Quelles seraient les représentations de la famille pour les enfants de parents alcooliques?

Abstract

This article intends to offer a testimony of our clinical experience with children of alcoholic parents considered together as siblings. We have been able to identify the type of alienations which engulf siblings as a result of their representations of alcohol. Building on their resources as siblings, our systemic and psychoanalytical therapeutic work allowed in numerous situations the unveiling of secrets, denials, feelings of shame and guilt. This opportunity to use words, instead of acts, helped restoring a process of mental reflection in each of the siblings. Conceiving of siblings as a therapeutic lever made it easier for the children concerned to confront their representations of the family, and also to redefine their relationships outside the dysfunctional set of rules dictated by their parents' alcoholism.