Depression and Anxiety Among Adult Children of Alcoholics How

How do the levels of depression and anxiety of adult children of non-alcoholics compare to the levels of depression and anxiety in adult children who were raised in alcoholic homes? The existing research supports higher levels of depression among adult children of alcoholics than adult children of non-alcoholics. Adult children of alcoholics also appear to be at greater risk of anxiety and fear than adult children of non-alcoholics.

In addition, studies show that not only are adult children of alcoholics more depressed than adult children of non-alcoholics, but they also have lower self-esteem. The low self-esteem and depression are the result of a negative attributional style in which adult children of alcoholics tend to perceive failure as more internal, stable, and global than do adult children of non-alcoholics. Adult children of alcoholics have significantly higher rates of simple phobia and agoraphobia and lifetime rates of dysthymia, generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, simple phobia, and agoraphobia than adult children of non-alcoholics. Also, adult children of alcoholics who have anxiety disorders are more likely to be female, and their alcoholic parents are less likely to have had psychiatric antecedents to alcoholism.

If depression and anxiety are thought of as indices of underlying psychopathology, generally adult children of alcoholics have more psychopathology than adult children of non-alcoh

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they suffer a variety of health problems related to their drinking behavior: organ damage, brain dysfunction, cardiovascular disease, mental disorders, cirrhosis of the liver, stomach ulcers, heart attacks, high blood pressure, and premature aging. Also, alcoholics have significantly higher suicide rates than non-alcoholics. And, despite the high costs and wide range of problems associated with the disorder, more than 85 percent of alcoholics never receive treatment. The first section of this paper noted that adult children of alcoholics, when compared to adult children of non-alcoholics, have higher levels of depression and anxiety. They also have a number of other personality characteristics that differ from those of adult children of non-alcoholics. Differences between adult children of alcoholics and non-alcoholics include disparities in terms of degree of narcissism and degree of shame. Psychodynamic and personality research suggests that the salient features of adult children of alcoholics' psychopathology revolve around moderate-level narcissistic disturbances and their concomitants. The role of shame in relation to narcissistic defenses is said to be crucial in determining the style of narcissism. Also, t
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Approximate Word count = 1907
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page)