Perinatal Substance Abuse : Characteristics of Parents at Risk, Part 2

by Child Welfare Information Gateway

(Page 5 of 7)

Dependency. Dependency, or addiction, is said to exist when the user can no longer manage life without getting high. Use may occur continuously or in binges, but now the substance plays such a central role in the individual's life that everything else tends to revolve around it. The effects of the alcohol and/or other drug use on health, finances, relationships, and emotional stability are profound as the user finds it increasingly difficult to perform even ordinary tasks. Judgment at this stage can be severely impaired.

The onset of chemical dependency is insidious. Chemical dependency sneaks up on the individual who is, in any case, often not the best judge of his/her own addiction. In actuality, the lines drawn by professionals to note phases of drug and alcohol use (experimental, regular, habitual, and so on) are blurred, and precisely when the user moves from one phase to the next depends on many factors, including:

• physiological and psychological makeup,
• drug of choice,
• means of ingestion, and
• prior history.

A dependency can evolve over a long period of time (months or even years) or, as many crack addicts report, it can occur over the course of a weekend.

The earlier the person starts to use, the more likely that person is to become chemically dependent. Although there are exceptions to this rule, generally, children who are introduced to drugs while still very young are more susceptible to heavier use and abuse than individuals whose experimentation occurs at a later age.

Anyone can become an addict. Chemical dependency cuts across all racial, social, and economic lines. No one is immune. Although some individuals seem to have a higher threshold of addiction than others, exposure to the right substance of abuse under the right circumstances (times of stress, loss, pain, or boredom) has the potential to seduce anyone into a true chemical dependency.

Substance abuse is a family problem. Substance abuse is a family problem in both a biological and a psychological sense. There is a growing body of evidence that certain people (some children of alcoholics, for instance) are biologically at highest risk of becoming chemically dependent. It is a family problem, also, insofar as coping behaviors are learned within the context of the family. Children of substance-abusing parents may learn to cope with unpleasantness in their lives as their parents have done before them, by taking substances into the body to effect a change in mental status. Finally, it is a family problem because everyone in the family is profoundly affected by the alcohol and/or drug abuse of even one of its members.

Denial is intrinsic to the problem of alcohol and other drug abuse. It is well known that the substance abuser generally denies that there is a problem or minimizes its extent. It is less well known that the entire family, to protect its integrity and tenuous ability to function, also often denies the existence and impact of the problem.

Alcohol and other drug abuse is a systemic problem. Substance abuse impacts every aspect of the user's physical, emotional, work, and social life. Health, jobs, school, and relationships are affected. With chronic abuse, no significant area of functioning remains untouched.

Substance abuse often afflicts those individuals who are already the most vulnerable, the least equipped to cope. Frequently, persons most severely impacted by substance abuse come from families with multiple stresses, including alcohol and/or other drug abuse problems, mental health disorders, failures in school and/or employment, and/or a history of physical and/or sexual abuse. These individuals, already struggling to cope, are then further impaired by their drug use. Thus, they tend to come to treatment in very serious condition and typically need a wide range of services.

The Chemically Involved Parent

The preceding description of the nature of substance abuse provides a background against which to better understand the characteristics and needs of substance-abusing parents. Because chemical dependencies have certain characteristics in common, it follows that victims also have much in common with one another. There is no "typical" substance abuser; however, the following summary of characteristics is intended to sensitize professionals to the issues with which many chemically involved parents struggle.

Childhood Deprivation

Many substance-abusing parents report histories of significant childhood deprivation. Often, this history includes an early home life marked by family violence, parental substance abuse, or parental psychiatric disorders. Parents who grew up in such environments often report deprivation in many areas of their lives - economic, physical, social, and emotional.

In families with inadequate early caregiving, oftentimes parents were poorly nourished, they may not have been provided with necessary health care, and their educational needs may have been neglected. Thus, as adults and parents, such individuals have numerous and chronic medical, dental, and educational problems that require attention. Developmental assessments, educational testing, and speech and other therapies that were overlooked during childhood can result in serious deficits that last a lifetime.

Many substance-abusing parents also recount histories of growing up in households in which there was a blurring of boundaries between parental and child roles. As young children, such parents often assumed primary responsibility for taking care of household and family needs. Although it may have filled a void or a need within the family, this role reversal may have also seriously interfered with the parent's timely acquisition of age-appropriate life skills and experiences. Thus, as adults, such individuals often have an impaired ability to form truly mutual adult relationships and a healthy self-concept that are prerequisites to successful parenting.

About the Author

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Formerly the National Clearinghouse on Child Abuse and Neglect Information and the National Adoption Information Clearinghouse, Child Welfare Information Gateway provides access to information and resources to help protect children and strengthen families. A service of the Children's Bureau, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.