I Have an Alcoholic Parent. Now What?
()
About this ebook
Related to I Have an Alcoholic Parent. Now What?
Related ebooks
How to Cope With the Alcoholic in Your Life Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWake Up: Chemical Dependency Family Interventions Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAddiction-Free: How to Help an Alcoholic or Addict Get Started on Recovery Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFor Teenagers Living With a Parent Who Abuses Alcohol/Drugs Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAlcohol Addiction: How to Stop Drinking and Recover from Alcohol Addiction Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSummary of David Sheff's Clean Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Truth About Addiction, Treatment That Works Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsConfessions of a Self-Care Junkie: A Woman's Journey to Loving Herself and Living Free Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMy Bipolar Life: Guide to Maintenance & Recovery Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGetting To Forgiveness: What A Near-Death Experience Can Teach Us About Loss, Resilience and Love Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings30 Things You Need to Know When Your Loved One Is Diagnosed with a Mental Illness: Be Powerful Not Pitiful! Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGrieving the Write Way for Siblings Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings12 Simple Truths for Living and Loving Yourself Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRun for Your Life, From the Love of Your Life-A Woman's Rescue and Recovery Guide Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAbusive Relationships: When Romance Ends and Trauma Begins Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMental Cleansing: A Guide to Improving Spiritual, Emotional, and Physical Health to Gain Overall Mental Wealth. Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDepression Help: Stop! - 5 Top Secrets To Create A Depression Free Life..Finally Revealed Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEating Disorders Treatment Guide: Why Do I Struggle And How Can I Keep Getting Better? Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSomebody, Free Me: The Food Addict’S Silent Cry Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBarbara, Uncharted Course Through Borderline Personality Disorder Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Fix for the Family Rift Caused by Addiction Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSpirituality Over Suicidal Depression Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How to go through a difficult Divorce or Break up in two days and become yourself (NONE, #2) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLife is Crying: Chemical Dependency Power Screams Louder than the Pain of Tears Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCocoon of Cancer: An Invitation to Love Deeply Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Getting to Know You: Improving your Relationship Series, #1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAttitude Adjustment: Keys to Life on Your Terms Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDiagonal in a Parallel World: Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsI Can Be Me: A Helping Book for Children of Alcoholic Parents Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Children's Family For You
The Day the Screens Went Blank Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Into the Wild: Warriors #1 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Amelia Bedelia Gets the Picture Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Little House on the Prairie Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe: The Classic Fantasy Adventure Series (Official Edition) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Put an Octopus to Bed Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Prince Caspian: The Classic Fantasy Adventure Series (Official Edition) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5On the Banks of Plum Creek Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Farmer Boy Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Tikki Tikki Tembo Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Little House in the Big Woods Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Crossover: A Newbery Award Winner Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Coraline Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Number the Stars: A Newbery Award Winner Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5City Spies Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dear Mr. Henshaw Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Secret Garden: The 100th Anniversary Edition with Tasha Tudor Art and Bonus Materials Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Graveyard Book Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Out of My Mind Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fortunately, the Milk Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Harriet the Spy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tuesdays at the Castle Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Voyage of the Dawn Treader: The Classic Fantasy Adventure Series (Official Edition) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Double Identity Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Homecoming Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Coraline 10th Anniversary Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Walk Two Moons Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for I Have an Alcoholic Parent. Now What?
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
I Have an Alcoholic Parent. Now What? - Terry Teague Meyer
Published in 2015 by The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc.
29 East 21st Street, New York, NY 10010
Copyright © 2015 by The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc.
First Edition
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Meyer, Terry Teague.
I have an alcoholic parent. Now what?/Terry Teague Meyer.—First edition.
pages cm.—(Teen life 411)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4777-7982-8 (library bound)
1. Alcoholics—Family relationships—Juvenile literature.
2. Children of alcoholics—Juvenile literature. 3. Alcoholism— Juvenile literature. I. Title.
HV5132.M493 2015 362.292’3—dc23
2014009014
Contents
INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER 1 - HOW DO YOU RECOGNIZE AN ALCOHOLIC?...
CHAPTER 2 - ONE PROBLEM, MANY CAUSES...
CHAPTER 3 - YOU DON’T HAVE TO DRINK TO BE AFFECTED BY ALCOHOL...
CHAPTER 4 - COPING WITH AN ALCOHOLIC PARENT
CHAPTER 5 - WHAT DOES TREATMENT INVOLVE?...
CHAPTER 6 - THE FAMILY REUNITED—BUT ALL SHAKEN UP...
GLOSSARY
FOR MORE INFORMATION
FOR FURTHER READING
BIBLIOGRAPHY
INDEX
INTRODUCTION
Courtney was in her teens before she figured out the connection between alcohol and the constant storm raging at her house. When she visited with friends, she often found herself envious of their relationships with their parents. At home, she and her brothers and sisters had to be on their best behavior all the time. They never knew what mood their parents would be in—happy or angry. Those moods were extreme and could change in an instant. Dinners and barbeques at friends’ houses didn’t start with drinks and end with people yelling at one another. Finally, Courtney realized that her parents were alcoholics. They couldn’t control their drinking, or what happened once they started.
Courtney is not alone. The 2012 National Survey on Drug Use and Health found that 6.5 percent of the American population reported heavy drinking in the past year. That’s seventeen million people. The results were the same in 2011. Worse, people between the ages of twenty-six and fifty had even higher rates of heavy alcohol use. Between 7.1 and 9.9 percent of this age group drink heavily. This survey is based on reported usage, so it is very likely that many heavy drinkers underestimated or underreported how much they actually drank.
Children of problem drinkers never know when the next family fight will break out. Their parents' behavior is hard to predict.
Many of these problem drinkers do not see themselves as alcoholics. Despite this, each one is well on the way to having serious health, work, or relationship problems because of drinking. Each of these heavy drinkers also has friends or a family or both who will be negatively affected by the excessive alcohol use. If you are aware—or beginning to suspect—that your parent (or parents) is an alcoholic, you probably feel alone and uncertain about what to do. This resource aims to provide information to help cope with this kind of situation.
First, it’s important to know how experts define the many forms of alcohol abuse. Then its variety of causes can be identified. Doing both can help someone put a name to the problem at home. Being aware of available resources to help alcoholics and their families will help support those dealing with this situation. Learning about the different treatment choices available to aid recovery from alcohol addiction can offer hope.
All individuals and families are unique. Problem drinkers are also unique. Each has his or her own reasons, patterns, and behaviors associated with alcohol abuse. For this reason, an alcoholic’s path to recovery must be an individual one. Fortunately, there are many treatment choices available. Family members impacted by a parent’s addiction will also follow an individual path. Each one is affected according to his or her personality and position in the family. Whether or not the parent seeks treatment, the loved ones of an alcoholic must each find his or her own way to break free from the unhealthy environment created by addiction. That journey begins with understanding what lies ahead.
Chapter1
HOW DO YOU RECOGNIZE AN ALCOHOLIC?
Experts recognize that all alcoholics are not alike. Even someone who does not fit the definition of alcoholic
can still have a drinking problem. In turn, drinking problems threaten drinkers’ health, work life, and relationships. Consequently, scientists and medical experts in alcohol use and abuse have a number of different ways