Side note: when my Aunt lived out here years back it reached the point where almost every time I phoned her she was high, so I ceased having contact with her (I can just imagine what the results would be if most of my family was forced to undergo hair follicle drug testing or something similar. I've never been a drug user, and haven't had one alcoholic beverage in approximately six years or whatnot).

 

Being high didn't "make" my Aunt abusive, it just made the abuse that much more overt. Throughout her life she would either blame any targets for her abusive behavior or blame this on substances. Yet, the fact is, she can be abusive even when straight and with no provocation whatsoever, natch!

 

My point being, as is iterated below: drugs and alcohol do not create abuse but compound it. Drug and alcohol treatment do not "cure" abusive mentality and accompanying behavior. Abuse - whether it be verbal, emotional, or physical - needs to be addressed separately.

 

 

 

Reality: Alcohol and drug abuse do not cause domestic violence. The violence may be more severe, however, when alcohol or drugs are involved. Alcohol and drugs may also intensify existing violent behavior. Rates of simultaneously occurring domestic violence and alcohol abuse vary from as low as 25 percent in some studies, to as high as 80 percent in other studies.

 

Many batterers do not abuse alcohol or drugs and many alcohol or drug abusers do not batter. Chemical dependency treatment will not cure battering; the two problems need to be dealt with separately. The alcohol abuse rate for abused women is the same as that of the general female population, 7 to 14 percent. Their alcohol abuse does not justify their being battered.

 

Referenced from: Annotated Bibliogrpahy on "Spouse Abuse. Wife Abuse The Facts. Response to Violence in the Family and Sexual Assault." National Coalition Against Domestic Violence Report. April 1985 National Woman Abuse Prevention Project. 1989.   

 

"If there are two or more ways to do something, and one of those ways can result in a catastrophe, then someone will do it."

- Murphy's Law