For better or for worse? The effects of alcohol use on marital functioning
Therapy sessions can offer a safe environment for both partners to explore the underlying causes of alcohol-related challenges and develop effective coping strategies. A therapist can also help identify patterns of behavior and provide guidance on how to address them. If you or your partner are struggling with alcohol addiction, seeking treatment from a specialized facility can provide the necessary support. Alcohol can have a significant impact on relationships, affecting various aspects of communication, emotional intimacy, and conflict resolution. Understanding these effects is crucial for maintaining healthy and fulfilling connections with others. Many individuals with alcohol addiction need external treatment and supports to find sobriety and address harm that may be related to alcohol and relationships in their life.
How to Get Help When Drinking Is Affecting Your Relationship?
The liver metabolizes most of the alcohol you consume, breaking it down into acetaldehyde. Acetaldehyde is a toxin that can damage the body’s organs and tissues before it is further broken down into acetate. Years of moderate to heavy drinking can cause liver scarring (fibrosis), increasing the risk of liver diseases like cirrhosis, alcoholic hepatitis, fatty liver disease, and liver cancer. For most people, being addicted to alcohol (or any substance) means prioritizing it over the more important parts of life—even if you don’t mean to. You might spend extra money on booze, rather than shared activities with your partner or family.
How Alcohol Destroys Relationships: Understanding the Emotional and Mental Impact
This disconnect between most of our theories and the inherent, interpersonal nature of IPA prevents research from fully examining the dynamic interplay between both partners in the development of discrete episodes of IPA. As with cross-sectional studies, the way by which alcohol intake is measured and categorized likely influences the interpretation of the results. Several studies have grouped all levels of individual alcohol intake above 30g/day as ‘heavy’ drinkers 12, 38. Conversely, other studies examined alcohol intake more thoroughly, considering frequency and amount per drinking day separately 15. French et al. 15 measured alcohol frequency ranging from 1–2 times per year to every day, while estimating the number of drinks per drinking day from 1–36.
4. A heuristic model of alcohol use and marital functioning
Alcohol codependency occurs when a person becomes reliant on someone and their alcohol misuse hinges on their partner’s behaviors. A partner of someone addicted to alcohol may believe they’re helping the other person by enabling the addiction to continue. In reality, they’re doing it for themselves while encouraging an unhealthy dynamic. The effects of alcohol on relationships connection between alcohol, interpersonal violence and codependency is widely documented. Constant conflict or neglect can severely impact children of parents with alcohol addiction.
These behaviors can strain trust, create conflicts, and potentially endanger the well-being of individuals involved. Measures of alcohol consumption refer to the quantity and frequency of alcohol consumed in a given period. Typical measures of alcohol consumption will assess how often an individual drinks (frequency) or how much an individual drinks in one sitting (quantity). Quantity–frequency indices are often employed by studies in the current review and are used to calculate average daily or weekly estimates of a drinkers’ volume of alcohol consumption.
- The impact of alcohol on relationships is widespread and can affect every single relationship a person is a part of.
- Depression was diagnosed based on the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), and alcohol drinking frequency was collected through questionnaire surveys.
- All of the available studies have examined moderate intake of alcohol, and the majority have reported results on beer and wine intake, but not other forms of alcohol 3•, 5.
- While some studies in this review employ diagnostic screening measures like the MAST to identify alcoholic and nonalcoholic groups, others use it as a continuous problem use variable.
- In addition, one of the most comprehensive theoretical and empirical models of dissolution suggests that marital satisfaction, interaction, and violence are central components of the dissolution process (Gottman, 1994).
But even low amounts of daily drinking and prolonged and heavy use of alcohol can lead to significant problems for your digestive system. In reality, there’s no evidence that drinking beer (or your alcoholic beverages of choice) actually contributes to belly fat. This doesn’t necessarily mean that we should avoid alcohol completely of course, but it is important to understand how alcohol can affect us and our relationships with those around us, and the benefits of cutting down or going alcohol-free. Consistent follow-up with a therapist or counselor ensures long-term support and prevents relapse.
Baseline characteristics of participants
- Addiction can lead to financial abuse, as the person struggling with substance use may drain family resources to support their habit.
- Furthermore, beer and spirit drinkers appear to have poorer dietary habits in general than wine drinkers 3•.
- Depression can affect motivation, energy levels, and overall quality of life, making it challenging to handle everyday responsibilities.
- Consistent with this observation are the findings from a recent systematic review showing positive associations between beer consumption and measures of abdominal adiposity (also known as “beer belly”) in men; however, inconsistent results were found in women 3•.
- Several studies suggest that consuming alcohol before or during a meal does not influence the amount of food eaten in that meal, despite increasing the energy density of the meal 5.
The line between helping an individual who is misusing alcohol becomes blurred with enabling them to maintain the addiction. Although even the strictest accountant or budgeter can make an allowance for entertainment expenses, ongoing drinking can quickly cause people to spend beyond their allotment for socializing. It is well established that alcohol misuse can lead to serious financial problems, but not only because of the actual money spent on alcohol. They might prioritize drinking over spending quality time with their partners, leading to feelings of loneliness and neglect. DUI arrests or other alcohol-related offenses create additional strain on relationships, leading to further breakdowns in family dynamics.