In the first year of the child’s life, many things happen that will have a decisive weight in determining his personality and character. When parents live a condition of drug addictioncannot ensure the serenity of a healthy and stable environment to their child. The child, immediately, will live a strong discomfort that could lead to tomorrow, in harmful behaviors (for himself and for others) and emotional discomfort.
Municipal this article we will explore the difficulties that the Children children of drug addictsand what help tools we have available if we were aware of such a complex situation.
The complexity of parenting in a condition of drug addiction
Parenting is a complex system of emotions and behaviors which requires stability, presence and emotional tuning. When a parent struggles with a drug addiction, these fundamental skills are compromised.
John Bowbly’s attachment theory highlights the importance of a “safe base“: a solid link that allows the child to explore the world by feeling protected. A drug addict parent, often at the mercy of his dependence and his consequences, struggles to represent a stable reference figure. The care can become uncertain, unpredictable and sometimes frightening, undermining the foundations of the emotional development of the child.
Often, the drug addict parent himself was a son who lived affective deficiencies or traumaand dependence has become a dysfunctional strategy to manage ancient pain. This emotional inheritance could be transmitted to the next generation, creating a cycle of suffering difficult to break without a targeted intervention.
The mental models of the child
Child psychology has highlighted how the child, from the first years of life, has a strong propensity to interpret and intervene on environmental situations. In fact, he would learn not only to report his discomfort (for example, to report hunger through crying) but also to arouse adequate and harmony reactions in the adult who deals with him.
The first, and primitive, “mental models”, matrices of those that in probability will be the ability to regulate future emotions, would consequently derive from the interactions between child and adults.
The parents-child bond: “The safe base”
The mental models that develop in the child, despite having a psychobiological basis, are bound by quality of the bond real that the child has with the figures who deal with him in the first year of life. The understanding of the adult and the adequate response compared to the need of the child, prepare the establishment of what the psychoanalyst John Bowlby calls “safe base”. It is a strong protective factor from psychic discomfort.
Nonetheless, subsequent studies on the trauma within life have found that in some high stress family contexts (characterized by domestic violence, alcoholism, drug addiction), the parent rather than constituting a comforting point of reference for the child can constitute a source of concern and/or a frightening figure.
The uncertain and immature care
Being a drug addict parents, the effects of drugs have important repercussions also on parental care. It is easy to imagine that the considerations just made are normally neglected or violated, due to a constant minimization of the possible damage that an uncertain and immature care can produce on the child. These situations risk becoming subtle and chronic forms of malaise forcing the child to grow in conditions of pathological insecurity And distresswith important limitations for its development.
The childish vulnerability and “the basic defect”
Moreover, the childish vulnerabilitydetermined by inadequate or negligent care, can also represent a significant risk factor for the development of addictions in adulthood. Michael Balint, with his concept of “Basic defect” (Basic Fault), underlines how the lack of a sensitive response and continues to the child’s primary emotional needs leaves a deep and persistent fracture in its psychic structure.
This original wound, if not recognized and repaired, can push the individual to seek relief through dysfunctional behaviorincluding the use of substances, in an attempt to fill an ancient emotional void. Tackling childhood vulnerability and understanding the role of the “basic defect” is therefore essential to prevent the intergenerational transmission of suffering and addictions.
The consequences for the children of drug addicts
Growing in an environment marked by the drug addiction of a parent leaves deep and complex traces. The consequences on the psychological development of the child can manifest themselves in different ways, often masked by an apparent maturity or, on the contrary, by problematic behaviors. Among the most common effects we observe:
- Early adultization (or role inversion): The child assumes himself responsibilities not adequate to his age, becoming the “parent” of his parent.
- Behavior disorders: Aggressiveness, hyperactivity, oppositional-provocative disorders or, on the contrary, excessive liabilities may emerge.
- Emotional problems: Anxiety, depression, low self -esteem and a deep sense of insecurity are very common.
- Relational difficulties: The development of an insecure attachment to childhood can compromise the ability to build healthy and stable relationships in adulthood.
- Risk of intergenerational transmission: The children of drug addict parents have a greater risk of developing addictions or other psychological disorders.
In children with drug addicts, children are observed specific defensive mechanisms Faced with a reality that tend to deny, but from which they cannot detach themselves: aggression, excitement, hyperactivity, hyper-adaptation. You feel the conflict Between the fear of being abandoned and the tendency that aims to establish distance and personal autonomy.
These defensive mechanisms are the attempt of the child to survive and adapt to a painful and chaotic realitybut at a very high cost for his psychological well -being.
The generational transmission of the trauma
In the majority of cases, drug addicts are young parents who come to drugs within a deeply unsatisfactory relationship with their own family of originperceived as affectively lacking towards them.
It is not uncommon for them to be present childhood trauma and that the conflicts between parents and adult children also forgive with the exit of the drug addict from the family of origin. These family conflicts represent a traumatic inheritance that is left to the child, with all the relational, emotional and pulse elements that the parent has already experienced in his person.
How to help a drug addict parent and his children
Break the dependence and trauma cycle It requires a specialist and integrated intervention. It is not just about treating the dependence of the parent, but also of remedying relational wounds within the family. An effective support path often includes:
- Individual therapy: To help the parent to face the profound causes of his dependence and develop new strategies of coping.
- Psychological support for the child: A safe space in which the child or teenager can express his emotions, make sense of his experience and strengthen his inner resources.
- Family therapy: Essential to reconstruct communication, understand the dysfunctional dynamics and redefine the roles within the family.
The goal is twofold: to support the parent in his recovery path and protect his son’s well -being, offering both tools to build a more peaceful and functional future.
Family therapy to deal with the parent toxicodedness
Family therapy paths deal with the problem of drug addiction through a level of analysis and systemic relational intervention. This seeks in the relationship dynamics of the family and in its life cycle a sense to understand:
- the choice of drug addict,
- The useful and necessary resources for a real change.
All this is possible through the identification of those dysfunctional elements that have caused and suffer in the patient’s life as a child neglected before negligent parent.
A path to healing with UnaBravo
Tackling the reality of a drug addict parent is a painful and complex journeyboth for those who live dependence and for children and the consequences. However, it is essential to remember that asking for help is the first, courageous step towards healing.
Reconstructing trust, remedying emotional wounds and learning new relational ways is a possible path with the psychological support of a professional such as a psychologist or a psychologist in a Unebravo.
