How to help an alcoholic cope with addiction – advice from psychologists

This post provides informed advice from psychologists who specialize in addiction recovery and rehabilitation. It includes tips to support a loved one with an alcohol dependency on their path to sobriety and abstinence. Such advice includes being understanding, talking openly, encouraging help-seeking behavior, providing structure and avoiding enabling behaviors. It details further unique steps and emphasizes that it is possible to help those struggling with their addiction and provide them with emotional and practical support.

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Members of a family in which a husband or wife abuses alcohol should know how to live with an alcoholic in order to provide timely assistance during periods of exacerbation of the disease. Despite the tragedy of the situation, it can be corrected using psychological techniques and not leaving a loved one alone with his problem. It is almost impossible to overcome alcoholism on your own, but by the joint efforts of indifferent people it is quite possible to overcome the painful craving for alcohol.

Who are alcoholics

Signs of alcoholism are almost identical to signs of alcohol abuse, so the final diagnosis is often belated. Features of alcohol addiction, which should cause anxiety in relatives, are an irresistible need to drink alcohol, a panic state in the absence of the opportunity to find alcohol.

Alcoholism is more likely a psychological addiction than a physiological one. A patient with such a diagnosis needs the support of loved ones, although he denies this with all his actions. Turning to a specialist care center for addicts will help you make sure you are aware of alcohol abuse. A narcologist will confirm or refute the concerns and will advise on the treatment of alcoholism.

Drunk man lies on the table and holds an empty bottle in his hand

Is it worth living with an alcoholic – psychologist’s advice

Choosing a life partner, people can’t guess in advance what will happen to their future destiny. Therefore, realizing that a loved one has become a drunkard, the question arises: is it worth continuing your life next to an alcoholic? The opinions of psychologists about alcoholism are contradictory. But they all come down to what is worth deciding what you are willing to sacrifice to save the family. If feelings remain and there is a desire to fight against alcohol addiction, please be patient. Start the fight against alcoholism as quickly as possible.

Be honest with yourself, soberly assess your capabilities. Confronting alcoholism will require a lot of effort, time, nerves. Addiction can be dealt with if a person is really expensive. If not, it’s better not to spoil your life and find the strength to break off relations. The situation is more complicated if a close relative – parents or their own child – suffers from alcohol dependence. In this case, the question is not whether to live with him, but what to do with an alcoholic.

Life with an alcoholic

Living with a person in the same apartment, even with a loved one, but suffering from alcoholism, can not be called simple. You will have to come to terms with the fact that your feelings and desires will go by the wayside. Treatment for an alcoholic can last for months or even years. And all this time it is necessary to provide all kinds of support and carry out round-the-clock monitoring. The phone number of the toll-free center of the psychological assistance center should always be at hand, so that you can contact specialists in time in case of disruptions, which will often.

Woman at the reception of a psychologist

How to talk with an alcoholic

While cohabiting with an alcohol dependent, you should know how to live with an alcoholic and understand the psychology of this disease. Communication can not be limited, otherwise the patient will be even more closed from the outside world and will seek solace in his usual way. Basic rules for communicating with an addicted person:

  • Do not try to reason him intoxicated;
  • Do not believe the promises made in a state of hangover;
  • do not indulge;
  • avoid constant quarrels;
  • convincingly state their arguments against alcoholism in a period of clarity of consciousness;
  • exposing ultimatums to the alcohol dependent, have the determination to bring them to life.

How to help with a hangover at home

Intoxication is something that relatives and friends of an alcoholic often have to face. This painful and painful condition can be alleviated at home. Alcoholics try to cope with the hangover syndrome on their own in the “beer” way, i.e. drinking in one gulp a glass of beer. This method, although it helps at first, further exacerbates the dependence.

For relatives who are trying to understand how to live with an alcoholic, it is important to know the measures to help with a hangover. The primary remedy is rehydration by drinking 1-1.5 liters of water for 2 hours. Various sorbents and soda will help get rid of alcohol poisoning. Vascular spasm can be relieved with medications such as aspirin tablet, glycine, ascorbic acid.

How to help get out of hard drinking

It is difficult, but possible to get an alcoholic out of a drunken syndrome without resorting to medical care. To build a strategy for how to cure an alcoholic, one should take into account the severity of the binge and its duration. You can not abruptly stop taking alcohol – this is fraught with complications in the form of a sharp spasm of blood vessels, heart attacks. The dose of alcohol should be gradually reduced to zero in 3 days. During this period of treatment for alcoholism, it is necessary to detoxify the body to improve well-being.A woman and a man

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How to behave with an alcoholic in the family

The line of conduct when communicating with alcohol addicts should be clearly built. A person suffering from alcoholism quickly learns to manipulate close people to get the desired dose of alcohol or to justify his habit. You can’t go on about the alcoholic – thereby you aggravate the problem of addiction. Be persistent and demanding, but always justify your claims, citing convincing arguments and examples of the negative impact of alcohol dependence on the body.

With child

Parents who encounter the problem of alcoholism in their son or daughter should be persistent in character, not indulge addiction. Maternal love is blind to the shortcomings of the child, but to get rid of addiction, you need to abstract and choose the ultimate form of communication without concessions. Children have a fear of the parental word, therefore, the sooner you take measures and explain the possible consequences of alcoholism, the more likely it is to wean from alcohol and save the child from dependence.

With husband

The theory that male alcoholism is easier to cure than female alcohol is controversial. But the fact that a man never admits his dependence is a fact. The wife of an alcoholic has to face difficulties in getting rid of the habit of abusing alcohol, and the first of them is to convince him of the problem of alcoholism. How to help her husband stop drinking if he does not consider it a disease? It will require endurance and the ability to find a psychological approach, quietly affecting the emotional points of the spouse.

Girl and boy

With Father

For a child, a father who abuses alcohol is a test. Parents should lead by example and be respected. It is psychologically difficult for young children to understand how to live with an alcoholic. Awareness of the problem of alcoholism comes with growing up. It is important that the child takes part in the rehabilitation process of the father of the alcoholic through frank conversations and the expression of his opinion regarding drunkenness. Perhaps due to children’s trust, alcohol addiction will weaken.

With wife

It is much more difficult for a man to understand how to live with his alcoholic wife, since female alcoholism is a less common form of this disease. First of all, it is necessary to find out the causes of addiction. Women are sentimental, so it’s worth changing your attitude to your wife, taking care. Having identified the psychological aspects of alcoholism, it is necessary to eliminate them as soon as possible..

How to help an alcoholic quit drinking

An appeal to a specialized clinic will finally cure alcohol addiction. Many women, solving the problem of how to cure her husband of alcoholism, resort to the coding method. This is an effective way, but it can have a detrimental effect on the psyche. A more humane method of treating alcoholism is professional psychological assistance. The main factor affecting the effectiveness of the process of eliminating addiction is the desire of the alcoholic to take the path of recovery.

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Comments: 1
  1. Samuel Price

    I would like to know if there are any specific strategies or techniques recommended by psychologists to effectively support an alcoholic in coping with their addiction. How can loved ones play a significant role in their recovery process? Are there any specific dos and don’ts we should be aware of when offering support?

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