Opiate Addicts and Their Parents

Abstract

A minority of opiate addicts, especially young males, maintain close ties with their parents. These families, referred to here as “addict‐families,” are characterized by: (a) much greater success by the parents in meeting reality demands than by the addicts; (b) apparent congeniality and closeness but an absence of effective communication; (c) unsuccessful attempts by the parents to control the addict's behavior; (d) a tendency for the father to dominate the mother; (e) extreme overindulgence of the addict by one or both parents; (f) absence of parental support for movement toward adult responsibility in the addict; (g) family consensus in perceiving the addict as failing by conventional values. The characteristics seem to perpetuate the addiction, and the addiction appears to maintain the stability of the family.

Case Studies in the Family Treatment of Drug Abuse

“…One study that has implications similar to that of our own work was reported by Alexander and Dibb. (1) Our findings differ from theirs to a considerable extent. We find that a majority rather than a minority of those defined as either abusers or addicts maintain close ties with their families of origin and that a majority rather than a minority of families of addicts are open to being involved in therapy sessions.…”

Expanding the family systems approach: Cultural, class, developmental and gender influences in drug abuse

“…Some studies have focused on adolescent drug abusers (Coleman, 1980;Egger et al, 1978;Kaufman & Kaufmann, 1979;Klagsbrun & Davis, 1977;Madanes et al, 1980;Schwartzman & Bokos, 1979), while others have used a retrospective approach with older addicts (Alexander & Dibb, 1975;Duncan, 1978;Graeven & Schaef, 1978;Stanton et al, 1978). Still other studies examine the re-creation of family-of-origin problems in the family-of-procreation (Harbin & Mazier, 1975;Seldin, 1972).…”

A Context of Family Loss: Historic and Cultural Contributions to the Risk of Addiction in African-Americans

“…This loss of family members is extended to those lost through immigration. Studies have long demonstrated that the children of immigrants have addictions at a rate three times that of the immigrants' generations (Rosenberg, 1969;Alexander and Dibb, 1975).…”