Site Overlay

Complex Trauma in Adult Child Of An Alcoholics

First, are you stressing out every day and feeling anxiety due to memories from your childhood? Is thinking about your childhood overwhelming since your parents were angry often? Was your childhood chaotic with fighting, yelling, drunk, neglectful parents? Were your parents emotionally abusive or highly critical? Also, do you feel small and afraid around authority figures or parents? Do you wonder if you have complex post-traumatic stress disorder from growing up with alcoholics? As well, do you seek approval and feel lost about your identity, even though you may have a good job? You may have complex post-traumatic stress disorder from your childhood. At Wisdom Within Counseling, you can gain healthy, positive skills for healing complex-PTSD. Working with a holistic, somatic, creative therapist for adult children of alcoholics brings emotional confidence.

If you have experiences of any of the following, you can benefit from working with a specialist and therapist for adult children of alcoholics

Functional Alcoholism (going to work daily)

Full Blown Alcoholism (couldn’t hold a job)

Drug Use

Sex Addiction

Anger and Blame Addiction (Aggressive fights where you felt scared)

Mental Health Issue (Bi-Polar Disorder or Borderline Personality Disorder)

Hospitalizations for Suicide Attempts

Now, if you watched your parents go through any of the above, you may also have complex post-traumatic stress disorder.

Watching your parents express anger, rage, and belligerence is emotionally stressful for you, as a child.

As well, parents who are alcoholics may be in denial to this day still. Often, children blame themselves for their parents who are unable to nurture them due to alcoholism. Children wonder if they are unloveable or unwanted growing up with abusive, alcoholic parents. As well, growing up watching your parents take part in negative conflict is also scary, angering, and provokes anxiety. Learning to step away from self-blame takes the help of a therapist for adult children of alcoholics.

Connecting with a somatic, holistic, creative therapist for adult children of alcoholics can help you take back your personal power and confidence.

On top of alcoholic parents, did your parent’s divorce leave you with frustration and alone?

Also, did your first break up can leave you sad where alcohol was your only coping skill?

Do you struggle to get through stressful moments in your life without drinking alcohol?

Working with a therapist for adult children of alcoholics can help you improve your relationship with yourself. From mind, body, and spirit connection, you can develop clearer communication skills after childhood trauma of living with alcoholic parents. Often, meeting with a therapist for adult children of alcoholics can help you understand symptoms of complex post-traumatic stress disorder. At Wisdom Within Counseling, holistic, creative, somatic therapies support positive coping tools. 

Symptoms of complex post-traumatic stress disorder in adult children of alcoholics

Commonly, adult children of alcoholics experience feelings of shame or guilt. It is common to feel like it was your fault for the way your parents behaved. When your parents got drunk, you felt like you did something wrong. You were and are still afraid of yelling, door slamming, and conflict. As well, adult children of alcoholics have difficulty controlling your emotions. Now, this is due to complex post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms. Anger, rage, and yelling may be a part of who you are as a result of childhood trauma.

Alcoholism can run in families and lead to generational complex trauma symptoms

Additional symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder in adult children of alcoholics

You may have periods of losing attention and concentration. As a therapist for adult children of alcoholics, we call this dissociation. Your mind and body feel distant. Sometimes, it feels like you are in a dream, or in someone else’s life with complex post-traumatic stress disorder. You may have physical symptoms, such as headaches, bowel issues, dizziness, or chest pains. Irritable bowel syndrome, digestive issues and stomach aches are very common with complex post-traumatic stress disorder. Adult children of alcoholics may create estrangements or cutoffs. So, you may be cutting yourself off from friends and family. You may also experience friendship issues, conflicts with an intimate partner and general relationship difficulties.

To begin, click the button below to book a phone consult to work with a therapist for adult children of alcoholics in Southeastern Connecticut.

What does it mean to be an adult child of alcoholics?

Did you know? The term “adult child of an alcoholic” describing adults who grew up in alcoholic, or dysfunctional homes with addiction. And, these people are now are searching for answers. Sometimes, you had parents who were happy. Other times, your parents were drunk and verbally abusive. Overall, due to growing up around so much alcohol, now, you may also be a functional alcoholic.

You may have complex post-traumatic stress disorder if your parents were alcoholics. Maybe, your parent were angry all the time. They lied, cheated, had affairs, and didn’t cope in a healthy way with stress. So, in your adolescent years, you found alcohol yourself. For some, teen alcoholism becomes a negative habit longterm when living in a stressful home. To note, having parents who are alcoholics leads to a very chaotic home environment. Children who grow up around alcoholic parents tend to develop alcoholism themselves.

troubled by your family member's alcoholism, counseling for adult children of alcoholic parents, alcoholism counseling in East Lyme, CT, Connecticut holistic alcoholism therapy, high conflict couples therapist, specialist for family alcoholism, ACOA counselor, Niantic, CT
Find positive ways to cope with stress instead of drinking.

Alcoholism tends to run in families. Just like blue eye or being tall runs in a family, so does alcoholism.

If so, do you find it hard to have fun without drinking?

Is your best friend scotch, whiskey, or beer?

Has alcohol always been there for you when your parents were not?

Or, do you drink to relax every day after work?

Well, you may still be functional alcoholic even though you have a great professional, outside life. And, with a job that pays well, home, family, friendships, and social bonds, you may still have a big problem with high functioning alcoholism. Wisdom Within Counseling can help you recovery from the complex trauma of growing up with alcoholic parents.

Underlying Unhappiness? Working With A Therapist For Adult Children Of Alcoholics Can Help

You are a perfectionist, feel safe being in control, were a straight A student, and never give up. You are a leader, Type A personality, you may be an athlete and a runner. Maybe, you found yoga to stretch and relax, but now it has become your safe place. However, even still, you’ve always felt like something isn’t right or something is missing. As a creative therapist in Niantic, Connecticut, our team specializes in complex PTSD.

Generally, the team of therapists for adult children of alcoholics work with Type A’s and perfectionists.

Many times, adult children of alcoholics will need everything to be just right or perfect. There was no order in childhood and chaos with alcoholic parents. Unfortunately, that overwhelming uncertainty and fear in childhood leads to a need to know and plan in adulthood. The team at Wisdom Within Counseling in Connecticut help adult children of alcoholics cope with complex post-traumatic stress disorder.

You can gain healthy, positive, and holistic coping strategies thorough art, yoga, and music therapies.

Holistic, somatic, and creative therapies support complex post-traumatic stress disorder recovery from having alcoholic parents

Were your alcoholic parents very critical of you all the time?

Also, your parents may have been very critical. So, being perfect was part of your childhood. So, working with a therapist for adult children of alcoholics at Wisdom Within Counseling helps you gain self-worth tools. Therefore, the Wisdom Within Counseling team wants you to know that you are perfect just the way you are. Even if that may be hard to believe right now, holistic, creative, somatic therapies help resolve complex post-traumatic stress disorder.

Many adult children of alcoholics are good at being perfect and holding it together. To learn skills to relax, work with an East Lyme, Connecticut therapist for adult children of alcoholics.

Right now, you have a loving partner and children, so everything seems fine and happy from the outside. However, your children are growing up and becoming teenagers. And, you feel deep underlying unhappiness. For one, you also began reading books and now identify as an adult child of an alcoholic, codependent, or addicts parent.

Now, your past experiences and intense anger makes more sense. The team at Wisdom Within Counseling can help you grow your healthy relationship skills and self-worth skills. From there, you can gain positive coping tools to heal anxieties about having to be perfect. You can gain positive self-talk and self-care tools too.

To begin, click the button below to book a phone consult to work with a therapist for adult children of alcoholics in Southeastern Connecticut.

Looking Back On Your Childhood With An Alcoholic Parent Is A Whirlwind Of Emotions From Anxiety To Anger 

Also, as a creative therapist in Niantic, my team and I specialize with traumatic memories. Often, these memories are about to growing up with parents who drank too much alcohol. When you look back on your childhood, you remember really happy times.

However, you also remember horrible, angry fights, screaming yelling matches between your parents, and the smell of alcohol on your parent’s breath.

Also, your friends have say they remember your parents drunk and irresponsible.

And, that you could be an adult child of an alcoholic. Now, your alcoholic parents may be sober, or still drinking.

In counseling, we can help you believe in yourself again and let go of the negative memories of your childhood. Lastly, we can help you create freedom and confidence around these memories that still effect you.

For help with alcoholic parents and high functioning alcoholism, call or text 860-451-9364.

Most of the day, you tend to push these traumatic memories from your childhood aside.

Being an adult child of an alcoholic is a relief in a sense because now you have a name and label. However, also, thinking of yourself as an adult child of an alcoholic, you also feel scared because this opens a whole new roller coaster of emotions.

As a creative therapist in Niantic, Connecticut, I know it is really hard to be thinking about your past when you are alone. I am here for you as a guide and to support your mental health relaxation.

Call/text 860-451-9364 for a phone consultation to grow your healthy relationship skills and self-esteem skills and heal childhood trauma.

You are amazing at staying busy. You are working, enjoying your yoga classes, and time with your children after they finish school. Though, you still feel a deep sorrow inside of yourself.

Wisdom Within Counseling is a group of creative therapists in Niantic, Connecticut to help you let go of your past, so you can live a life that you love.

Are You A Type A Person, Perfectionist? Log To Be Great At What You Do?

Also, a young child, you felt really shy and thought this was normal. However, with insight, you know that you were emotionally neglected and didn’t get emotional support as a child. Also, being an adult child of an alcohol has really had an impact on you. Likewise, you are learning that your perfectionist.

Also, Type A traits and being in control helped you survive as a child. Now, your anxiety and trauma negatively impacts your growing children and adolescents. You want help changing your family pattern! At Wisdom Within Counseling, you can gain holistic, creative, and somatic tools to heal childhood trauma.

Working with a therapist for adult children of alcoholics supports self-worth and self-compassion

Also, major component of why you are doing, “self work,” in therapy. Really, the anxiety you experience is because the feelings of abuse, neglect, shame, and abandonment linger in the moments when you are alone. Relaxing can be difficult when memories pop into your head and leave you with anxiety and tears.

To begin, click the button below to book a phone consult to work with a therapist for adult children of alcoholics in Southeastern Connecticut.

A Journey of Compassionate, Loving Self-Work

I am here for you, as a creative therapist in Niantic, and would love to help you figure out your past to make the future better for your children. Creative painting, walking therapies by the beach, and meditation in yoga therapy support self-care. One of the most important aspects to healing complex post-traumatic stress disorder is self-care. From self-care skills, you can feel your worthiness to be loved. At Wisdom Within Counseling, holistic, somatic, and creative therapies support self-care skills. Each counseling session, you can talk as well as use art, yoga, music, and creative therapies. These mind-body therapies are holistic ways to treat complex post-traumatic stress disorder due to having alcoholic parents.

Walk and talk therapy by the Niantic Bay Boardwalk in Southeastern Connecticut support complex PTSD healing

Did your parent(s) have? Well, meeting with a therapist for adult children of alcoholics can help you develop better communication skills and self-love.

If you had raging alcoholic or high functioning alcoholic parents, Wisdom Within Counseling can help you.

Written By Katie Ziskind, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, a Creative Therapist in Niantic, 500-hour Registered Yoga Therapist

I offer a specialized family therapy and expertise with children, adolescents, teens, couples, families, and young adults unlike any other service offered in this area. My practice is open and affirming to the LGBT community. I am a creative therapist in Niantic, CT, holistic in my headspace, and integrate my 500-hour yoga therapy certification with my masters and licensure in marriage and family therapy from Central Connecticut State University. As well, I specialize in complex post-traumatic stress disorder in couples and adults. I offer somatic, holistic, experiential therapies of art, yoga, music, and outdoor walk and talk therapy in sessions in addition to talk-based counseling to fully support your PTSD healing process.

To begin, click the button below to book a phone consult to work with a therapist for adult children of alcoholics in Southeastern Connecticut.

Copyright © 2024 Wisdom Within Counseling and Coaching. All Rights Reserved. | Intuitive by Catch Themes