When I heard about Whitney Houston’s death, my thoughts turned to her daughter, Bobbi Kristina, 18, and the struggle she must be facing in dealing with the loss of her mother.

I have seen children lose a parent to addiction. Accompanying the grief of bereavement are tormenting feelings of anger and a lack of self-worth. I have heard children say their parent chose alcohol or drugs over them, or that as a son or daughter they “weren’t worth sticking around for”. According to the charity Addaction, it is estimated that one in five people in the UK have a family member with a drug or alcohol problem. While addiction tends to hit the headlines when a celebrity such as Houston dies, thousands of other children are watching their parents abuse substances on a daily basis, and much of this is behind closed doors. The hidden nature of addiction is unsurprising given the stereotypes that addicts are either homeless or celebrities. But there are plenty of adults abusing alcohol or drugs while holding down full-time jobs and raising children, and the impact on their children is rarely discussed, if at all.

via >Children of addicts have a lot to lose | Society | The Guardian.