THE FIVE STICK FIGURES HERE REPRESENT FIVE STATES OF SOBRIETY/INTOXICATION IN AN ALCOHOLIC MOTHER

Jane Middleton-Moz and Lorie Dwinell, After the Tears: Reclaiming the Personal Losses of Childhood, Health Communications, Inc., 1986

In Figure 1, the parent is nauseated, irritable, and hung-over. When her eight-year old daughter asks for a sandwich, the mother responds, "Leave me alone! You're nothing but trouble. Can't you see I don't feel well?" A few minutes later the little girl returns still hungry and determined this time to "get it right." She asks her mother ever so carefully if she can fix herself a sandwich.