What Is Alcoholism?
Alcoholism is a chronic disease that involves the progressive destruction of your ability to stop drinking. Alcoholics are unable to control their use even though it causes many problems. These problems are for themselves and those around them, such as family members or coworkers. Another name of alcoholism is alcohol use disorder (AUD). It affects men more than women but can happen to anyone regardless of age, gender identity, race, ethnicity, or sexual orientation. You cannot cure alcoholism by willpower alone. This requires treatment from trained professionals who specialize in addiction medicine. There are also some ways on “How to help an Alcoholic?”
People with alcoholism feel an overwhelming need or compulsion to drink. This is despite serious health, mental health, work, or home life consequences as a result of their behavior. They also develop a tolerance so they have to keep increasing how much alcohol they drink. This is in order not to experience withdrawal symptoms once the effects wear off.
A person with alcoholism may be able to lead a normal life for weeks or months at a time without drinking. However, when they do drink again, their craving and compulsion return full force; it’s like pressing a reset button that sends them back to square one.
How To Help Alcoholic?
Alcoholism is a disease that has been around for centuries. It’s not uncommon to know someone with this addiction and feel like you want to help them. But what do you do? These are some tips on how to help an alcoholic, as well as how you can help yourself if you’re the one struggling with alcoholism:
These are some steps and tips on how to help an alcoholic:
Know About Their Problem
The first thing you should do is know about their problem. Being well-informed about the disease of alcoholism will help you in gauging what to do. You should also know how it affects people so that when they are under the influence, you can take good care of them without being taken aback by their behaviors.
Carry Out Intervention
The next thing is an intervention with loved ones or friends who may be struggling with this addiction. It’s best if there are several family members and friends present for this kind of meeting. This is because then they’ll have someone else supporting them through recovery too. This is after successfully kicking out alcohol from their lives forever. This could make a huge difference compared to having just one person doing all the talking during such a discussion. This might not leave much impact at all on your friend or family member.
Give Them Support
This is one of the tips on “How to help an Alcoholic?” Showing that you’re there for them and being encouraging is very important to the recovery process. A person struggling with alcoholism needs all the motivation they can get from their friends or family members. This motivation can also be from those around them. These all are those who care about their wellbeing. You should make sure to be supportive every step of the way.
Watch Out For Warning Signs
Be wary of signs that indicate whether your loved one might need alcohol rehab soon. Although it’s not always necessary because everybody has different reactions towards drinking, some warning signs include: loss of interest in activities once enjoyed; failing grades at work even though they’ve been top achievers before; skipping out on social gatherings where there are no drinks; family members or friends expressing concerns over their drinking, and constantly having the urge to drink.
Don’t Enable Them
It’s important that you don’t enable your loved ones to continue drinking. This is by covering up for them when they’re hungover or getting drunk in public places. Due to this, they could also get arrested. It also doesn’t help if you give them money. This is so they can buy more alcohol. This just tells them that there are no consequences whenever they drink excessively. That is why it’ll be harder for them to quit on their own because of this false sense of security. And since everything has its limits…so should a person struggling with alcoholism who might not even know how much is too much anymore until something tragic happens like losing all his or her money from blacking out every time they drink too much.
Choose Place And Time To Talk
When you’re planning on talking with your loved one about their problem, choose a place and time that is appropriate for such a discussion. A public place like the mall or park where there are other people around will not be suitable. This is because they might feel awkward having to talk in front of strangers. It neither should be done during an intimate moment between lovers. This can make them defensive and pose as barriers towards opening up instead. And lastly…you shouldn’t wait until they’ve already gotten drunk before bringing out this conversation again. This is because chances are high that they’ll just dismiss everything if pushed at such a critical point when all their defenses have been let down by alcohol’s effects.
Listen To Them
This is one of the tips on “How to help an Alcoholic?” Before you say anything in return, make sure to listen carefully and patiently. Your loved one might be rambling a lot because of their drunkenness-which is part of the reason why it’s best that this talk happens when they’re sober or else there could be miscommunications; so just let them speak up first before replying back with your own thoughts about the problem at hand. Ask questions whenever appropriate for clarification purposes only. Don’t launch into interrogations or drillings otherwise, everything will go downhill from here out if things get heated up too soon. And lastly…make sure not to interrupt. This is because then you’ll never know what kind of deep feelings and emotions can come pouring out once somebody has started talking. This is especially when it comes to sensitive topics like this.
Be Patient
You must be patient with them throughout the whole process of recovery from alcoholism because it’s definitely hard especially when your loved one is going through a lot of withdrawal symptoms and other health issues that can come from years worth of heavy drinking-so just keep in mind that all these efforts are for their own good. In fact…it’ll help if you’re also able to attend some alcohol addiction treatment sessions so you know where they might have been coming from while being encouraged yourself to do better about taking care of yourself as well while dealing with somebody else who has a problem. It takes time but everything will eventually get back on track soon enough.
Avoid Judging
Another thing that you should avoid doing is to judge your loved one as if they’re just some irresponsible person who doesn’t know how better otherwise. It might be very easy for people without such problems to think this way but those struggling with alcoholism are not always in control of their own lives anymore-so instead…help them regain the power back by encouraging and motivating them on a daily basis so they can do everything within their capabilities no matter how trivial it may seem at first glance. And lastly…don’t push yourself too hard or else there’s a chance that both of you will break down emotionally, which wouldn’t help either of your situations later on when things get more complicated than the time being.
Offer Help
This is one of the tips on “How to help an Alcoholic?” When you’re talking to your loved one, don’t forget to offer help and support as well. This is a very sensitive topic for them because they feel like nobody cares about their problems anymore-and if this continues on any longer…then it might end up pushing them away from everyone else around which would ultimately lead to further isolation with no way out in sight at all. So just make sure that you tell them how much you care through words of encouragement and even better…show actions too by offering what little support you can give such as going along with them during doctor’s appointments or maybe helping clean up the house after a day full of drinking too much alcohol.
Know What To Talk About
If you’re thinking about speaking up with your loved one, make sure that you know what to talk about first. You shouldn’t bring up the topic of their drinking problem abruptly or else they might get defensive before shutting down from this conversation…you should ease them into it instead by talking about other things as well and wait for a good moment when they’ve calmed down before bringing out the real issue at hand which is alcoholism.
This way, there won’t be any problems going on between either of you because everything has been talked over beforehand without anyone stepping on each others’ toes especially if they’re already aware of how much alcohol plays a role in worsening whatever issues come along with being an alcoholic. If all goes well during these talks then chances are high they’ll realize their problem and be willing to go through alcohol addiction treatment as well.
Look For Treatment
The last thing is to look for treatment. This will be the most important step in helping an alcoholic because it takes them out of their comfort zone and into a place where they’ll learn how to live sober again, instead of drowning with liquor or beer all day long. It’s also best if you help them find a trusted rehab center so that they can go through detoxification and rehabilitation without feeling like there’s no one else by their side who cares about what happens next after getting healthy once more.
Conclusion
Providing support for someone who is in the early stages of recovery can be an incredibly rewarding experience. You may not know much about addiction or how to help, but don’t let that stop you from reaching out and trying your best! The most important thing to remember when supporting a loved one struggling with alcoholism is patience. Each person has their own unique story, so simply focus on listening without judgment or expecting them to change overnight. Remembering this will make it easier for both parties involved in the process.
For more information, please contact MantraCare. Addiction is a chronic and often relapsing disorder characterized by compulsive drug-seeking and use despite harmful consequences. If you have any queries regarding Online Addiction Counseling experienced therapists at MantraCare can help: Book a trial Online therapy session
