Living next to an alcoholic is unbearable. Many do not stand up to scandals, beatings and leave. Well, they have a right to it. But there are those who do not give up and are ready to fight to the last with the "green snake" for a loved one.
First of all, it is important to understand that alcoholism is a chronic disease associated with impaired fermentation, which is responsible for the processing of alcohol by the body. In other words, an alcoholic can never drink like a healthy person, just as a person with lactose intolerance cannot drink milk. Alcoholism does not go away completely, but you can achieve a stage of remission and make efforts to ensure that this stage never ends.
Treatment of alcoholism is carried out in two main directions: medication and psychotherapeutic. Having suppressed the desire to drink with drugs, it is important to show a person how good life is without a "degree" and to help him adapt to a sober existence. Throughout the treatment, an important role belongs to the close people of the alcoholic - parents, spouses or adult children.
Say no
First of all, you need to figure out what you shouldn't be doing:
- Solve the problems of an alcoholic: lie at his work, lend, distribute his debts, buy alcohol. Let him not rely on you. Finding himself in a difficult situation, he will quickly make a decision about treatment.
- Force to drag to a narcologist or psychiatrist. Until the decision on the need for therapy appears in the addict's own head, all attempts at treatment are in vain. Patients run away from clinics, get drunk right after the coding.
- Threatening resignation, divorce, contacting the police and not doing any of this. If after the first promises it scares, then after the second or third time your words have no effect. If you promise to leave, leave, and do not return until you see that serious treatment has begun.
- Hide the problem from friends and family. Silence will deprive you of understanding and help, as well as increase the number of awkward situations. If you let know about alcohol addiction, others will think about it before offering to drink "one glass" at a family feast.
- Drink in front of an alcoholic and keep alcoholic drinks in the house. It is not difficult to guess that a bottle of wine or vodka will cause unpleasant associations and unwanted temptations in a sick person. Be in solidarity. It is best if you also completely give up alcohol.
- Add medicines and herbs to drinks and food. Do not forget that this way you can poison. From a helper and a virtue, you can turn into a murderer. Don't mess with folk methods.
What to do?
When an alcoholic is drunk, talking to him is useless. Wait for the moment when he stops, sober up, comes out of the binge. You must convince him to see a specialist who will help him refrain from drinking alcohol with medication, as well as conduct psychotherapy.
If an alcoholic is poorly motivated for treatment, you can list the dangers of his illness and the losses that he will suffer in the future: work, family, relationships, respect, money, health. Also, you have the right to deliver an ultimatum that if he does not get rid of the addiction, then you will go to extreme measures.
Help me find a good clinic, a good specialist. Rely, first of all, on the recommendations of acquaintances who have encountered a similar problem. You can independently seek help from a psychotherapist who will advise you and tell you how best to behave in your situation. Also, be sure to find the nearest Alcoholics Anonymous.
If your loved one has already started therapy and does not drink, he or she faces new problems. He soberly assesses the losses that alcoholism brought him, sees how the attitude of those around him has changed, realizes "to what he has sunk." At this time, it is important to support, strengthen his self-esteem. Do not nag about the past, but draw the patient's attention to those values that remain, to future prospects. Make joint plans, praise your first successes.
It is important to teach the alcoholic how to spend their free time sober. Learn new hobbies, start a hobby, travel. Play board games, watch interesting films, paint or music. You can also remember those activities that alcohol has supplanted. The main thing is that the patient has the opportunity to escape from bitter thoughts and the desire to drink.
