CAROL WEISS, MD: Well there are those who call alcoholism a family disease. It has a large, devastating impact on the family. The family is the one closest to the alcoholic. It affects practically every aspect of family life. It can affect livelihood. People aren't bringing enough money into the home. It can affect the ability of the parent to interact with their children. If the child is the one with an alcohol problem, it can totally take over the family's life. The parents can be preoccupied about trying to get this child to get help for their alcohol problem. It affects sexual function. It affects physical health. It can create anger, fighting. There's a great deal of domestic violence associated with alcoholism, and violence in general associated with alcoholism. So you name it, that's how it affects the family.
DAVID MARKS, MD: It almost sounds like it's worse for the families than it is for the alcoholic.
CAROL WEISS, MD: Absolutely. That's a good way of putting it. The alcoholic is out of it. The alcoholic really isn't aware of what's going on. The alcoholic isn't aware of how bad he or she was until they recover. While they're going through it, they're not aware of it. So that is a good point. They suffer tremendously, the family.
DAVID MARKS, MD: Families break up, I assume, because of this problem?
RICHARD ROSENTHAL, MD: Oh, it's a relationship killer. To keep living with someone who has a chronic alcohol problem is often a terribly stressful way to be. First, there's often the stigma of realizing that the person, your spouse for example, has an alcohol problem, and trying to cover it up and trying to make light of it. When it becomes more socially noticeable in social situations, the spouse is trying to cover, and make light of it. It sets up a tremendous negative perception in that spouse of what they have to deal with, how the society is going to see them. At the same time, they're trying to keep their spouse afloat.
