How to Help an Alcoholic: 10 Practical Tips

In this article I will explain how to help an alcoholic to stop drinking; husbands, wives, children, brothers, fathers, mothers, friends or anyone close.

How to Help an Alcoholic: 10 Practical Tips

If you don't recognize your problem, being a drug addict or aggressive is usually more complicated, although you can also help others to overcome it. If you are in recovery it is usually easier, although you will also have to take the appropriate actions.

Since it is a drug consumed by a large number of people, it is sometimes unclear how we can differentiate an addict from a habitual drinker. However, there are clear symptoms that you can observe:

Continued use of alcohol despite being aware of having problems.
Recurring alcohol consumption that produces an inability to fulfill obligations at work, school or home.
Legal or interpersonal problems related to recurrent alcohol consumption.
Alcohol withdrawal syndrome .

10 tips to help an alcoholic

1. Choose the right place and time to talk about problem

It will do no good to release a sermon when he arrives home being drunk . He will not be able to listen to you and will not remember practically anything the next day . You better choose a time when you can both sit down and talk calmly, when he has not drunk and in a quiet place.

He thinks that by confessing your concern about his drinking problem, he can react aggressively and violently. Therefore, it should not be a busy site. Ideally, talk in a private place, without many relatives present.

Try to show an empathetic attitude , instead of recriminating the consequences of his addiction. Make him not alone, that it is a disease and that you can offer his help.

The situation will be complicated if, at this point, the alcoholic person does not accept your help or does not recognize having an addiction. The best thing in these cases is not to continue insisting, but to turn to another family member or medical staff to explain the seriousness of the situation.

2. Do not take care of your responsibilities

Once he has recognized that he has a problem, the alcoholic person can confess all the economic, judicial or labor problems he has. Here, it is important that you lend your support on how to solve his problems step by step, but never take care of all his pending issues.

Taking the reins of his life, you will only make the person not aware of the deterioration of addiction in many aspects.

It is much more advisable to help him find a way to pay his debts, to justify absences at work, or to encourage him to recognize his problem in front of his loved ones, but without doing everything for him.

Helping and encouraging him, you will gradually acquire a sense of control over his life and be aware of the danger of continuing to drink.

3. Don't blame him

You may find it difficult to see alcoholism as a disease, since the alcoholic person is the one who decides to drink. However, you should know that alcohol is a substance that is socially accepted. Little by little, the person increases his consumption and stops having control.

This usually happens gradually, until the person is involved in a strong addiction, which he cannot cope with on his own. Set aside your anger and recrimination over the addicted person. Making him feel bad will give him the perfect excuse to continue drinking.

It is more beneficial to be empathetic, close and offer your company. In this way, you get involved in the problem from a position of help, not aggravation.

4. Don't use violence

It is common for you to lose control with an addicted person who, at times, can even behave violently. Even insults and offensive words are considered a form of violence, due to the psychological damage they produce in the person who receives them.

You can fool yourself into thinking that the use of violence is justified if the other person behaves in this way. However, using the same attitude will not be helpful, since it will only lead to new problems, such as worsening the situation of a family that is already suffering the consequences of addiction.

Develop your patience, keep calm and think about the damage you can cause if you use physical or verbal violence .

5. Do not ignore / hide the problem

One form of common behavior is to hide the problem from shame or fear of "what will they say." In the same way, not giving it the necessary importance will end up worsening both the problem of addiction and secondary diseases.

This is never recommended, since by involving close family members, greater support and help can be provided.

You should also consider exposing the problem to people who may be contributing to its maintenance, such as bar waiters, supermarket clerks, etc.

It is always advisable to control these factors, so that the addicted person cannot have immediate access to the drink in case of an attempt to relapse.

6. Money control

This point is closely related to the previous one, since it will not help you to control money management if you have another way of getting it.

Only when the whole family and close people are involved in addiction, you can carry out strict control over the money that the alcoholic person handles.

It is important that you cannot leave with cash or home credit cards, so that you do not have access to the purchase of alcoholic beverages at any time.

It is also important to remember the possibility of robbery or theft, since, in many cases, the power of addiction is stronger than the will of the alcoholic.

7. Encourage him to seek professional help

In recent years it has been shown that support groups have very good results and many alcoholics manage to overcome this addiction by sharing them with people who are in the same situation.

Therefore, you should encourage him to benefit from this resource, since it is a confidential space where he will feel understood and identified. If you have a good relationship in therapy, you will go to it in the face of adversity, just as you used to drink.

Parallel to the assistance of support groups, you should consult a medical specialist who analyzes the physical dangers of giving up alcohol consumption radically.

On some occasions, it is advisable to carry out a pharmacological treatment that complements the psychological one.

8. Do leisure activities

Keep in mind that when a person develops an addiction, numerous areas of his life are affected. A common cause of drinking addiction is the feeling of abandonment and loneliness .

If you help improve other aspects of his life, you will contribute to alcohol losing importance to him. A person who has spent many hours of his life drinking will feel empty if he does not cover that time in another way.

Practicing some sport - especially if it is done as a family - can contribute to increasing the well-being of the person and their loved ones. In addition, little by little you can see the benefits of physical exercise in the body.

Another type of leisure activities that you can propose are going to the movies, spending a day on the beach or in the mountains, taking a walk in a park, etc.

It is important that you make the addicted person see that the world is not reduced to alcohol consumption, but that there are endless ways to enjoy with the people around you.

9. Rate your achievements

Especially when it comes to people who have been alcoholic for a long time, it will be difficult to notice important advances. You can also feel that there are advances and setbacks, so that it does not show a significant improvement.

This situation is very common, since the person is beginning to acquire skills that allow him to get out of this situation, but they are combined with specific moments of relapse.

Offer your support when it relapses, since it will be a time when you will feel especially vulnerable, being able to consume again. In fact, it is very common for a person who has had a relapse to think that they cannot fight addiction and consider stopping trying.

Likewise, it will be of great help for the improvement and self - esteem of the addicted person who values their effort and the time they have been without consuming alcohol.

10. Avoid stimuli that remind you of alcohol

It is very important that you do not drink in front of the affected person and that you do not have alcoholic beverages at home. In addition, you should avoid attending the places where you usually drink too much, since many features of the place will remind you of the action and desire to drink.

If you usually drink in a specific bar, near your residence, it may be a good idea to look for an alternative route to return home, avoiding as much as possible approaching this bar.

You also have to be especially cautious when attending parties and celebrations, since alcohol is a legal drug that is also socially approved .

It can be very difficult for an addicted person not to try alcohol in these types of events, so you should avoid attending unless you have already passed the first months of withdrawal.

Therefore, despite the complexity of alcoholism, there are numerous ways in which you can help a person with this addiction, as we have just seen.

And you, what strategies would you use to help an alcoholic?