Knowing the significance of daily living with an alcoholic person was the purpose of phenomenological study performed with ten families of alcoholics, users of a Psychosocial Care Center - alcohol and drugs and a Family Health Unit, from the interior of Bahia, in the first half of 2009. Experiential descriptions were revealed by semi-structured interview and focus groups, and then submitted to analytical ambiguity which led to objectify the following themes: perceived violence and naturalized violence; coexistence for personal need and coexistence by the need to another. The phenomenon of family life with an alcoholic member appeared as an ambiguous experience, always realised in profile, bringing with him several other profiles. The results highlighted the need for a policy of alcoholics family care, which is able to include them in the planning of a whole assistance health care.
Alcoholism; Family; Care; Philosophy, nursing