Growing up in a home affected by a parent’s alcoholism can have profound effects on the children. Unfortunately, the effects often follow them into adulthood, even if the alcoholic is no longer present. Marie, an anonymous Al‑Anon member, shares her experience with Alateen as a teenager and what brought her to Al‑Anon years later.

Watch her interview to find out more.

If your life has been affected by the family disease of alcoholism, consider attending a few Al‑Anon or Alateen (for teens) meetings.

Disclaimer:

This interview was recorded at the 2018 Al‑Anon International Convention in Baltimore, Maryland, USA. Members were asked to share about various aspects of the Al‑Anon program and their personal experience.

Members’ anonymity is protected so that they can share openly and honestly about their experience with a loved one’s drinking and with the Al‑Anon program.

The opinions expressed in this video were strictly those of the person who gave them.

Interviewer: Hello, Marie. Thank you for your participation. You grew up in an alcoholic home. Can you tell us a little about it?

Marie: My father started drinking when I was young. At the age of twelve, I went to Alateen, because my mother was in Al‑Anon, and I stayed in Alateen until the age of sixteen.

There, I learned that alcoholism was a disease, and that it was not my fault. Then my parents separated, and I thought the problem went away, because my father was no longer at home. But, in fact, twelve years later, I had problems. I went to a therapist, and she told me that I had to attend an Al‑Anon meeting if she was to work with me.

It was a condition she set for working with me.

So I went to an Al‑Anon meeting, and I met people who were more or less like me. And that was a surprise, because I thought to myself, my father is dead, he’s no longer with me, yet I was still dealing with the same problems they were discussing in that meeting.

Interviewer: You thought you were the only one experiencing these problems?

Marie: Yes, I thought I was the only one, but, in fact, I met a lot of people who had the same problems as me.

Interviewer: Thank you, Marie.