A child from a family of alcoholics and difficulties in adapting him to society. The article will discuss possible ways to rehabilitate such children with the help of a close circle and competent specialists. Children of alcoholics are a factor that is not only a personal problem, but also becomes, in some cases, an important issue of a social scale. Our younger generation should become a worthy replacement for the parents who gave them life, if they themselves are a role model for their offspring. Otherwise, there is a threat of degradation of a certain stratum of the population, which can lead to disastrous consequences. It is necessary to understand the voiced problem in order to be able to find ways to eliminate the alarming prospects for society.
Signs of a child from a family of alcoholics
The green serpent has not yet painted a single person, making him, after excessive libations, a wiser and more far-sighted person. In most cases, the problems of a lover of intoxicating drinks become exclusively a headache for the drunkard himself, if it does not concern his offspring.
Children in a family of alcoholics live according to the usual scenario, which is deposited on their subconscious as follows:
- Low self-esteem … In extremely rare cases, the child will be proud of the family, where both parents like to put on the collar. If either dad or mom suffers from alcoholism, then the situation may not escalate to the size of a catastrophe. In this case, children are to some extent protected from an inadequate person due to the support of a non-drinking family member. Recently, however, situations have become more frequent when both parents actively and systematically drink alcohol. This soon becomes an obvious fact for the inner circle, which begins to actively discuss the problem that has arisen. The child, being in the epicenter of gossip and condemnation, begins to feel like a second-class person. The understanding that “I am not like everyone else” becomes a verdict for a small person who has lost the support of adults.
- Discretion in communication … After the launch of the mechanism of low self-esteem, the second stage of the negative influence of alcoholism of the parents on the psychological state of the child begins. If you are ashamed of the main members of your family, then you do not want to show their "achievements" on display. It is a shame to invite friends to the house, because there is an eternal holiday under the influence of a glass of intoxicating drink. At the same time, unfortunate parents do not always bother to clean up their home, so it very often has a very unsightly appearance.
- Inability to say no … In families where adults like to pamper themselves with alcohol, children who are indecisive in their actions very often grow up. A person in a state of alcoholic intoxication is in many cases uncontrollable, which cannot but affect his loved ones. In this case, the child becomes a hostage to the situation, which then makes him an obedient puppet for everyone and for life.
- Failure to adapt … Society often dictates rather strict rules for being in it. Consequently, children from a family of alcoholics in many cases are not ready to become full-fledged members of society. This inability to adapt to reality makes the life of a child from a dysfunctional family problematic and hopeless.
- Increased suggestibility … Some adults who suffer from alcoholism are able to influence their children in the most negative way. In order to justify an immoral lifestyle, they are ready to shoulder the entire burden of their actions on the shoulders of their child. Such small personalities begin to reproach themselves for the alcoholism of dads and moms, then turning self-flagellation into a persistent guilt complex.
- Abandoning extreme thinking … Children from problem families are often unable to find the right way out of a critical situation. With any problem, they try to withdraw into themselves, because, as a rule, they are deprived of support and wise advice from adults.
- Increased aggressiveness … In some cases, not wanting to put up with the negative environment in the house, children of alcoholics turn into little rebels. From that moment on, they immediately begin to have serious problems when communicating with peers and teachers. Sometimes it becomes either just defensive aggression, or copying the behavior of one of the aggressive parents.
- Propensity to delinquency … Such imitative behavior arises from excessive neurotization and instability in the emotional and volitional terms. Due to the voiced problems, the child can turn into a petty thief, a vagabond and a bully.
Important! In addition to the listed signs of a possible model of behavior of children of alcoholics, one should also remember about changes in their physical condition. Heredity of this kind can lead to serious diseases, which will become chronic over time.
What is ACA syndrome
Psychotherapists called this phenomenon the syndrome of "adult children of alcoholics", which corresponds to the sounded abbreviation. Statistics show that almost half of the population (40%) has ACA. Even at a conscious age, people with a similar problem remain children, which prevents them from adapting in society.
At the genetic level, the syndrome of children of alcoholics is expressed in a predisposition to the same addictions that their parents suffered. The life pattern of the sounded category of people can be characterized as follows:
- Difficulty choosing a partner … A person with serious problems, the roots of which go back to childhood, often repel members of the opposite sex with their behavior. It is always easier to strike up a relationship with positive people without a family tragedy in the past than with unfortunate ones. In addition, many are afraid of the likely harmful heredity of the prospective partner, so they are wary of marrying him.
- The impossibility of realizing oneself as a parent … Not always the voiced factor is a verdict for a person with ACA syndrome, but it still occurs quite often. An example of a family model in the past, imposed by would-be parents, can play a cruel joke on a child who has become an adult. There is a fairly high percentage of the likelihood that he will do the same in relation to his offspring, making him unhappy.
- Employment problems … If a person with ACA syndrome has followed in the footsteps of his parents, then he should forget about a successful career and self-realization. Not a single workaholic or just a successful person will allow himself to abuse alcohol even in his free time. Employers either do not enroll such people in their staff, or try to get rid of them over time.
- Complex relationships with the environment … The first problem in contact with people will be the tendency of the person with ACA to lie. For him, deceiving or outright deceiving is not wrong. In his house, where the green serpent reigned, this behavior was the norm. Consequently, in the future, a child from a family of alcoholics often acts according to the principle that was characteristic of his parents. The second problem in the communication of such individuals can be called their distrust of people. However, in some cases, a person with ACA syndrome will go to the other extreme in the form of complete dependence on the opinions of other people.
Note! The sounded phenomenon is able to completely destroy both the personal life of the poor fellow and his professional growth. You should not run the situation to the point where a point of no return occurs.
Features of helping children from a family of alcoholics
To prevent the problem from escalating into the already described ACA syndrome, it is necessary to take its solution with all responsibility. In this case, you cannot do without the help of the close circle, which must ring all the bells in the name of saving the child.
Social support for children from disadvantaged families
Such rehabilitation can significantly change the life of a victim of parental promiscuity and irresponsibility. A social orphan is not such a rare occurrence as it might seem at first glance.
Helping such unfortunate children is really in the following way:
- Patronage … The functional components of the announced event include assistance, prevention and social protection of a child in a difficult situation. Such guardianship helps in a number of cases either completely eliminate or minimize risk factors in children of alcoholic parents.
- The work of the psychological and pedagogical center … Children from problem families can themselves seek help from such institutions. This helps the propaganda of the sounded centers in educational institutions. Any child is given the opportunity to get advice from experienced specialists if he calls or personally visits this organization.
- Organization of individual training … Social educators should carefully monitor children who need this form of learning. Family alcoholism often has an extremely negative impact on the physical and mental abilities of the child. Consequently, he cannot fully master the program, which is designed for the study of children with stable indicators of general development.
- Preventive interviews … Medics and representatives of the juvenile affairs inspectorate need to actively campaign against the use of alcohol and drugs among the population. This will be helped by giving concrete examples of the consequences of such addictions, as well as demonstrating films on this topic.
Psychological classes with children from a family of alcoholics
In some cases, participation and a kind word can work wonders even for the most desperate people. Every child is a fragile vessel that can be filled with both the poison of distrust and the nectar of tolerance and humanism.
Psychologists offer the following methods of dealing with the voiced problem, which have positively proven themselves:
- SAN technique … Created in the early 70s, the method of identifying the activity of a person and a person's mood is very helpful when working with children of alcoholic parents. Based on the data of this questionnaire, it is possible to organize further patronage for families, which cause alarm among teachers and social services. Also of interest are the "Freiburg Aggressiveness Questionnaire" and "Taylor's Anxiety Level Measurement Methodology", the basis of which can be used in the study of the voiced problem.
- Correction of neuropsychiatric disorders in a child … In this case, a small person affected by adults needs to create the most comfortable positive environment. In this case, one cannot do without the help of a psychotherapist, therefore, teachers and the child's close circle must urgently ask for help from specialists.
- Complex medical therapy … Very often, the children of alcoholics suffered physically due to negative heredity, if the parents took too much alcohol during the conception of the baby and while carrying it. Consequently, the child will need the help of speech therapists, therapists, and in some cases even psychiatrists.
- Preventing learning difficulties … With the voiced way of solving the problem, specialists in the field of healing human souls should come to the aid of social workers. There are a large number of tests and methods that allow you to identify gaps in the knowledge of a child living in an alcoholic family. Their decoding will make it possible to adjust the school curriculum of such children, and in the most difficult case, they should be transferred to individual training.
- Sensory cocktail treatment … The little patient will respond positively to something that will bring pleasant emotions to his ear and eyes. Calm melodic music, numerous interesting objects of different shapes and sizes, as well as measured human speech can work wonders with such children.
Recommendations for working with children of alcoholics
Corrective work in this direction requires great wisdom from adults. Teachers and young professionals without experience should adhere to the following recommendations for communicating with wards from a problem family:
- Lack of comparisons with others … Each small personality should be considered exclusively in its dynamics of development, and not against the background of someone else's experience.
- Correct joint action … At first, you should become the coordinator of the child of alcoholic parents, but then you can turn into just his friend and helper.
- Correct attitude towards the pupil … It should be remembered that before you is not just a victim of family circumstances, but a small person, whose dignity has already suffered.
- Comparison of the child's capabilities … In this case, a joint analysis of a social teacher and a psychologist will help, who will later draw up a training schedule for their ward.
- Creating a "situation of success" … Children with a broken psyche due to drunkenness of their parents need this technique more than anyone else, in which such a child must be stimulated in every possible way.
- Reasonable control … Excessive indulgence in a ward with a difficult fate will be extremely disservice, so discipline should still become one of the components of correctional work.
Watch a video about alcoholic parents:
A child from a problem family is an unambiguous SOS signal to all adults who are nearby. Very often, assistance to such children can be accompanied by medical intervention after a comprehensive examination of the affected side by specialists. It is important to see in time how the children of alcoholics live in order to prevent everyday risks in their lives.
