You will probably find a lot of publicity for alcohol addiction treatment programs proclaiming that alcohol addiction is not just an individual disease, but also a family disease. How true is that? Why would the whole family be affected because of one member’s alcoholism?
There are many reasons that can justify this concept, actually.
First and foremost, a family member who gets into alcohol abuse will have very little constructive time for the family. Most of the free time of this person will be spent with the bottle. If the person is the head of a family and there are other people dependent on him or her, the person’s descent into alcoholism will gravely affect the whole brood.
The person may be fired from the job, may be branded a social outcast and may lose the affection of near and dear ones. These are things that directly affect the family. There’s absolutely no denying that.
Then there’s one more very important point to be considered. A parent’s alcohol addiction can be contagious to the children in the house. The kids may be intrigued about where the fascination of the drink lies and may be tempted to taste it themselves. It happens quite often that an alcoholic parent is not able to provide the right kind of love and affection to the children due to which they are forced to look for consolation outside the house. It is not long before these vulnerable kids hit the bottle themselves.
In every way that you consider, alcohol abuse is a family disease. It is no wonder that all alcohol treatment programs today insist that the family be counseled together rather than just the patient.