) who are alcoholics to potentially develop abandonment issues or low self-esteem. Discover various childrens therapy solutions designed to support emotional and psychological development. Adult children of alcoholics often judge themselves harshly.
On the flip side, some children growing up with addicted parents fully reject any responsibility.8 They become dependent on others for functioning. Parental alcohol addiction increases a child’s risk of sexual and physical abuse. No matter how your childhood affects you in the long term, rehabs that treat trauma can help you release the hurt of a childhood affected by alcohol. Growing up with a parent addicted to alcohol can make for a difficult childhood. Researched, fact-checked and transparent articles and guides that offer addiction and mental health insight from experts and treatment professionals. Every month, 150,000 people search for addiction or mental health treatment on Recovery.com.
You’ll have access to professionals who understand what you’ve experienced in childhood and how it’s still affecting you. “Emotional sobriety,”22 a term first coined by AA founder Bill Wilson, is what people in recovery gain once they learn to regulate their emotions. Many rehabs offer trauma-informed programs to help you heal from your past, and learn healthy ways to communicate and cope. Growing up without being able to trust others or even rely on your parent for consistent affection may make you fear intimacy in adulthood. And ACoAs are also at greater risk for addiction to drugs other than alcohol. It’s hard to predict your parents’ next move and you never really know if your needs are going to be met or ignored.
Healthy relationships are often hard to come by for adult children of alcoholics. Adult children of alcoholics (ACoAs) are people who grew up in a home with one or more parents addicted to alcohol. There are several different signs and symptoms of PTSD and trauma exhibited by adult children of alcoholics.
Rehab for Adult Children of Alcoholics
Furthermore, treatment can support recovery from depression, anxiety, substance use disorder, and other mental health adult children of alcoholic trauma syndrome conditions arising from childhood trauma. Unfortunately, being raised by a parent who struggled with mental health and/or substance abuse issues increases the likelihood that an adult child will also experience these issues. A parent’s mental health or substance use issues can lead to physical or emotional abuse or neglect of their child(ren).
Our mission is to help everyone find the best path to recovery through the most comprehensive, helpful network of treatment providers worldwide. Cut-offs cut deep and wide, their emotional impact reverberating far beyond the combatants. Similar to PTSD, any one symptom can be problematic and can have a negative impact on the quality of life for the individual.
Adult child syndrome originally referred to the experiences and symptoms of children aged 18 and up who grew up in a home where one or more parents or caregivers suffered from alcohol use disorder. Adult child syndrome is characterized by an inability to navigate adult decisions and relationships due to the long-term impact of childhood trauma. According to Peifer, a mental health professional can help you connect deep-rooted fears and wounds stemming from childhood to behaviors, responses, and patterns showing up in your adult life. You’re not to blame if you learned to use alcohol as a means of dealing with trauma from your childhood, but you can always take action to learn new, more helpful coping mechanisms. According to White, this may happen partly because children often learn to mirror the characteristics of their parents. “Adult children of parents with AUD may find closeness with others somewhat uncomfortable given a deep-rooted fear that becoming connected to someone else means a significant risk of emotional pain,” says Peifer.
Mental Health
Explore rehabs that treat trauma to learn more about treatment methods, pricing, and more, and reach out to centers directly. At many rehabs, you can find support groups for people experiencing the same issues. Many ACoAs experience the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as a result of their childhood. And childhood trauma tends to stay with us in many forms, sometimes without us realizing it.
While growing up, you learned to stuff your feelings to survive in a home where they weren’t welcomed. As a result of the relationship dynamics in your family, you may feel terrified of abandonment or have difficulty with intimate relationships. This is especially difficult because you’re not developmentally, intellectually, or emotionally equipped to do so. You’re also put in the position of having to “parent” yourself in a dysfunctional home. These types of trends weren’t found in people without substance use disorders. The individual you should be able to go to for comfort, support, and protection is the same one causing you anxiety and harmful feelings about yourself.
