Alcoholism

Growing up at my house, there was something we never talked about. It was something about my father. He was an alcoholic. “Alcoholism has been compared to living with an elephant. People will walk around it, pick up after it, even feed it, but now one will talk about it.” (Leskinen, 2000, p.2). The words were never spoken. It was like this secret the family knew – but did not acknowledge.
My father also suffers form major depression. This disease was not diagnosis until he got treatment for alcoholism. Because of these two diseases my family lived very interesting lives.
During my childhood years I thought my family was the only family that had a secret. I thought everybody else lived in the perfect white house, with the perfect white picket fence and a perfect family. To me, all the other kids had a normal life. Today I know different.
What is an alcoholic? A person who suffers from a chronic disease marked by a craving for alcohol. They cannot ...