“Fixing” Mother’s who Drink: Family Narratives on Secrecy, Shame and Silence

Liezille Jacobs,Julian Jacobs

doi:10.2174/1874922401507010028

Abstract

Background: In South Africa, there is a paucity of qualitative studies giving a voice to mothers who drink, which could inform interventions to assist families to heal from repetitive alcohol use disorders. Methods: This qualitative study explored the discursive accounts of 10 mothers who are members of Alcoholic Anonymous in the context of their complex state of being-in-the-world with others (like husbands and children). The aims of this study were to explore why mothers drank excessively and to unpack their families’ responses to their drinking. Results: First-person narratives with mothers’ about their lived experience with alcohol use disorder illustrate the main themes, which emanated from these discussions. The discourses on secrecy, shame and silence related to the mother’s lived-experience with alcohol’s occurrence in the family. This paper recommends that families who always stand over and against an alcohol dependent past should consider attending free support group meetings for loved ones of Alcoholics. A popular family support group for families affected by alcohol dependency is known as Al-anon.

Highlights

In South Africa, there have not been many studies that report on mothers’ stories and how their heavy drinking behaviour relates to being labelled as “bad” mothers
Her research indicated that the media’s perception of drunken mothers is that they put the lives of children in danger
The purpose of this study was to gain an understanding of mothers’ alcohol use disorder, their family’s response to their drinking problem and how that prevents them from seeking treatment

Summary

Introduction

In South Africa, there have not been many studies that report on mothers’ stories and how their heavy drinking behaviour relates to being labelled as “bad” mothers. Simone’s (2014) study on the “Mommy Wars” came significantly close to making sense of drinking mothers’ psychological health and how they are portrayed as “fractured females” in the media [1]. Dubriwny (2013) argued that most mothers who drink had mothers who drank heavily since mother’s lived-experience with alcohol has honed their alcohol dependence through family interaction. In South Africa, there is a paucity of qualitative studies giving a voice to mothers who drink, which could inform interventions to assist families to heal from repetitive alcohol use disorders

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Results

Conclusion