The Effects of Alcohol Consumption on Families
We’ve seen how alcohol consumption can affect our mental and emotional health, both short-term and long-term. But what happens when alcohol consumption begins to affect not just us but the people around us, like our families?
Although alcohol certainly impacts the person using it, it also impacts the people they spend time with. Families typically end up experiencing the mental and emotional effects of a loved one’s alcohol consumption—often without even consuming alcohol themselves.
Feeling Anxiety or Shame Around Drinking
Drinking alcohol can cause the person drinking to experience anxiety or even shame around the habit, whether they feel like they need the alcohol or not. However, alcohol consumption can also create these same feelings in those who don’t drink.
People who have a family member who drinks may feel anxiety or shame around the person’s alcohol consumption. They may worry about what their loved one will do or say when drinking or if their loved one will be safe when drinking. They may also feel ashamed of their loved one’s drinking habits or their behavior when under the influence.
For both the person drinking and their family, these feelings can lead to the person consuming alcohol distancing themselves from family members, lying about how much they drink, and, as a result, breaking trust in their relationships in an attempt to avoid these bad feelings.
Alcohol Use May Weaken Emotional Bonds
Whether it’s your blood family or chosen family, alcohol consumption can weaken emotional bonds and relationships among family members.
People who drink may make hurtful, disrespectful, or mean comments when under the influence, which can make other people feel humiliated, hurt, or even threatened. The family member on the receiving end of these comments or behavior may begin to feel emotionally or physically unsafe when around their loved one who drinks.
As a result, there’s less trust and emotional intimacy in the relationship, which can lead to tension and hurt feelings on both sides.
Tension Between Couples Can Affect Children
Alcohol consumption can create tension between couples, whether one person or both are drinking, which can be hard on families with young children. Young children can often sense the tension or distress between their parents or caregivers before they are able to verbalize what’s going on.
Children tend to internalize these feelings of distress, unease, and lack of emotional or physical safety and support in the household. As a result, they may grow up feeling angry, abandoned, or distrusting rather than feeling loved, supported, and seen.
Physical Health Problems Can Cause Additional Stress
Alcohol doesn’t just affect us emotionally but physically. The physical impact alcohol consumption has can also cause stress in families. Drinking can increase your risk of high blood pressure, stroke, liver problems, and even cancer, including cancers of the liver, breast, and colorectal cancer.
If drinking has led to a serious health complication for a family member, this can cause resentment, grief, and anger for both the person drinking and their family.
Both parties may wonder why the person drinking hasn’t been able to reduce their drinking or improve their health, while the person consuming alcohol may feel guilt over causing their loved ones distress over their health.
Has Drinking Impacted Your Family?
Most of us know someone whose family has been impacted by alcohol or have ourselves experienced firsthand how alcohol consumption can affect families. Has drinking impacted your family in one or more of these ways? You’re not alone in your experience!