The Consequences Of Alcoholism: The Reality Of Alcoholism

The Reality of Alcoholism
“You have a hollowed out heart but it’s heavy in your chest I try so hard to fight it but it’s hopeless. Oh, father, please, father I’d love to leave you alone but I can’t let you go. Oh, father, please, father put the bottle down for the love of a daughter”(Demi). This is the chorus of the song For The Love Of A Daughter by the talented Demi Lovato. The song is about Lovato growing up with an abusive and alcoholic father. Throughout the song she opens up about how scared she was as a child and how that fear shaped her into the adult she is today. “Some 6.6 million children live in a home with at least one alcoholic parent,” and of those children it is estimated that in the U.S. alone one in four children are exposed

As a personal victim, I can say that I never noticed this trait in myself until I did actual research on how this is a regular occurrence that appears in others. “Adult children of alcoholics are weighed down with a very low sense of self-esteem and respect, no matter how competent they may be”(Woititz). An example of this is when a person achieves something such as an award or a goal and the person doesn’t see it as an achievement they make up excuses in their head on how they could’ve done better or how it isn’t a big deal, the person may even think they don’t deserve awards. One of my best friends also grew up with an alcoholic father and I see this trait in her because I am constantly reassuring her of how amazing her work is and how great she is. Personally, I experience this trait by belittling myself in my work and being harsh on myself, for example, when I sang a solo last year at my schools’ dance recital, I couldn’t physically hear the loud applause or cheering because I was so focused on little mistakes that no one else noticed. As a result, I walked off stage and burst into tears because my low self-esteem paired with how harsh I critique myself took a toll on me. This is just one recent situation that I can recall but I imagine other children of alcoholics have experienced worse with these

When I think of a physical illness what comes to mind is being handicapped or impaired. The way a physical illness is connected as being a characteristic is because, “adult children of alcoholics are highly susceptible to stress-related illnesses”(Woititz). A stress-related illness makes more sense, for example, a couple of years ago because my lips would swell up to twice their size out of nowhere. When I got it checked out by a doctor she said that it could most likely be my bodies’ reaction to intense stress so my mom and I assumed it was school related. My lips don’t swell as often anymore as they did before, but they do hurt once in a while when I’m stressed. I always believed that my lip swelling was because I didn’t know how to manage my stress but now I realize that it could also be related to growing up in alcoholic abusive