A Chara,
The Examiner, The Irish Independent and other media in Ireland, has reported on the increase in deaths involving alcohol.
I studied the dynamics of Alcoholism many, many years ago, and the evidence suggests strongly that rather than it being a 'disease' or the FAULT of the alcoholic, it is a behaviour pattern that emerges in communities where feelings and experiences are not allowed to be fully expressed, where pain is suppressed and it's very much about masking subconscious, hidden or 'unwanted' feelings.
What was also clear from those studies was that children who grow up in an Alcoholic home environment also learn to mask certain feelings, and tend NOT to become Alcoholics BECAUSE they have seen it, yet DO still mask their feelings, and adopt other strategies to maintain that mask. And what these studies also showed was that there was a tendency or a trend whereby the NEXT generation, who hadn't seen the Alcoholic behaviour would be likely to use alcohol to mask pain and feelings....
You see, the child grows up in the psychological milieu of his or her parents and his or her social structures and has to 'adapt' in order to 'fit in'. That adapting process most often means that certain key needs are not met, that many feelings are not expressed, and that the pain of not being treated with empathy is masked by : consumerism,adverse nationalism, religiosity and 'addictions' : behaviours that are learned.
Consider this. The Irish History of the last 200 years includes the FAMINE, two world wars and a civil war, and intense poverty.
The vast majority of the people who went through these TRAUMA were able to resolve those painful experiences ... and so the patterns of intergenerational dysfunction continued, as they will always do, until they are recognised and dealt with, with empathy, with nurturant intent, with grace....
I wrote some years ago about the need for empathy, for honesty, for the placing of the needs of all our children at the very centre of Society such that then we may say : Our Society is truly decent.
The Cloyne Report is published today, and we can say that the behaviour of the Churches and Orders, and the Government and HSE thus far has left so much undone that needs to be done with regard to the honest appraisal of the realities.
Let us not waste any more time. There is work to be done, and our children's children will thank us for it, let alone the relief it will provide to living survivors and their families.
What was also clear from those studies was that children who grow up in an Alcoholic home environment also learn to mask certain feelings, and tend NOT to become Alcoholics BECAUSE they have seen it, yet DO still mask their feelings, and adopt other strategies to maintain that mask. And what these studies also showed was that there was a tendency or a trend whereby the NEXT generation, who hadn't seen the Alcoholic behaviour would be likely to use alcohol to mask pain and feelings....
You see, the child grows up in the psychological milieu of his or her parents and his or her social structures and has to 'adapt' in order to 'fit in'. That adapting process most often means that certain key needs are not met, that many feelings are not expressed, and that the pain of not being treated with empathy is masked by : consumerism,adverse nationalism, religiosity and 'addictions' : behaviours that are learned.
Consider this. The Irish History of the last 200 years includes the FAMINE, two world wars and a civil war, and intense poverty.
The vast majority of the people who went through these TRAUMA were able to resolve those painful experiences ... and so the patterns of intergenerational dysfunction continued, as they will always do, until they are recognised and dealt with, with empathy, with nurturant intent, with grace....
I wrote some years ago about the need for empathy, for honesty, for the placing of the needs of all our children at the very centre of Society such that then we may say : Our Society is truly decent.
The Cloyne Report is published today, and we can say that the behaviour of the Churches and Orders, and the Government and HSE thus far has left so much undone that needs to be done with regard to the honest appraisal of the realities.
Let us not waste any more time. There is work to be done, and our children's children will thank us for it, let alone the relief it will provide to living survivors and their families.
Kindest Regards
Corneilius Crowley
London
Do what you love, it's Your Gift to Universe
