How Can I Help My Loved One Who Is Addicted to Alcohol?

Watching a friend or family member struggle with an alcohol use disorder can be a painful and frustrating experience. It can trigger anger, fear, shame, and emotions that can cause long-term distress.

In such situations, you may feel so overwhelmed that you find yourself ignoring the situation altogether. However, living in denial will only be detrimental to your, your loved one with the alcohol addiction, and the rest of their family.

The good news is that there is something that you can do to change your loved one’s situation for the better.

Below is a detailed guide on how you can help your loved one break the cycle of addiction, help them become healthier, and restore calm and stability to your relationship in the process. Visit The Edge Treatment center to learn more alcohol treatment.

Educate Yourself About Alcoholism

If you don’t have a comprehensive understanding of a problem, then solving the problem will be a lot harder. It will also be tough talking about alcoholism with your loved one who’s struggling with the condition.

For this reason, you need to gain some insight into alcoholism so you can find out where the problem stems from, how to treat it, as well as how to prevent a relapse.

Help Your Loved One Realize They Have a Problem

In light of the ongoing pandemic, increasing unemployment, and economic unpredictability, a lot of people are stressed and consuming more alcohol than usual. As such, someone may fail to see when their alcohol consumption has evolved from responsible drinking to alcohol abuse.

While it’s a fairly understandable situation, that does not mean it’s less of an issue. Drinking alcohol to avoid feeling depressed or cope better with stress is a strong sign that your loved one’s drinking has become a problem.

If they’re covering up how much alcohol they’re taking, binge drink, or continue drinking even when it’s causing issues in their relationships, then they may have a drinking problem.

It’s critical that you talk to them and help them identify such signs and how its affecting their lives and those of others who care about them.

Encourage Your Loved One to Consider Alcohol Treatment Centers

It can be tough talking to someone about their drinking problem. Some people have very hostile and defensive responses when approached about their alcohol condition.

However, this should not discourage you from speaking up since it’s not likely that their drinking will improve on its own. Once you’ve shown them how their drinking affects you and the family. Let them know how alcohol treatment centers can do them a world of good.

Offer to help them scout an ideal alcohol treatment center and offer to accompany them to meetings, appointments, and counselling sessions.

The Bottom Line

For most people, drinking is a normal part of life. It’s a legal and socially acceptable practice for adults. However, its effects vary from person to person.

How drinking affects your loved one’s life determines if they have a drinking problem or not. Their drinking could be causing a disruption to the family when they ignore their responsibilities or get into legal/financial problems. Some alcoholics even project their frustrations onto other family members through verbal, emotional, and physical abuse.

While the tips above may help you reach out to your loved one, you can’t force them to stop drinking. What you can do is address the problem and support them during their recovery.