Basics
The Phoenix House Center on Addiction and the Family (COAF), a nonprofit foundation whose aim is to reduce the effect of addiction on children, reports that children feel the effect of drug abuse during parental addiction and for years afterward. Families that live with a parent's addiction are prone to chaos and unpredictability. Children and teens never know what to expect from the parent, whose moods can swing from wild and excited to withdrawn and depressed. Communication is inconsistent, and children are never sure what kinds of behavior will be rewarded or punished. There usually is very little structure in a home where drug abuse is present and children and teens often must fend for themselves, making meals, going to school and taking care of younger siblings.
Considerations
Children and teens who grow up in a household where drugs are abused often take responsibility for their parents' drug problem, believing that if they were better, their parents would not have to use drugs. Sometimes they even are told this. They often become angry and hurt that their parents don't love or care for them enough to stop using. Some children try to control the situation by excelling in school or doing chores around the house to please their parents in hopes they will change. Other children withdraw and turn to fantasies that can turn into lifelong mental health issues. Children and teens become embarrassed by their parent's behavior, which may affect their social lives. They don't bring friends home from school and refuse to accompany their parents to public events.
Effects
Children of drug addicts often live in fear of physical violence they may or may not have witnessed. The volatile moods of their parents may be enough to frighten children. Social services often are called in to mediate in homes where problems have been identified; the children may be removed from the home. Other children and teens may be left alone for long periods or lose their parents to incarceration, hospitalizations and death. Children may worry about their own safety, as well as the health of their parents. The effects of abandonment and violence can create post-traumatic stress symptoms in teens and children. Children of addicts also are more prone to depression, anxiety and sleep disturbances. Counselors at Teen Drug Addiction, an online referral site, report that children of alcoholics and drug addicts are at a higher risk for developing addictions themselves. They tend toward self-destructive behavior and are at risk for developing low self-esteem, trouble forming relationships and high levels of codependency traits.
