Block · one region of the page, as the scanner read it. It may hold a whole story, part of one, several, or an advertisement; stitching blocks into articles is the next step. Text is supplied OCR.
Page 14 · column 6 of 7 · from the scan, no model involved
“Their facade of maturity - their take-charge behavior - masks very real psychological problems of their own.” The children of such families are prone to learning disorders, eating disorders, they often grow up to become workaholics, and in severe cases may attempt suicide. As the alcoholism progresses, the family situation makes the children prime candidates for incest, abuse and/or neglect, Mr. Treanor added.
“The kids grow up early, but they remain immature. The feelings which they do learn are warped. They confuse love with caretaking, spontaniety with irrationality, intimacy with smothering, and anger with violence.
“They have a warped view of ‘perfect’ families, and are unmercifully critical if the relationships are not like The Waltons. In addition, they learn to blame all problems on alcohol - even the ones which shouldn’t be,” he said. “Adult children of alcoholics also tend to be rigid thinkers, and often have problems with major life changes. ”
Despite the similarities evident in most cases, Mr. Treanor said, there are always some differences. The age of the children, the sex of the alcoholic spouse, all help shape the dimensions of each family’s particular situation.
He said that often the problem is particularly severe if the mother is the alcoholic. “Not only does society place an extra stigma on female alcoholics, but for some reason not yet understood, the disease progresses more rapidly in women.”
A third strike against women, he noted, is that nine out of 10 men leave alcoholic wives. “The ratio is exactly the opposite when the husband is an alcoholic. Nine out of 10 women stay.”
Mr. Treanor stressed that early detection and treatment of the problem is essential - both for the alcoholic and the co-alcoholics. “Even extremely young children can be se. verely affected by the situation,” he said. The problems need to be treated, and the sooner they are addressed the less likely they are to affect the individual later in life, he added.
“It’s the only way. They won’t disappear by themselves.”
96.4%