Addiction Recovery News

Growing up with an alcoholic father can be a very confusing, frightening, and sorrowful experience for children. There are many potential negative effects on children’s mental, emotional, and physical health from living with an alcoholic parent. Here is some essential information about the shocking impacts on children from living with an alcoholic father.

Effects of an Alcoholic Father On a Child

Being raised in a home with an alcoholic father can adversely impact children in many ways. (The effects of alcohol on children in cases of alcoholic mothers can be even more profound.) For example, children of alcoholic parents can experience:

• Increasing and continuing emotional difficulties
• Problems coping, for example:
  • Depression
  • Anxiety
  • Difficulty connecting with people
  • Confusion
  • Embarrassment
  • Anger
• Behavioral issues, for example:
  • Social withdrawal
  • Truancy
  • Substance abuse
  • Stealing
  • Violent behavior
  • Suicidal behavior
• Frequent physical symptoms, such as:
  • Headaches
  • Stomach aches
• Increased premature mortality:
  • Suicide
  • Violent death

Are Alcohol Abusers Likely to Abandon or Abuse Children?

Data indicates that alcohol abuse can damage a person’s brain, behavior, and relationships. There may be a higher probability of physical abuse or neglect, or sexual abuse. Alcoholics may repeatedly abandon their families, causing children repeated suffering throughout their formative years. For kids with alcoholic parents, the home may be disorganized or chaotic, creating an environment of instability, insecurity, neglect, violence, physical abuse, and exposure to incidents of abuse or violence inflicted on other family members.

Lasting Effects on Adult Children of Alcoholic Fathers

If you have looked back on growing up as a child with an alcoholic father, you may still suffer the serious impacts of that experience. You may recognize the effects that those early years have had on your life. Perhaps you have continuing psychological or emotional problems that are linked to your childhood circumstances. A first step to healing is to recognize that some effects that an alcoholic father can have on your life do not necessarily stop after childhood.

Adult children of alcoholic fathers can struggle with ongoing social and emotional problems. For example, anxiety, low self-esteem, resentment, communication difficulties, relationship problems, anger, and others. Alcoholism in a parent may account for a genetic component that amounts to about half of a person’s risk for alcohol addiction.

Getting Help Healing from the Effects of an Alcoholic Parent

If you think you may be experiencing symptoms of mental or emotional effects from your childhood with an alcoholic parent, discuss your concerns with a professional. You and your loved ones may benefit significantly from your choice to get the right kind of help to overcome the often lasting severe effects on children in that situation.

Resources for Children of Alcoholic Parent

There are nationwide resources for children of alcoholic parents, including these, among numerous others:

• National Association for Children of Addiction
• Adult Children of Alcoholics (ACA)/Dysfunctional Families
• The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
• Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline 1-800-4-A-CHILD (1-800-422-4453)

Best Alcohol Treatment – Renaissance Recovery Center, Gilbert AZ

Renaissance Recovery Center provides a free assessment for adult children of alcoholic parents who may be suffering from mental health effects from that early experience. Or, if you believe that you have developed an alcohol addiction, don’t wait. Call us for help today. Our team of professionals works with adults affected by childhood with an alcoholic parent to identify and overcome the often life-long impact of living in extreme conditions through their formative years.

For information on treatment for anxiety, depression, and other conditions, Renaissance Recovery Center at (480) 526-7738, or contact us here online today!

Download PDF

Detox from an addictive substance usually involves a brief period of physical difficulty called acute withdrawal. This process can cause severe, even potentially fatal consequences to a person if withdrawal is not managed by experienced detox professionals. After going through the acute withdrawal phase, an additional period of persisting withdrawal symptoms occurs. This second phase of healing is called post-acute withdrawal syndrome (PAWS).

What is Post Acute Withdrawal Syndrome?

Post-acute withdrawal syndrome can set in after acute withdrawal. It may persist from a few months to as long as two years. The syndrome is outwardly characterized by difficult psychological and physical symptoms. Typically, those effects require support from substance addiction treatment professionals. For the highest likelihood of lasting success, people planning to enter detox and rehab should be prepared in advance to work through the PAWS phase of drug withdrawal.

Post Acute Withdrawal Syndrome Symptoms

Some of the most common symptoms of post acute withdrawal syndrome after detox include:

• Acute stress sensitivity
• Extreme mood swings
• Poor physical coordination
• Fluctuating energy levels
• Anxiety
• Inability to focus
• Obsessive thinking
• Depression
• Sleep difficulties
• Lack of ability to feel pleasure

What Causes PAWS?

Post-Acute Withdrawal Syndrome (PAWS) is due to changes in neurotransmitters brought on by the brain’s response to substance addiction, in which it attempts to adapt itself to the changes.

1. When a person stops using an addictive drug, the neurotransmitters undergo changes again, which may overstimulate or agitate the individual mentally and emotionally.
2. Habitual substance use over time can cause the brain to lose some of its capacity for managing stress.
3. The withdrawal experience can impact the stress-coping capacity of the brain.

The persistent symptoms of PAWS appear to be due to these changes in the brain. Medical science researchers have suggested that these are the same changes that cause increased levels of tolerance during the user’s period of habitual substance abuse.

How Long Does PAWS Last?

Post acute withdrawal symptoms may persist up to as long as two years. The length of the PAWS phase of substance withdrawal varies based on the person’s health, the type of drug used, how long it was used, and the way it was consumed. PAWS symptoms sometimes reach their point of greatest intensity at around the six-month point and can even threaten efforts to avoid relapse. Typically, PAWS is likely to persist longer in a person who:

• Used the substance habitually over a long period.
• Consistently used large amounts or frequent doses of the drug.
• Consumed drugs by injecting or snorting.
• Has liver or kidney issues.
• Is older and has more limited physical resilience.

How to Treat and Manage PAWS

The rough symptoms of post acute withdrawal syndrome can cause a sense of despair in people struggling to avoid resorting to relapse for relief. It’s critical to understand that the PAWS symptoms will stop eventually. These are the steps to coping with and overcoming PAWS that people in substance addiction recovery need to adopt in order to best avoid relapse:

• Build strong coping skills in rehab.
• Continue in treatment longer.
• Build a strong support system while in rehab.
• Avoid situations that present a high risk of relapse.

Why Choose Renaissance Recovery Center?

If you or someone you love needs alcohol support or is suffering from post acute withdrawal syndrome, Renaissance Recovery Center in Gilbert, Arizona, can be of great help. Our relapse prevention systems have made Renaissance one of the region’s most effective substance addiction treatment programs. We accept most health insurance.

If you need PAWS to support, don’t just try to endure on your own.

Get the best help available to you!

Call Renaissance Recovery Center at (480) 526-7738, or contact us here online to schedule a free assessment today and find out how we can help you!

Download PDF

The holidays can offer wonderful opportunities during drug or alcohol addiction recovery to relax and enjoy being with loved ones, sharing great food, and making special memories. With all the festivities, it can be easy to get off track with the rehab program. People who have not yet developed fully effective tools for relapse prevention can find themselves at risk. So, if you or someone close to you is in treatment, here are some tips to help you stay fully committed to your sobriety during the holidays.

Habitual use of drugs or alcohol can alter the chemical composition of the brain and cause dependence to develop. During withdrawal from an addictive substance, the brain’s chemical functions and circuits react by trying to regulate themselves as the blood concentration of the addictive substance is reduced. That change triggers withdrawal symptoms. Completing detox leads to a full recovery from addiction in drug rehab. Let’s look at the fundamentals of how to overcome withdrawal symptoms.

Having some grateful thoughts focuses your mind on positive things, at least for a few minutes each time. That can give you a positive feeling, help you feel more grounded, and cultivate a sense of inner peace. Those feelings can encourage you to be happier, which makes it easier to stay sober. But, it’s easy to slip back into negativity when problems arise, and beginning addiction recovery is a time filled with difficulties. Starting a daily gratitude journal helps nurture a positive attitude, which makes it a helpful tool for staying sober.

The effects of drugs vary depending on the type of drug, of course, but also due to many other variables. Some of those variables are based on the factors in the drug itself when it’s consumed. Other variables are person-specific. Here we’ll discuss the range of effects of drugs on the user and society. We’ll also look at drug abuse indicators, and how drugs impact an individual’s physical and mental health, relationships, finances, work, academic performance, social life, and reputation.

Maybe you enjoy having a drink, or two, or more, occasionally, or more frequently, or as a daily routine. You may or may not be aware of how alcohol affects the body and brain. You may have heard that it’s healthy to drink a little of some types of alcohol. But, generally, alcohol is an addictive drug that is dangerous to the health and safety of users. Below are some answers to some of the most common questions about alcohol use.

Alcohol affects different people differenxtly at different times. How drinking alcohol affects you depends on the amount you drink, of course, but it also depends on your age, body weight, general health condition, and other factors we’ll discuss below. Excessive drinking can cause severe mental and physical effects and can lead to serious consequences to your family, job, finances, and the larger community around you. Let’s look at the effects of alcohol on the body during alcohol consumption.