NCJ Number
172283
Date Published
1998
Length
238 pages
Annotation
This handbook provides mental health professionals, drug and alcohol counselors, pastoral counselors, and educators with a family systems model together with practical guidelines for understanding and addressing the needs of children growing up in alcoholic families, within the context of their families and cultures.
Abstract
The text examines the effects of alcoholism on the four essential family tasks: creating an identity, setting boundaries, providing for physical needs, and managing the family's emotional climate. The discussion also examines attitudes, values, and beliefs about alcohol use and abuse, as well as how these cultural influences affect children. Additional sections discuss how children live and survive in an alcoholic home, the emotional wounds and psychological functioning of children of alcoholics, and risks and hazards in behavior and development. Further chapters discuss how to identify and assess children of alcoholics, explains effective programs and treatment strategies, and describe the intergenerational transmission of alcoholism. The final chapter lists and discusses books, periodicals, videotapes, and organizations for adults, children, adolescents, and professionals. Figures, screening instruments, tables, index, and approximately 175 references