When the "Scytale" of Alcohol Runs in a Family and Alcohol Use Becomes a Transgenerational Issue: Case Report of a Father and Son Attending the Same Therapeutic Program.

ABSTRACT

Children whose parents are diagnosed with alcohol use problems are exposed to genetic and environmental risk factors and face a greater risk of developing mental health and behavioral problems and a higher risk of alcohol use. In this study, we present the case of a father and his son, both diagnosed with alcohol use disorder, who both attended, 12 years apart, the Inpatient Alcohol Treatment Program of the Alcohol Treatment Unit, in the Psychiatric Hospital of Attica, in Athens. The Alcohol Treatment Unit offers two inpatient treatment programs that have been operating since 1996 and are based on the principles of the Therapeutic Community. It was the first time that both a father and son coming from the same family attended one of these programs. The aim of this study is to extract useful information regarding the dynamics of a family in which alcohol dependence is transferred from generation to generation. Therapists try to decode this transference and interpret attitudes and behaviors under these circumstances.