If You Grew Up In A Family With Alcohol and Drug Addiction, How Can You Cope?

With alcoholism in families, there are a number of components for which anyone should be concerned, primarily the genetic components of an addiction and the genetic components of mental health or mental illness issue which is about 60%. If someone in your family has an addiction and as you’re growing up and you have the opportunity to observe that or participate in that addiction. If both mom and dad have the addiction or are addicted to alcohol and they drink every night then part of your growth and development is going to think drinking is a component as part of what people do. That then can be a learned behavior in addition to a genetic behavior or genetic predisposition.

Consequently, the concern a parent should have is the age of onset by which someone begins engaging in those activities and its pretty common nowadays for young kids to explore, kids 12 or 13 years of age. Parents should also be concerned about what the impact of that use of a substance is, especially given that mom and dad are using. Parents should be concerned and children should even be concerned with the potential of developing an addiction to a substance, especially if there is a genetic predisposition and parents actively use those substances in the home.

Will I Have An Addiction to Alcohol if My Parent Does?

No, just because your parents have an addiction to alcohol doesn’t necessarily mean that there’s a direct correlation. It certainly increases the probability. The other option is because you have witnessed your parents having a substance abuse disorder or an addiction to alcohol, that may have forearmed you to be wary of the impact this might have on you and steer clear of those types of behaviors you have witnessed your parents doing.

At the same time, we still have the genetic disposition to do that, just an increased awareness of the potential of what can happen to you, not with just a substance abuse disorder but also with other mental health issues whether is anxiety, depression, or something else. People should be aware that a mental health evaluation is appropriate to see what the potential is for a person to develop that and become a patient at a clinic.

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