While you can’t shelter your loved one from situations where alcohol is present, you can avoid drinking with or around the person. When you spend time together, try to suggest activities that don’t involve alcohol. Alcohol abuse and addiction (also known as “alcohol use disorder”) doesn’t just affect the person drinking—it affects their families and loved ones, too.

Taking care of yourself

Often when someone has AUD, they can start to let a lot of chores and other responsibilities around the house slip. It can seem natural for a spouse or child to take on more than their share to keep everything afloat. Mental health and wellness tips, our latest guides, resources, and more.

Treatment options

1. The longer people allow their use to continue, the longer they will take advantage of that fact.
2. Relapse rates are common among those who seek treatment for an addiction.
3. It doesn’t reach a certain level and remain there for very long; it continues to get worse until the person with an alcohol problem seeks help.
4. Your role doesn’t end when your loved agrees to seek help.

Listening to others facing the same challenges can serve as a tremendous source of comfort and support, and help you develop new tools for coping. Alateen is a similar support group specifically for teens who have a family member abusing alcohol. Recovery from alcoholism or a drinking problem can be a bumpy road. About half the people who complete alcohol abuse treatment for the first time stay alcohol-free, while the other half relapse and return to drinking at some point. It’s common for people to require treatment more than once to finally achieve sobriety.

If you have children, it’s important to protect them from unacceptable behavior as well. Do not tolerate hurtful or negative comments addressed towards them. These comments can result in lasting damage to a child’s psyche. Remember, it’s not your responsibility to “cure” their AUD. You just happen to love someone who is probably going to need professional treatment to get healthy again. It’s common for someone with AUD to try to blame their drinking on circumstances or others around them, including those who are closest to them.

Make it comfortable to talk about the underlying cause contributing to their drinking.

Approaching someone to discuss your concerns is different from an intervention. It involves planning, giving consequences, sharing, and presenting a treatment option. If the person does have an alcohol problem, the best thing you can do is be open and honest with them about it. Hoping the person will get better on their own won’t change the situation. Let the person you care for know that you’re available and that you care.

Watching a friend or family member struggle with a drinking problem can be as heartbreakingly painful as it is frustrating. Your loved one may be disrupting family life by neglecting their responsibilities, getting into financial and legal difficulties, or mistreating or even abusing you and other family members. Dealing with a loved one’s alcohol abuse or alcoholism can be painful and challenging for the whole family, but there is help available.

If you’re the partner of someone with AUD, you might feel isolated — or tempted to isolate out of embarrassment or shame. Experiencing domestic violence, emotional abuse, or other hurtful actions like infidelity can further push partners to withdraw from family and recovery games for groups friends. Whether they’re a partner, parent, or friend, living with someone with active alcohol use can create turmoil in your life. The impact on your health and how you view the world can be long lasting. As a parent or guardian, it’s normal to feel scared, angry, or confused if you discover your child is drinking.

Don’t Take It Personally

The most successful treatment happens when a person wants to change. More often than not, someone with a drinking problem will choose alcohol over any other option they are given, resulting in more does alcohol cause gallstones stress, frustration and pain. Instead of offering ultimatums, offer advice or options for help. This means doing your research ahead of time and knowing some good programs to refer a loved one to, or being familiar with a professional they can talk to for help.

Sobriety and recovery will seem a lot less daunting if they have a starting point. Be ready to direct them to a treatment program you think may be a good fit or to online resources. There is a wealth of information about recovery, and it can be overwhelming to decide where to start in the early stages of sobriety.

Shaming an addict will only make them turn to what coats their emotions, which is likely drinking. The approach of judgment and shame does nobody good in the end. There’s also help for your loved one when they’re ready. There are a variety legal drinking age in russia of emotions and behaviors that can come up if you live with someone misusing alcohol.