Role Reversal Between Alcoholic Parents & Their Children What is Role Reversal? - a situation in which someone adopts a role the reverse of that which they normally assume in relation to someone else, who typically assumes their role in exchange. - This is the case in most relationships containing alcohol abuse. Examples of Role Reversal - A child looking after their parent and worrying about their well-being. - Providing emotional/“parental” support and neglecting their own priorities. - Dealing with undesirable circumstances out of one’s control due to immature actions from a parent. “Reunion” by John Cheever - Charlie takes on the role of a “parent” due to the immature actions of his father. - His father acts like a child, resulting of the denial of their service at multiple establishments. - At first Charlie has high hopes, attempting to rekindle the relationship with his dad. - As the story progresse, he realizes that his father is toxic for his life. Thesis Statement In “Reunion”, children and adolescents who have an alcoholic parent are forced to compensate for their parent’s immature and attention seeking behavior, which can result in developmental problems. This can be caused by these youth’s being placed in an undesirable situation(s) that they have no control over, being unwillingly held to a higher standard than they should be and basically rising themselves. What It’s Like To Grow Up in an Alcoholic Family - “Struggle for survival” - Childhood experience taken away from you. - Constantly held to a higher standard. - Likely to have relationship problems when older. - Increased chance of alcohol abuse Common Personality Traits of Children - Guilt - Fear - Shame - Depression - Low-self esteem - Fear of abandonment - Codependency - Loneliness Physical (Instrumental) & Emotional - Instrumental: child takes care of its siblings, saves money, cooks and cleans - Emotional: child is a friend of a parent, a buffer in marital conflicts, supports siblings, protects the mother hit by the father, is an intellectual and/ or sexual partner Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrGJrEK1aC4 Works Cited Järvinen, Margaretha. “Understanding Addiction: Adult Children of Alcoholics Describing Their Parents’ Drinking Problems.” Journal of Family Issues, vol. 36, no. 6, May 2015, pp. 805–825. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1177/0192513X13513027. Pasternak, Aneta, and Katarzyna Schier. “The Role Reversal in the Families of Adult Children of Alcoholics.” Archives of Psychiatry & Psychotherapy, vol. 14, no. 3, Sept. 2012, pp. 51–57. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=82784177&site=ehost-live. Hosier, David. “Effect Of Alcoholic Parents On Children.” Childhood Trauma Recovery, 20 Aug. 2018, childhoodtraumarecovery.com/all-articles/effects-of-alcoholic-parents/. Sonnenberg, Elissa, MsEd. “Adult Children of Alcoholics.” Salem Press Encyclopedia of Health, 2019. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ers&AN=94415308&site=eds-live.
