It’s tough to watch someone you care about go through alcoholism. To you, it may seem like the choice is easy- stop drinking. For an alcoholic, there is no choice.
This can be incredibly frustrating and may leave you at a loss regarding how to help. If you’re searching to find ways to help someone who is misusing alcohol, here’s some guidance.
Start a Conversation
There’s no point ignoring the elephant in the room. If you’ve noticed that your loved one is drinking more and affecting their everyday life, it’s time to address it. Don’t be discouraged if your loved one becomes defensive and denies the extent of the problem.
Remember that you’ll need to be gentle and take baby steps. It could be months before your loved one is ready for an honest conversation and willing to admit the problem.
Listen
When your loved one is ready to talk, all you need to do is listen. Your role should be to support rather than advise. You don’t have to come up with solutions to every problem.
The best thing you can do is be present and let your loved one know they are loved, no matter what. To access proper advice, you should seek out a professional with plenty of experience in alcoholism.
Seek Out Help
When your loved one is ready to accept help, it must be with a professional. There are many programs available at rehab for alcohol. Discuss the options of inpatient and outpatient programs that could get your loved one started on the right track.
Detox and rehab can be very difficult, so it will be important to discuss how you can help while your loved one is in the program with the therapist.
Spend Time Together
Whether your loved one is participating in a program or already on the road to recovery, it will be important to spend time together. That doesn’t mean that you have to be talking about alcoholism the whole time.
Simply playing a video game together or eating a meal together is good enough to keep lines of communication open. The easier your loved one finds it to cope with the recovery process, the easier it will be to spend quality time together.
Talk About Your Hurt
Until your loved one starts recovering, there may not be an opportunity to discuss how their relationship with alcohol has affected you. When your loved one begins to use tools taught during therapy sessions, you can start to talk about your own hurt. Tell your loved one how it made you feel and what you witnessed when they were intoxicated.
It’s helpful for both of you to talk about this to begin a healing process. It will also help your loved one understand the consequences of their decisions, and it may deter them from making the same decisions again.
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