Tag: Strong One

How to Help an Alcoholic Stop Drinking

If the person that you live with wants to stop drinking, you have to help as well. When an alcoholic wants to stop, you have to give up a few things that you may enjoy. The person will need your support when they are trying to stop the drinking and change. This is not easy for the person to do and you have to be the strong one again. You have to offer encouragement and not offer judgment. Judging the alcoholic that is asking for help is not going to work. You have to offer compassion and support. They are not just doing this for themselves. They are doing it for you as well.

Talk with them about what they are doing. This should be done when they are not drinking. You can calmly explain how the drinking is affecting the family. You can tell them how it has affected your children and your own feelings. In most cases, the alcoholic does not even realize what he or she has done to the family. They never take the time to see how their drinking affects anyone. All they know is that they were doing what they wanted to do.

Make sure that the person knows that you will stand by them through this time. This is probably one of the hardest things to do, but if you care about this person, you have to stand by them and offer any support that you can. If they join AA and continue to attend meetings, the 12-step program could bring up some bad memories that you do not want to hear, but you must listen and forgive or at least try. This is the hardest part of the 12-step program. It can bring back some horrible memories that could be very upsetting.

Offer to stop drinking in front of them if you drink. This is important until the alcoholic feels comfortable with what they are accomplishing. If the person is trying to refrain from drinking and attending meetings, you do not want to be drinking in front of him or her. You have to make some changes as well. You cannot sit and drink even a few cocktails in front of them because the urge to drink for them will be strong until they learn how to control those urges. They may have an urge and slip, but you could offer help there as well.

Offer to be with them whenever they feel a need to drink. If they feel the urge to drink coming, you can be there for the person. Make the thoughts and urges go away by offering to go for a walk or to take a ride. If you have never had an addiction, you cannot for a minute understand how the person feels inside. It is hard to control the urge if the person has been drinking for so long. Do something or go to a diner for a few coffees and just talk.

When the person wants to drink, think of something else the two of you could do instead. This is the best thing you could do for someone that wants to quit drinking, but is have problems with it. You have to be strong and offer to listen or just sit and hold their hand. You have to be supportive and do whatever you can to make sure that they have another option to drinking. It is not easy to overcome an addiction, but with your support and the help of a group or treatment, they can succeed.

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Help the Alcoholic before They Hit Bottom

If you know that the drinking problem is getting way out of control, you should get help for the alcoholic before they hit bottom. This means that you have to take matters into your own hands and talk to someone that can help. This will more than likely be a counselor or a doctor. You will need to get the person into treatment before it is too late. This sounds easy to do, but they are not going to go with you, you will have to have them committed to a hospital or treatment program. This is why covering up for the alcoholic is so wrong. You need people to know the problems for support.

If things are bad, you are scared, and things are out of control, ask for help. Committing the person to a hospital to dry out and have some sessions with a counselor or a doctor is the only way to stop the drinking. There are treatment plans that work very well and the person is never alone. They are always with someone so that they can talk about things. This is the best thing that can happen for both of you. Treatments for alcoholism are intense and they can deal with the withdrawals.

If the health of the alcoholic is in danger, you will need to take steps to get them help. Sometimes an alcoholic will become depressed and withdrawn. You must get them help before they do something stupid or that they will regret. You are the strong one at this time and you must step up and take charge. You will want someone to help you when you take the person to a treatment center. If they refuse to go, you can always ask for help from the police.

This is the hardest thing to do. The reason you are doing it is because you care about the person and you just cannot live this way anymore. It will be hard because you will miss the person, but you have to remember that when they are done is treatment, you will have the person you love back again. Life will not be as it was. This is when you have to remember that it is best for them and the rest of the family. You have to be firm, but not abusive. Yelling is not going to help. Get help if you need it to avoid any problems.

You will feel alone and they will not want anything to do with you right away. This is one of the hardest pats of committing someone for treatment. You just sit and cry because you feel so horrible. However, you have to remember why you did it. You have to tell yourself that you did it because it can help them and bring them back to you. You have to be strong. This would be a good time to visit a group such as Al-Anon and talk with others about how you feel. It does help easy the pain and loss of a mate.

In the end, they will dry out and be happy to be with you again. Once the initial shock is gone and the alcoholic is done with withdraws, they will want to see you. It may take some time, but they do finally clear their minds and want you. They remember your good times together and want you. You can then begin the healing process and start looking ahead. They have to want to move forward, so way for them to tell you when the time is right.

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