Alcohol addiction and treatment for alcohol addiction are beginning to be discussed more frequently and continuously. There is a problem. How to help an alcoholic overcome addiction?
This question was asked by more than one family member who had the same problem, often the wife of an alcoholic, who dreamed that one day her husband would stop drinking. How to help alcoholics stop drinking?
When you want to help a patient with alcoholism, you are often accompanied by subjective feelings about the problem. You are irritated with alcoholic beverages, which complicate family relationships and contribute to financial problems.
A person who is dependent on alcohol may only have a vague notion that the matter is out of control, and often does not see a problem in alcohol abuse at all.
He doesn’t understand that he needs to do something about alcohol dependence, especially when asked to be treated with drugs. The alcoholic sincerely denies that he is.
In the eyes of the drunk, others who want to help him exaggerate the situation. They are like enemies, not helpers and allies. What can be done to make relief for drunks at home effective?
How to help alcoholics stop drinking?
The paradox of help given to people who drink.
More than one wife to a drinking man wonders what family life would look like if the husband stopped drinking. In grief and anger, he hurled an argument in style: "If you love me, you’ve consumed this alcohol a long time ago. " Unfortunately, words like this only bring results that are fundamentally different than intended.
Strengthens the guilt in the domestic drunk, the result is that the patient wants to drink. The behavior of the alcoholic is not a manifestation of his malice, it is a consequence of the disease.
His emotions, thoughts and desires began to be driven by alcohol, which was difficult to escape. Alcohol becomes a way to drown out sadness, boredom, shame, stress, routine.
The mechanism of addiction is that ethanol kills negative emotions, giving in exchange, at least for a short time, a positive - joy, relaxation, peace. When he was conscious, despair overtook the person again, and then another bottle or beer became "medicine".
A person who is dependent on alcohol, under the influence of drinking, turns bad emotions into pleasant ones, which leads to a lack of desire to change anything in his life. Therefore, the best help to the person who is drinking is that which consists of confronting the alcoholic with reality when he or she is conscious.
Let him suffer the consequences of his drunkenness, for example, waking up on a park bench without a watch or shoes, paying a fine for driving a drink, and getting a reprimand from his boss for not being present at work after an event with a co -worker.
Any negative experience of alcohol intoxication will be a signal to the drinker that drinking alcohol is not interesting at all and is a serious problem that causes other difficulties - problems in relationships with family or at work.
Unfortunately, many people who want to help a loved one, squeeze their brains out on how to help an alcoholic overcome addiction and try their best to cover up the issue of alcoholism, so that the family is unaware of the problem.
Instead of calling the problem "alcoholism" and allowing drunks to suffer the negative consequences of alcohol abuse, people are doing something completely different. They defend the domestic drunkard, allow his drinking, hide alcoholic beverages from him, deny that they have any problems with alcohol at all.
Therefore, the drinker’s household feels "protected" and can still drink without punishment. Often, people who want to free alcohol from shackles unknowingly become helpers in drinking and contribute to the delay of the decision to stop drinking.
The most common victim of joint addiction is the wife of an alcoholic. If the husband is an alcoholic, then he is addicted to a chemical - ethanol, and his wife becomes, oddly enough, dependent on her alcoholic husband.
She becomes a so -called partner who doesn’t trust anyone in her partner’s world, and in desperation, she is always busy looking for a new job to pay off the partner’s financial obligations. This makes him lie to the children that the father is ill, denies alcohol, neglects both himself and the children, neglects his own needs.
This problem also requires some therapy. How to help an alcoholic overcome addiction? Until the wife of the alcoholic understands that he is not helping her, protecting her from the negative consequences of alcohol intoxication, until then, the husband will drink.
Co-alcoholism is a series of careless behaviors of an alcoholic’s partner trying to adapt to a pathological situation. Unfortunately, this only multiplies the pathology and subsequent problems.
The family then comes to play with not one, but two addictions - alcoholism and alcoholism together. The wife does everything in good faith - she hopes this way she will make it easier for the husband to get out of addiction. Unfortunately, his efforts had the opposite effect - he inadvertently triggered the disease even more.
Giving a lot of attention, caring, making promises, lying, protecting - nothing. How to help an alcoholic overcome addiction? To help alcoholics stop drinking once and for all, you need to stop pretending, admit that you are helpless, and seek professional help.
Helping an alcoholic is an ungrateful role because alcohol addicts will fight fiercely for their drink. Having decided to help an alcoholic, keep in mind that this is work for many years, and not for one day.
A person who drinks will not change under the influence of one, even the most violent of obstacles. Some argue, on the other hand, that it is impossible to help an alcoholic, because you can only harm yourself. Encourage people to seek help from specialized centers such as addiction therapy centers and others.
Tips to help someone with alcohol addiction
How to help so as not to harm and not increase the development of alcoholism?
Here are some tips and tricks to keep in mind when deciding to support and heal someone who is drinking:
- Accept that alcohol is a chronic disease. Don’t see it as a shame and a family disgrace or something that needs to be hidden in front of the whole world.
- A drunkard is like a naughty child who needs to be punished for lack of discipline and disobedience!
- Don’t believe the promises of a drunken house when you realize that it is possible to fulfill them! An alcoholic can declare his or her desire for a "cosmetic change", for example, guaranteeing that he or she will change the type of drink to a weaker one. Don’t expect drastic change driven by an argument or extortion.
- In line! If you say you will do something, please do it. Don’t worry about leaving when you’re not ready.
- No need for reproach, don’t drag yourself into conflict, don’t read sermons, especially when an alcoholic is drunk. He already knows everything you want to inspire him. This behavior only gives rise to more lies and baseless promises.
- Don’t expect an immediate and quick way out of trouble! Alcoholism is a chronic disease, and even a long -term period of abstinence does not guarantee that the disease will not return. Brew monastery tea every day, it effectively eliminates alcohol and nicotine addiction.
- Don’t check how many drinks are alcoholic, don’t keep bottles purchased, but also don’t allow open access to alcohol - this will only push alcohol drinkers into more desperate attempts to obtain alcohol and find opportunities to drink.
- Never drink together in the hope that he will drink less and less. How can you help alcoholics stop drinking if you sit down and drink together? can not.
- Do not let the drunkard lie, do not believe his lies and promises, because in this way you allow him to hope that he is able to deceive his loved ones.
- Try to give alcohol support and love. Appreciate his attempts to stay conscious. Remember that alcoholism is a disease, and you don’t have to scold anyone for the disease.
Helping an alcoholic will be most effective if you let it alone - don’t demand recovery, don’t scream, don’t cry, don’t beg, don’t prepare for a sick day, don’t borrow money, don’t cleanse the body after a hangover. partying, let him try to arrange everything drunk. . .
Let him drink at his own risk and peril. The faster he gets to the bottom, the more likely he will quickly want to let go of it to start getting better.