Your loved one may become defensive or angry and refuse to discuss their drug use. Many people feel a sense of shame when confronted by their behavior and will try to deny they have a problem. Don’t argue with them, just revisit the issue another time.
Options for Treatment
Brief Interventions are short, one-on-one or small-group counseling sessions that are time limited. The counselor provides information about the individual’s drinking pattern and potential risks. After the individual receives personalized feedback, the counselor will work with them to set goals and provide ideas for helping to make a change. Treating alcoholism isn’t easy, and it doesn’t always work the first time around. Often a person has been contemplating abstinence for some time, yet couldn’t get sober on their own. Don’t blame yourself if the first intervention isn’t successful.
How to Help an AlcoholicHelping Someone with a Drinking Problem
- Before you speak with them, try putting yourself in their shoes.
- 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.
- Couples and family counseling incorporates spouses and other family members in the treatment process and can play an important role in repairing and improving family relationships.
- Caring for a person who has problems with alcohol can be very stressful.
- We usually experience setbacks along the way, learn from them, and then keep going.
Substance use disorders are linked to many health problems, and overdoses can lead to emergency department visits and deaths. While Hendershot agrees that the drugs might eventually prove useful in treating addiction, he says it’s too soon to endorse that kind of off-label use. He notes that the new findings were based on observational data, so they can’t prove cause and effect. He says support for those who struggling with alcohol addiction first, we need more research from rigorously conducted, randomized-controlled clinical trials. Has been helping alcoholics recover for more than 80 years.
Remember that addiction is a disease
AAC is recognized as a leading provider of alcohol detox and rehab. Some of our AAC facilities offer same-day admissions, depending on various factors, such as the person’s willingness to get help and the capacity of our treatment centers. At each of AAC’s treatment centers, a caring and compassionate addiction treatment team develops an individualized treatment plan for your loved one based on their needs. To learn more about the rehabilitation services we offer, visit our addiction treatment centers page.
How to talk to someone about their drinking
- Furthermore, there’s no specific amount or frequency of use that indicates someone’s drug use has become a cause for concern.
- Ask for concrete commitments and then follow up on them.
- You may be worried that if you bring up your concerns the person will get angry, defensive, lash out, or simply deny that they have a problem.
You can also participate in a program that’s designed for the friends and family members of alcoholics, such as Al-Anon. Once your loved one has identified their potential triggers, learning how to avoid them is an important part of relapse prevention. If you’re having trouble with mental health, drugs, or alcohol, it can help to talk about it with someone you trust. They can give you support, ease your burden, and help you find a path to feeling better. SAMHSA recently awarded $68 million in grants for suicide prevention and mental health care programs to address the U.S. mental health crisis and prevent suicide. Genetic, psychological, social and environmental factors can impact how drinking alcohol affects your body and behavior.
- Try to roll with any resistance to your suggestions.
- However, this doesn’t mean you can’t implement and enforce healthy personal boundaries.
- Residential treatment programs typically include licensed alcohol and drug counselors, social workers, nurses, doctors, and others with expertise and experience in treating alcohol use disorder.
- Attending meetings, which are held all over the world, allow you to share your experience with others and find strength and hope from them and their experiences.
- AAC accepts many private insurance policies, as well as some Medicaid policies.
- Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) – Learn more about AA’s 12 steps and find a support meeting in your area.