Hi Anita,

I am an adult child of an alcoholic parent (my father) – but as you may know, alcoholism is a family disease. This is where my co-dependency and abandonment issues stem from, I believe. Throughout my life I have been close with both of my parents. In my very early years, I was truly a daddy’s girl. By the time I turned 11 years old, until very recently (I’m 23), my relationship with my father was a very distant one. I didn’t even realize it! Luckily, when I was in high school my dad hit rock bottom and decided to get sober. He has been sober for almost 10 years now. My parent’s are still together. My mom on the other hand, is the one that I have a more complicated relationship with. By the time I hit my preteen/teenage years, we started fighting a lot. All in all, throughout my whole life, I realize now that I’m in therapy, that growing up in my family was a very lonely experience. I was lonely a lot of the time and nobody really went above and beyond to give me attention. They loved me and they were affectionate – and spoiled me on birthdays and holidays and always tried to give their very best – but the emotional aspect was sort of overlooked, I think. My mom tried very hard to make the alcoholism a thing that was just between her and my father. She tried to hide it from me to protect me. I think these are the things from my past that has led me to where I am now.