Understanding of alcoholism as family disease

Abstract

The article discusses the understanding of alcoholism as family disease, reveals features of dysfunction and co-dependency among members in the families with harmful alcohol consumers. The authors emphasise that a family suffering from alcohol dependency is perceived as a damaged family possessing the following characteristics: limitation of needs, feelings, wishes of family members; disturbed communication in the family; lack of understanding among family members; insularity of family system; changed roles of children and adults in the family, i.e., absence of family structure is observed; family members do not plan anything, they only focus on survival.