Alcoholism and its Negative Effects on a Marriage & Family

Alcoholism is a chronic health condition that is developed through internal and external influences. Alcoholism can have a detrimental impact on marriages and families. It has a severely destructive path with effects and consequences that can potentially last a lifetime.

It is easier in the beginning for the non-alcoholic partner to be supportive and show compassion with love and understanding. Though, as the disease progresses, the supportive partner can grow impatient and reach his or her limit of patience and forgiveness, just desperately wanting them to stop. Eventually fights worsen, communication is lost, trust is broken, and intimacy is gone. There is no way to have a healthy, functioning relationship with an alcoholic that refuses to seek help for the addiction.

Feeling the unfairness of the situation, the non — alcoholic partner may become resentful of his or her partner due to the actualization of what this has done to their own life. At this point, conflict is almost inevitable as the communication may start to fracture. Soon the marriage may begin to crumble under the pressure as each spouse starts pulling away from each other.

Unfortunately, this opens the door for infidelity in the marriage by one spouse or both. The non- alcoholic spouse may turn to someone else for comfort and to feel loved and wanted again. The hurt felt from this betrayal of trust in a marriage often times causes the end of the marriage.

Children growing up in an alcoholic home may develop emotional problems, such asanxiety and behavioural outburst. They will often have low self-esteem, which can make it difficult for him or her to fit in with peers. This can make a child feel sad and lonely that can lead to chronic depression.

Alcoholism does not just affect the alcoholic. It affects the entire family. Those individuals that are sincere in reaching out for help and truly have the desire to end the abuse should be supported and treated with patience. Sometimes a marriage can be saved depending on the amount of damage that has been done.