When one person struggles with an addiction, the entire family feels both the short and long-term effects in various ways. The structure of the family itself has an impact on the individuals of the household. For example, if the addict is the head of a single-family household, they may not be able to keep up with their financial, work and or childcare responsibilities. This can lead to the loss of important things like a job or house.

In each family, different people play different roles in the household when an addict is present. Sometimes the family member does not even know that they’ve taken on this role or the effects, positive or negative, it may have on the addict or other members of the family.

The addict in the family may painfully aware of the problems they are causing for themselves and their families. This leads them to experience negative feelings like shame or guilt which leads them to drink more. Their inability to stop abusing their substance despite their acknowledgement of the pain they are causing their family can cause anger and resentment among the other family members.

The enabler is a role where the person in the family constantly makes excuses for the addict’s behaviors or justifies their actions. Typically, this role is filled by a non-addicted adult who takes o the responsibilities of the addict to make their addiction seem like less of a problem even though these responsibilities may be a huge burden. This person is extremely in denial about the addict’s addiction and may try to make it appear less severe or completely nonexistent. The addict both directly and indirectly makes the addict’s substance abuse problem easier to maintain.

The role of the hero is usually assumed by an older child or an adult who takes it upon themselves to take on the role of the parent in the household. They typically appoint themselves to handle responsibilities that are above their developmental stage to try to maintain order. The person in this role is commonly an overachiever and perfectionist, qualities that will make maintaining the role of the hero more difficult as responsibilities get harder for them to manage.

The scapegoat in the family is the member, typically a child, who behaves badly and gets in trouble. This defiant behavior is directly reflective of an unstable home and a chaotic upbringing. They misbehave and get in trouble both at school and at home and commonly face legal troubles once they reach adulthood.

The role of the mascot is reserved for the individual in the family who seeks to bring a moment of peace or happiness in an otherwise unstable home. They use their humor as a coping mechanism to bring lightheartedness and a short sense of relief while they are experiencing otherwise stressful and serious problems. The mascot will maintain their role as long as there are still problems and chaos among the family and will continue to use their humor to deal with problems within the family and in the home.

Often times one member of the family takes on the role of the lost child who is isolated from the rest of the family and is not developed socially. The usually struggle with communication and many real-life situations because they are often “off in their own world” playing pretend. This imagined fantasy land is their way to protect themselves from their unstable home environment that they might not be able to understand.

When a person establishes one of these family roles as a child, the often times become part of their personality and behaviors as an adult. If the child takes on the roles and responsibilities of the parent, it may be more difficult to repair relationships because the child may hold resentment over missing out on their childhood.