Unhappy childhoods seem to be a common theme among alcoholics
 

I've noticed in many of the speaker meetings I attend and stories I read that alcoholics often describe feeling alienated or somehow abnormal during their childhoods. Regardless of whether they were raised in a dysfunctional or happy family, they almost always seem to describe feeling "different" - not quite at home in the world.

I guess I'm too new to recovery and AA to understand what the significance is. Is it that a person is basically born an alcoholic and it manifests itself as these kinds of problems in childhood before it manifests itself through actual drinking?

Often the speaker will say that once they took their first drink, it seemed to answer their problems - to rectify the childhood issues they'd described earlier. I'd appreciate any insight that anyone has on this. Thanks, Stephanie

Dunno 'bout any insight, but I didn't feel particularly different than my siblings / cousins, as I recall.

Had a bunch of unpleasant experiences, directly attributable to my drinking, though.

The rest I remember as being pretty fun, in a child sort of way. Only started feeling out of place as I grew up.

For what it's worth,

-TB.