Alcohol dependence and the treatment of alcoholism began to be discussed more and more frequently and persistently. There is a problem. How can you help people cope with alcoholism?
This question is asked by more than one family member with a similar problem, often an alcoholic wife who dreams that her husband will stop drinking. How can you help an alcoholic to stop drinking?
When you want to help a patient with alcoholism, it is often accompanied by a subjective feeling of the problem. Alcohol irritates you, complicating family relationships and causing financial hardship.
A person who is addicted to alcohol may have a vague impression that the problem is out of control and often does not see the problem in alcohol abuse.
He doesn't understand that he has to do something about alcohol addiction, especially if he wants to be treated with drugs. Alcohol sincerely denies it.
In the eyes of a drunkard, other people who want to help him exaggerate the situation. They are not helpers and allies, but enemies. What can you do to help someone who is drunk at home?
How can you help an alcoholic to stop drinking?
Paradoxes of assistance to the drinker.
More than one of the drunken man's wives wondered what his family life would look like if he stopped drinking. In grief and anger, he argues in that style: "If you loved me, you're long over with this alcohol. "Unfortunately, such words only give a fundamentally different result than intended.
Intensifying the guilt in the intoxicated, the patient eventually wants to drink. Behavior of alcoholics is not a manifestation of his bad will, but the result of the disease.
His emotions, thoughts, and will began to be controlled by alcohol, which is hard to avoid. Alcohol becomes a way to stifle sadness, boredom, shame, stress, routine.
The mechanism of dependence is that ethanol extinguishes negative emotions, instead giving positive emotions at least for a short time - joy, comfort, peace. When he wakes up, he is again in despair, and then another bottle or beer turns into a "medicine".
A person who is addicted to alcohol, under the influence of alcohol, turns bad emotions into unpleasant feelings, which leads to incomplete desire to change everything in his life. Therefore, the best help for a person who drinks alcohol is to face the reality after waking up.
Let him experience the consequences of his drunkenness, for example, waking up on a park bench without a watch or shoes, paying a drunk driver's fine, and being reprimanded by his boss for not coming to work after an event with his colleagues.
Every negative experience of alcohol intoxication will be a signal to the drinker that drinking alcohol is not attractive at all, and that other difficulties - a serious problem that creates problems in family or work relationships.
Unfortunately, many people who want to help a loved one are confused about how to cope with alcoholism and make every effort to silence the issue of alcoholism so that the family does not learn the problem.
Instead of calling the problem "alcoholism" and allowing the drunk to experience the negative consequences of alcohol abuse, people are doing something completely different. They defend the intoxicated, justify his drinking, hide alcohol from him, and generally deny that he has any alcohol problems.
Thus, a drinking family feels "protected" and can still drink with impunity. Often, people who want to break free from alcohol addiction help to avoid drinking and contribute to the postponement of the decision to stop drinking.
The most common victims of addiction are the wives of alcoholics. If the husband is an alcoholic, he is addicted to a chemical called ethanol, and his wife, strangely enough, is addicted to alcohol.
She becomes a so-called untrustworthy partner in her husband's world and is constantly desperately looking for a new job to meet her partner's financial obligations. This makes him lie to the children that my father is sick, denies alcoholism, neglects himself and his children, and ignores his own needs.
This problem also requires some treatment. How can you help people cope with alcoholism? Until then, the husband will drink until he realizes that alcohol does not help him and protects him from the negative consequences of alcoholism.
Joint alcoholism is a series of careless behaviors of the partner of an alcoholic who is trying to adapt to a pathological situation. Unfortunately, this only increases the subsequent pathologies and problems.
Then the family deals with not one, but two addictions - alcoholism and alcoholism. The wife does her best to be honest — she hopes that this will make it easier for her husband to get rid of the addiction. Unfortunately, his efforts have the opposite effect - he inadvertently exacerbates the disease.
He pays a lot of attention, cares, makes promises, lies, protects - nothing. How can you help people cope with alcoholism? To help an alcoholic stop drinking once and for all, he or she must stop showing off, admit that he or she is helpless, and seek professional help.
Helping an alcoholic is an ungrateful role, because an alcoholic will fight fiercely for alcohol. When it comes to helping an alcoholic, it's important to remember that it's not a one-day job, it's a long-term job.
The drinker will not change under the influence of one, even the most severe obstacle. Some people, on the other hand, claim that it is not possible to help an alcoholic in itself, because you can only hurt yourself. Encourage people to seek help from specialized centers, such as addiction treatment centers and others.
Tips to help someone who is addicted to alcohol
How can you help prevent the development of alcoholism?
Here are some tips and tricks to keep in mind when deciding to support and heal a drinker:
- Accept that alcoholism is a chronic disease. Don't see it as a shame and embarrassment for the family or something to be hidden in front of the whole world.
- An alcoholic is like a naughty child who must be punished for lack of discipline and disobedience!
- Don't believe them when you realize that it is possible to keep the promises of a home drunk! Alcoholics can express a desire for "cosmetic changes", for example, guaranteeing that they will change the type of drink to the weaker ones. Don't expect drastic changes as a result of an argument or blackmail.
- Be persistent! If you say you will do something, please do it. Don't worry about leaving when you're not ready.
- There is no need for criticism, do not drag yourself into conflicts, do not read sermons, especially when you are drunk. He already knows everything you want to inspire him. This behavior only leads to further lies and baseless promises.
- Don't wait for an immediate and quick way out of the problem! Alcoholism is a chronic disease, and even avoiding long-term use does not guarantee that the disease will not return. Infuse monastery tea every day, effectively eliminates alcohol and nicotine addiction.
- Do not check how much alcohol a person drinks, do not put purchased bottles on the floor, and do not allow alcohol to be consumed openly - this will lead to more desperate attempts to buy and drink alcohol.
- Never drink together in the hope that you will get less and drink less. If you are drinking together, how can you help you stop drinking? In no way.
- Do not allow the drunk to lie, do not believe his lies and promises, because in this way you allow him to hope that he can capture his loved ones.
- Try to give alcohol support and love. Appreciate his efforts to stay awake. Remember that alcoholism is a disease and no one should be blamed for it.
Helping an alcoholic is the most effective if you just let him go - insisting on rehabilitation, screaming, crying, begging, preparing for sick days, borrowing, cleaning up after being drunk. parties, let him try to put everything in order by hanging. . .
Let him drink at his own risk. The sooner it reaches the bottom, the sooner it is likely to give up in order to begin to improve.