2029-5820.27.1.5 Experiences of a spouse living in a family with a husband suffering from alcoholism

Abstract

Alcoholism has always been a sensitive issue for the state and society. It is a life threatening chronic disease that affects not only the health of the person who is abusing alcohol, but his social life too; it touches and violates the whole family system. The problem of alcoholism is a major trauma for the whole family, which deeply affects the development of children and the emotional and physical health of the wife. The wife of an alcoholic spouse assumes financial responsibility, responsibility for the well-being of children, and feels responsible for abusive husband’s actions. Wives of alcoholic partners try various ways to help their husbands stop using alcohol, try to cover the consequences of alcohol, hiding the problem of alcoholism in the family, and adapting to a distorted environment. The purpose of the study is to reveal experiences of spouses living with men who are affected by chronic alcoholism. In order to reveal the experiences of wives of alcoholic men, qualitative research method was selected by using a nonstructured indepth interview. The research was conducted in Kaunas city and involved 7 women aged from 45 to 60 years old. All the participants of the research attend Al-Anon group. The obtained data was analyzed on the basis of the narrative analysis method. Narrative research has been selected for individual women who live with alcoholic men and have a different perception of their reality. According to the results of the research, women, whose husbands are alcohol-dependent, experience psychological and emotional pressure, negative feelings, social exclusion, financial deprivation, and tend to blame themselves for a man’s addiction and a disrupted family system. Insecurity and responsibility for the future cause constant tension, which results a loss of women’s self-esteem, self-confidence, disruption of physical health and development of codependency.