When supporting a partner or family member who is in active addiction to alcohol or other drugs, it’s critically important that you also take care of your well-being. American Addiction Centers’ treatment programs offer family therapy to ensure that you have the option to be adequately involved in your loved one’s struggling with alcohol addiction treatment and recovery. Staying involved is key to helping your loved one remain engaged in treatment and committed to their recovery. In these difficult times of the global pandemic, economic uncertainty, and high unemployment, many people are drinking more than they used to in an attempt to relieve stress.
- “Have you, a family member or a close friend ever suffered from drug or alcohol abuse, or been addicted to drugs or alcohol in any way?
- When seeking professional help, it is important that you feel respected and understood and that you have a feeling of trust that this person, group, or organization can help you.
- What you say doesn’t need to follow the exact format above; it will be different for each person and relationship.
- Understanding the comprehensive range of harms caused by regularly drinking too much emphasizes the importance of seeking support if needed.
How To Help An Alcoholic Friend
It’s important that the person get back on track and resume treatment. Your health care provider or mental health provider will ask additional questions based on your responses, symptoms and needs. Preparing and anticipating questions will help you make the most of your appointment time. Alcohol abuse and addiction doesn’t just affect the person drinking—it affects their families and loved ones, too.
Alcohol use disorder
The changes can endure long after a person stops consuming alcohol, and can contribute to relapse in drinking. Caring for a person who has problems with alcohol can be very stressful. It is important that as you try to help your loved one, you find a way to take care of yourself as well.
How alcohol abuse affects family and friends
Instead, relapse indicates that additional and/or a different form of treatment is necessary. Alcohol causes changes in your brain that make it hard to quit. Trying to tough it out on your own can be like trying to cure appendicitis with cheerful thoughts. Alcohol use disorder is what doctors call it when you can’t control how much you drink and have trouble with your emotions when you’re not drinking. Some people may think the only way to deal with it is with willpower, as if it’s a problem they have to work through all on their own. To learn more about alcohol treatment options and search for quality care near you, please visit the NIAAA Alcohol Treatment Navigator.
- The above mentioned scenarios are referred to as triggers—the people, places, situations, and things that can increase an individual’s risk of relapse.
- It is rare that someone would go to treatment once and then never drink again.
- Jellinek viewed alcohol addiction as a chronic relapsing condition that needed to be treated by health professionals and developed a theory on the progression of the disease through various stages.
- While you can’t do the hard work of overcoming addiction for your loved one, your patience, love, and support can play a crucial part in their long-term recovery.
