Family

A Parent’s Addiction Affects Everyone in the Family

With the joys of parenting also comes responsibility. Parents are expected to be role models and offer the strength that guides their family. Sometimes parents need strength and guidance or their children’s lives are completely altered. Parents who suffer from drug or alcohol addiction need to find treatment that will help them recover and be the supporting and responsible parent they would like to be for their child. Full Story

10 Ways Your Drinking Is Hurting Your Kids

As you watch your children grow, you begin to notice some strange behaviors. The teachers are concerned that your daughter is more aggressive than the other kids in her class. Your son has no friends and is bringing home Cs and Ds on his report card.

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New Book Acts as Parents’ Guide to Talking to Kids about Alcohol Abuse

A new book from the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) acts as a parents’ guide to helping prevent middle-school students from drinking alcohol. “Delaying That First Drink: A Parents’ Guide” was created by the AAAS’s Science Inside Alcohol Project, funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Parents can find information about the impact of alcohol on the developing brain as well as tips on how to talk to kids about alcohol.

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How to Support an Addict

Unless you’re confronted with a situation where your loved one or close friend is struggling with addiction, you’ve likely never thought much about how to support an addict. Why would you? But for millions of people in the U.S., addiction is a very real disease that affects not only the addict, but the entire family. And there’s a lot of misconception about how and when and what to do to support the addict.
 

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Alcoholism Affects Families on Physical and Emotional Levels

Alcoholism brings consequences that extend far past the addict, and well into the lives of family members and friends. The disease is often most difficult for family members who are closely connected to the addict, even to the point of bringing physical and emotional symptoms.

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Delinquent Behaviors in Late Childhood Can Lead to Crime and Alcohol Use Disorders in Young Adulthood

New research suggests that early intervention and treatment can help reduce crime, alcohol-use disorder, and other risky behaviors among young adults with delinquency problems.

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Understanding Family Dynamics in Addiction Treatment

Drinking behaviors are often influenced by social networks. Individuals who have family and friends who drink regularly are more likely to drink regularly, and levels of drinking also tend to be positively associated with behaviors of an individual’s social network.

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Parents’ Warmth and Accountability Influences Heavy Drinking in Teens

 A new study suggests that parenting style doesn’t influence whether a teen tries alcohol, but it does play an important role on whether a teen begins binge drinking, or having more than five drinks in one session. Researchers from Brigham Young University surveyed about 5,000 adolescents between ages 12 and 19 about their relationship with their parents and their own drinking habits.

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Addiction Treatment: The Importance of Family Recovery

Alcoholism is a family disease. The disease affects all those who have a relationship with a problem drinker. Those of us closest to the alcoholic suffer the most, and those who care the most can easily get caught up in the behavior of another person. We react to the alcoholic’s behavior. We focus on them, what they do, where they are, how much they drink. We try to control their drinking for them. We take on the blame, guilt, and shame that really belong to the drinker. We can become as addicted to the alcoholic, as the alcoholic is to alcohol. We, too, can become ill. —Al-Anon

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Prom Night and Alcohol: How to Protect Your Teen

With prom night in your teen’s future, as caring parents you worry about all the things that could go wrong – especially if alcohol is involved. And, you’re right to be concerned, since proms and teenage consumption of alcohol have proven deadly for decades. Even if your teen is a responsible person who has always shown good judgment, the upcoming milestone event may be the time he or she is tempted to “party” with alcohol. Instead of dreading prom night, take proactive measures to protect your teens from the dangers of alcohol.

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