Am I an Adult Child of an Alcoholic or Dysfunctional Family

Adult Children of Alcoholics uses the words of fellowship co-founder Tony A. as a foundation to define the Adult Child personality. An Adult Child is someone who responds to adult situations with selfdoubt, self-blame, or a sense of being wrong or inferior, all learned from stages of childhood. Without help, we unknowingly operate with ineffective thoughts and judgments as adults. The regression can be subtle, but it is there, sabotaging our decisions and relationships.

The following questions can help you decide if alcoholism or other family dysfunction existed in your family. If your parents did not drink, your grandparents may have drank and passed on the disease of family dysfunction to your parents. If alcohol or drugs were not a problem, your home may have been chaotic, unsafe, and lacking nurture like many alcoholic homes.

These 25 questions offer an insight into some ways children are affected by growing up with a problem drinker even years after leaving the home. The questions also apply to adults growing up in homes where food, sex, workaholism, or ultra-religious abuse occurred. Many foster children – who are now adults – also relate to these questions.