Personal Narrative: Growing Up With An Alcoholic Father

Jack had only one friend – who was also an alcoholic – and had no social life because alcohol had driven him away from everyone and everything else; his job included. This addiction destroyed his life in the end and his family barely made it out alive. Another example of the effects of addiction, is Mary Tyrone’s addiction to morphine in Long Day’s Journey into Night by Eugene O’Neill. Her addiction tore apart her family for over a decade and treatment barely helped, granted that was back when less was known about addiction. People that struggle with addiction are often all alone because their addiction has driven people away and then they use the substance even more because of

Under the Influence by Scott Russell Sanders describes the effects of his father’s alcoholism upon his family and children. Sanders writes his personal essay from the present perspective by reflecting upon the emotional scars of his youth which have leaked into his adulthood. “The story continues for my brother, my sister, my mother, and me, and will continue so long as memory holds” (Sanders 733). Sanders’ anecdote engages a specific audience, children of alcoholics. Due to the common grounds shared by the audience and Sanders, a person can evaluate the audience by examining Sanders’ essay.

Alcoholism is a chronic brain disease that affects all walks of life and does not have any bounders (Gossop, Stewart, & Marsden, 2008). I choose to attend an Alcoholic Anonymous (AA) meeting since this disease is prevalent among adolescents and adults. The meeting was held in the first-floor forum at Pilgrim Congressional Church in Queens New York. The goals of the AA meeting were stated explicitly by the leader conducting the meeting. The mission of the organization is to maintain sobriety by helping alcoholics achieve recovery.

In “ What is Alcoholism?- Definition of Alcoholism-HealthyPlace,” Natasha Tracy writes about how alcoholic is a condition that creates a strong need for alcohol. That there is a physical addiction on it, demonstrate itself through various withdrawal symptoms when not drinking. The alcoholic has no control over the limits of their drinking,which is increasing as tolerance develops to the drug. In addition, alcoholism is a disease that causes a strong need to drink. That some people don’t know when to stop drinking and start drinking more to feel the safe effect.

Alcoholism is a significant problem in American society. About 20 million people in the United States abuse alcohol and out of that number, around 10 million are addicted to alcohol and considered an alcoholic ("Alcoholism" 1). In The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, Jeannette's father, Rex, shows signs of being an alcoholic. His disease puts a lot of strain on the family and relationships within the family and eventually, Jeannette's father dies from heart failure, a common disease caused by alcoholism. Rex Walls can be identified as an alcoholic father by most of the six identifiers of an alcoholic from the American Addiction Center.

People hear the side of the addict themselves so much more often, that the parents’ point of view is more shocking and emotional. Thus, they are able to understand better because they can relate to his normal family, that is going through an abnormal

After reading Scott Russell Sanders', "Under the Influence", it got me thinking, if these were examples from his past life growing up with an alcoholic as a father and how it effects his life now, what are the effects does it have on other adults who grew up with an addictive parent? After reading one article I found that most children who grew up in alcoholic homes reported significantly less utilization of interpersonal resources as a child, also had reported more emotional and psychological problems in adulthood and had significantly more family disruptions characterized by higher divorce rate, premature prenatal and sibling death. Some of the children had experianced more physical and sexual abuse and more frequently become alcoholics or

When I was a teenager, the cool thing to do was hang out with friends, party, and drink alcohol, so I thought. My friends and I would tend to follow the crowd and it seemed to always lead to trouble. I was only 14 years old the night it all began. At the time, I could not drive so my friends came and picked me up, we all went to a house party and alcohol was there. Because we were senseless and easily influenced, we decided to try some to fit in.

There is codependency in every relationship; however, my focus was on my relationship with my husband. After some thought, I realized that the relationship with my husband mutually satisfying relationship. Adult Children of Alcoholics (ACOA) As an aspiring Marriage and Family Therapist, this group was very intriguing. Looking at the multigenerational effects of addiction illustrated the systemic affects that results from the disease of addictions.

Alcoholism is a physical and psychological disorder of the brain that involves the chronic and exorbitant consumption of alcoholic beverages. The consumption can be in response to stressful situations, at overwhelming amounts of social activities, and even in the comfort of one's own home. Alcoholism can trigger other psychological disorders such as depression and schizophrenia, and it also has other negative consequences such as kidney failure, heart defects, and even death. An example of alcoholism in a piece of literature is Rex Walls from The Glass Castle. His actions throughout the novel have extremely detrimental consequences for his wife, children, and himself.

For those who are vulnerable to addiction, interviews were done with people who had a family history and those who didn’t have a family history. Interviews were also done with patients who were regular drinkers (those who drank every once in a while) as opposed to patients

Alcohol is being abused not only for the parties, but as a “liquid fixer” for people’s problems. “It can be used to suppress feelings of anxiety, depression, alienation or despair by affecting certain

ALCOHOLISM How many times have you heard about the consequences of alcoholism? Have you taken them into account? Alcoholism is one of the major problems in society. People don’t take it so seriously but it actually is a disease. The effects of this disease are really serious.

An experience that has really molded me into the person I am today was growing up with my alcoholic father. My dad was a crazy teenager. He was the typical naughty boy who got himself into many stupid situations. My grandparents, the parents of my dad came from Holland in the 30’s to get away from the war. My Opa (grandpa) made a great living for them here in Southern California. They were upper middle class and they were the fun parents, that had let my dad get away with everything. My dad started drinking and doing drugs at the age of 14 and it only got worse from there. He met my mom at a Hennessy’s bar, when they were in their late 20’s, and although my mom knew about my dad’s problem, she thought she could cure him and decided to marry him. Fast forward a couple years later after my parents’ divorce I remember going to my dad’s drug deals with him at the age of 3 or 4. I’m sure my dad thought I’d never remember that, but I do. He’s admitted to taking me to

Alcoholics are often used in stories as comic relief, which to a person who grew up under the shadow of alcoholism, isn’t very funny at all. This point was to illustrate that people really don’t understand alcoholism for what it really is: a disease that has devastating effects on families for generations. Instead of directly countering those misconceptions, Sanders describes his upbringing in vivid detail. He describes his father’s behavior in a way that makes the reader appreciate that there comes a point where alcoholism is not really a matter of a person having a moral weakness, a lack of self-control, or is weak-willed. It’s a disease that robs people of their lives and of themselves.