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Viewing report
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"I Just Want a Normal Life". Edition No. 1
VDM Publishing House, Sep 2008, Pages: 148
Substance abuse is a destructive behavior that
affects the life of the chemically dependent
individual and his/her family. Past research has
focused on the effectiveness of involving family
members in therapy as to engage the substance abuser
in treatment, on risk factors and predictors for
children’s future drug use, and the externalizing
behaviors exhibited by children of chemically
dependent parents. No research so far has focused on
the meanings children give to parental substance
abuse. The purpose of this study was to understand
the experiences and meanings that the children of
chemically dependent parents give to the addiction,
and how the addiction affects the attachment bond. A
qualitative methodological approach, namely the
tradition of phenomenology, was used.Nine children
between the ages of 9 and 16 took part in the study.
Several themes emerged from the children’s responses,
such as drug use of self and parent, child’s feelings
towards the parent and their own feeling of loss,
emotional and physical chaos, sources of help, and
their life in recovery.
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