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Physical Effects of Alcohol in a Family

Alcohol has a devastating effect on families, either through the potential abuse that families can suffer from an alcoholic or from the resulting illnesses associated with alcoholism, such as clinical depression and fetal alcohol syndrome. These effects change a family, permanently altering the futures of children and leaving others with painful scars that can never be fully healed.

  1. Clinical Depression

    • Children of alcoholics have a higher likelihood of developing the symptoms of clinical depression, a condition that can last the entirety of a child's life. Numerous factors contribute to this condition, including parental use of alcohol during pregnancy, emotional strains that develop from a child watching a parent go through alcoholism and the possibility of emotional abuse suffered by children as a result of intoxication. Clinical depression is a neurological condition that requires medication and therapy in order for a child to control its effects on her life.

    Alcoholism

    • The children of an alcoholic parent have a higher likelihood of developing alcoholism in their lifetime. This includes a predisposition towards habitual behaviors and other addictive traits. These traits remain with the child of alcoholic parents during their life and make them more susceptible to developing dangerous addictions to alcohol and other addictive agents.

    Physical Abuse

    • Severe alcohol abuse is linked to higher tendencies for aggression that can result in physical abuse to your spouse and children. Physical abuse harms the health of your family, both in the short-term in the physical damage that results from the abuse and the resulting long-term physical illnesses and mental degradation that occurs from the abuse. The overall effects of physical abuse depend on the severity and regularity of the abuse; however, a single incident can have lasting physical repercussions on your family and require extensive treatment to overcome.

    Fetal Alcohol Syndrome

    • Fetal alcohol syndrome, also known as FAS, results from a pregnant mother using alcohol during their pregnancy. These symptoms are dependent on when the mother drinks, how often and how much she consumes during use. The symptoms of FAS include low birth weight, developmental delay, physical malformations, epilepsy, poor motor skills, social problems, reduced lifespan, learning disabilities and behavioral problems. An estimated one in every 750 babies born in America are born with FAS. Less severe effects are referred to fetal alcohol effects, or FAE, which include many of the same symptoms of FAS but are generally less severe and include another 40,000 children every year. Many of the effects of FAS remain with a child throughout their life, even with proper treatment.

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