Addiction is not easy. Anyone who’s ever been dependent on drugs or alcohol will tell you–addiction owns you. It controls your life. It’s in your face twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, until you can get your next fix. It wracks your body and your mind, giving you strange side effects like insomnia, hallucinations and suicidal thoughts. An unfortunate side effect that few may suspect, however, is the effect it has on the children of users. It may very well be that children suffer the most from drug abuse.
In families where drugs and alcohol are being abused, life can be chaotic. Behavior is unpredictable. A child may discover, upon returning home from school one afternoon, which his parents are not home–and they may leave him alone for a week while they’re off clamoring for more drugs. Children may find groceries lacking, housework not done, meals not provided. Structure and rules may be nonexistent, leaving homework undone and allowing children to go to school with little sleep.
Worse than that, however, a child may find himself the very target of his parents’ drug trips or lows. His mother might lash out at him for forgetting to put his clothes in the laundry. His father might cuff him for no reason at all other than that he happens to be nearby when he’s agitated. And who knows the horrifying consequences if he happens to be around during a drug hallucination or psychosis.
Children of adults who abuse drugs or alcohol are more likely to be physically, mentally and sexually abused. They may observe violence, drunk driving, and other confusing behavior. They may blame themselves for their parents’ condition or worry about their health, and they may acquire stress-related health problems such as headaches, gastrointestinal disorders and asthma.
A parent addicted to drugs or alcohol may lose his job and thus there may be no family income. For younger children, there is the frightening chance that a house may not be child-proofed–and with a parent who is high or drunk, the results can be disastrous.
The Facts On Addiction And Childhood Issues
In a 2005 report by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, it is estimated that substance abuse is a factor in at least seventy percent of all reported cases of child maltreatment. Abuse and neglect associated with parental drug or alcohol use is one of the major reasons children enter foster care. Children who enter foster care can be there for months to years.
In 2005, an estimated 1,460 children died from abuse or neglect. Approximately seventy-five percent of these were three years of age or younger, and nearly half of all fatality cases were caused by neglect. Adults addicted to drugs or alcohol are nearly three times more likely to report abusive behavior and four times more likely to report neglectful behavior toward their children.
Help For This Through Narconon Drug Rehabilitation
Narconon drug rehabilitation has some helpful suggestions to handle this growing problem. The first is that those addicted get immediate and long term help. This will aid in having them become clean and sober and be better parents. Family and friends of those addicted should ensure that there is no wait to get into treatment; for each day a parent used it is more and more devastating for the child.
In addition to this children of those addicted and all children should receive drug rehabilitation and prevention so they do not go down the path of substance abuse.
For more information on Narconon drug rehabilitation contact us today.
Ref: http://www.news-journalonline.com/article/20120831/MCT/308319290/0/search