A parent is an exclusive personality and security system for a child that no other person in the world can impose as. Especially if a child is young and in the developing stages of life, he or she will need their parent the most to depend on. Infants won’t be able to find comfort in the unknown world outside a womb.
If a parent is suffering from addiction and depression, they will be neglecting the child, and even if they try their best, they can’t healthily provide to them. Addiction releases a person of responsibility and makes them forget about their worries and their children. One addicted parent can have alcoholism effects on family and cause the following psychological difficulties in children.
Judge themselves
Kids have a great need for attention, mostly from the supervisor of the house. They need information about themselves and need to know what to do with their lives. If this information is not provided to them, they can get off tracked and start to make assumptions.
They can begin to judge themselves differently than what they are worth. Alcoholic parents aren’t able to provide full attention to a child. They don’t find time outside of drowning into their own fears and stress. As a consequence, a child has to create a world of their own and judge themselves.
Social distancing
One of the most influential and effecting damages of neglect of an addicted parent is social awkwardness in the child. If a child doesn’t learn social interaction at home, he/she won’t know how to mingle with people of their surroundings and may distance themselves. In another instance, they will limit their interactions due to the guilt of having alcoholic parents. They won’t want to talk about their parents to their peers to avoid embarrassment.
Unable to Trust
Due to feeling isolated in a house where there are parents but no attention to worries or concerns, children can build a sense of mistrust in other personalities around them.
If there is constant neglect from parents, kids may lose to trust and confide in people. This can be a significant setback for them. It can prevent them from socialising and making essential bonds with people in the future.
Fear
Most children of alcoholic parents will develop fear due to their parents’ alcohol influenced acts. Alcohol makes people vulnerable and becomes the cause of dispute inside a home. With daily sessions of conflict and quarrels, a child can develop fear with no way of an outlet.
Sudden outbursts from parents and their erratic behavior towards children can make them quiver, which can stem deep roots and cause problems for them later in life.
Addiction
It’s a given that kids follow everything their parents say and do. Parents are the first and only source to learn from as a child grows up, and parents’ actions become kids’ actions in no time. Hence a child can simply walk in the footsteps of an adult, not knowing if it is right or wrong and start drinking as well.
In another circumstance, when a child goes through neglect and abuse due to alcoholic parents, they develop depression and then use alcohol to adhere to it.
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Image credit: Freepik
Peter Wallace has been an advocate for mental health awareness for years. He holds a master’s degree in counselling from the University of Edinburgh.
