The Relationship Between the Responsibility and the Feelings of Guilt Experienced by People Whose Parents Were Alcohol Addicts

Relevance. The question of the role of the feelings of guilt in the rehabilitation process of people whose parents were alcohol addicts remains controversial. In cognitive behavioral therapy, the feeling of guilt is associated with taking the responsibility. In the humanistic approach, the feelings of guilt and shame are considered as emotions that hinder the acceptance of responsibility and the search for social support. The study of the experience of the feelings of guilt can help formulate the goals of rehabilitation and identify the resource factors of people whose parents were alcohol addicts.

Objective. The purpose of this study was to study the relationship between the responsibility and the feelings of guilt experienced by people whose parents were alcohol addicts.

Methods. Sample: 1) people whose parents were alcohol addicts (N = 52; M age = 24.5); 2) control group (N = 50; M age = 24.2). We used a phenomenological analysis of the statements of the participants in the twelve-step recovery program, “The Interpersonal Guilt Questionnaire” (O'Connor, Berry), “The Guilt Inventory Questionnaire” (Kugler, Jones), “Coping strategies” (Lazarus, Folkman), the content analysis of the family resource factors.

Results. People whose parents suffered from chronic alcoholism characterize the feelings of guilt as a familiar family process, as a result of increased responsibility for other people, as a result of taboo aggression towards their parents and as a result of experiencing a real or expected loss of their parents. An increased feeling of guilt is associated with avoiding finding a solution to a problem and is not associated with taking increased responsibility. Resource factors contributing to overcoming the feeling of guilt: keeping a diary, self-observation of negative emotions, communication with friends and healthy relatives, participation in rehabilitation programs. The participants in the control group are less inclined to experience the feelings of guilt and shame, and identify the confidential communication with family and friends, and sport as resource factors.

Conclusions. The feelings of guilt experienced by people whose parents were alcohol addicts is not associated with the acceptance of increased responsibility for their lives and does not contribute to the acceptance of the social support.

References

1. Andrade, S.B., Jarvinen, M. (2021). Moderate stable, fling or chronic high: alcohol trajectories among young people in an intoxication-oriented drinking culture. Addiction Research and Theory, 29 (4), 306–315. doi:10.1080/16066359.2020.1826938

2. Baikova, M.A., Merinov, A.V. (2019). Influence of the gender of children raised in families of alcohol addicts on their suicidological characteristics. Suicidologija (Suicidology), 10 (2), 42–54. (In Russ.). doi: 10.32878/suiciderus.19-10-02(35)-42-55

3. Belik, I.A. (2006) Chuvstvo viny v svjazi s osobennostjami razvitija lichnosti: diss. …kand. psihol. nauk. (Feelings of guilt in connection with the peculiarities of personality development), Ph.D. (Psychology). Saint-Petersburg. (in Russ.).

4. Brown-Rice, K.A.; Scholl, J.L.; Fercho, K.A. (2018). Neural and psychological characteristics of college students with alcoholic parents differ depending on current alcohol use. Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry, 81, 284–296. doi: 10.1016/j.pnpbp.2017.09.010.

5. Connor, L.E., Berry, J.W. (1994). Shame, guilt, and depression in men and women in recovery from addiction. Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, 11, 503–510.

6. Delgado, A.A., Gritsenko, R.A., Prokopchuk, D.D. (2020). Content analysis as a method for studying political texts. Voprosy politologii (Questions of political science), 10 (1), 320–327. (In Russ.). doi: 10.35775 / PSI.2020.53.1.033

7. Filippova, N.V., Barylnik, Y.B., Mishukova, A.Y., Antonova, A.A. (2021). Psychological portrait of people who grew up in “alcoholic families”. Narkologija (Narcology), 20 (8), 64–69. (In Russ.). doi: 10.25557 / 1682-8313.2021.08.64-69

8. Frankl, V. (2014). The will to meaning: Foundations and applications of logotherapy. N.Y.: Penguin.

9. Hoffman, M.L. (2020). Empathy and moral development: Implications for caring and justice. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

10. Il'in, E.P. (2016). Psychology of conscience: shame, guilt, remorse. SPb.: Piter. (In Russ.).

11. Kiselnikova, N.V., Lavrova, E.V., Almukhametova, T.N., Kuminskaya, E.A., Rzayeva, F.R. (2020). Phenomenological analysis of the dynamics of clients' experiences in the process of psychotherapy: the study of individual cases. Part 2. Konsul'tativnaja psihologija i psihoterapija (Counseling psychology and psychotherapy), 28 (3), 8–24. (In Russ.). doi: 10.17759/cpp.2020280302

12. Korotkova, E.V. (2002). Social'no-psihologicheskij analiz viny i styda kak sistemy otnoshenij lichnosti k sebe i drugomu: Diss. …kand. psihol. nauk. (Socio-Psychological Analysis of Guilt and Shame as a System of Personal Relationships to Self and Others), Ph.D. (Psychology). Rostov-na-Donu. (in Russ.).

13. Lanina, A.V., Khekalo, O.Y. (2019). Statistics of harmful addictions of the population of Russia. In M.S. Mintsaeva, M.Y. Pashaeva (Eds.), Proceedings of the II Russian scientific-practical conference of students, graduate students and young scientists, dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution of Higher Education "M.D. Millionshchikov State Technical University” (pp. 327–331). Grozny: Typography Spectrum. (In Russ.).

14. Lutsenko, A.M. (2020). Coping strategies and personality profile characteristics of people whose parents were alcohol addicts. Behavioral science, 10 (32), 212–221. doi.org/10.3390/bs10010032.

15. Lutsenko, A.M., Spivakovskaya, A.S. (2020). Representations of the phenomenon of the family pain experienced by people whose parents were alcohol addicts. Vestnik Moskovskogo universiteta. Seriya 14. Psikhologiya (Moscow University Bulletin. Series 14. Psychology), 2, 83–102. doi: 10.11621/vsp.2020.02.05

16. Lyvers, M., Hayatbakhsh, N. (2019). Alexithymia, Impulsivity, and Reward Sensitivity in Young Adult University Student Children of Alcoholics. Substance Use and Misuse, 54 (2), 340–344. doi: 10.1080/10826084.2018.1512628

17. Patock-Peckham, J.A., Canning, J.R., Leeman, R.F. (2018). Shame is bad and guilt is good: An examination of the impaired control over drinking pathway to alcohol use and related problems. Personality and individual differences, 121, 62–66. doi: 10.1016/j.paid.2017.09.023

18. Potter-Efron R.T. (2014). Shame, Guilt, and Alcoholism: Treatment Issues in Clinical Practice. Moscow: IOI Publ. (In Russ.).

19. Rozhnova, T.M., Kostyuk S.V., Malygin V.L., Enikolopov S.N., Nikolenko V.N. (2020). The phenomenon of codependency: psychological and medical genetic aspects. Neurology, Neuro-psychiatry, Psychosomatics, 12 (5), 53–59. doi: 10.14412/2074-2711-2020-5-53-59

20. Shamardina, M.V., Dorovskikh O.A., Kozhevnikova A.A. (2020). Psychological portrait of a co-dependent teenager. Pedagogika i psihologija obrazovanija (Pedagogy and psychology of education), 1, 198–207. (In Russ.). doi: 10.25557 / 1682-8313.2021.08.64-69

21. Tuchina, O.D., Shustov, D.I., Agibalova, T.V., Shustova, S.A. (2019). Deficits of prospective capacity as possible mechanism in pathogenesis of alcohol dependence. Konsul'tativnaya psikhologiya i psikhoterapiya (Counseling Psychology and Psychotherapy), 27 (1), 79–101. (In Russ.). doi:10.17759/cpp.2019270106        

22. Woititz, J.G. (2002). The complete Acoa sourcebook: Adult children of alcoholics at home, at work and in love. FL.: Health Communications, Inc