Friends and Family
Few things compare personally to living with a loved one who drinks excessively. Watching them harm their life on a daily basis and seeing that person you love change so dramatically when they consume alcohol. A once fun and vibrant personality now becomes a different and less likeable person when they drink.
It pains you when a person you care about continually displays disregard for your feelings and concern for their own well being. They seem to flagrantly ignore your repeated attempts to get them to stop their excessive drinking. More frequently now you find yourself making excuses and apologizing for their behavior to other family members and friends.
It seems no matter what you do you can't get through to the alcoholic you live with that they need to get some help.
If this loved one happens to be a spouse your life is no longer what the two of you had planned for. You are embarrassed by the fact that YOU ended up with an alcoholic for a life mate and begin to think about your options. You need to talk to someone about your plight but fear destroying loyalties to your spouse by speaking about such an intimate problem with mutual friends. You consider Al-Anon meetings but what if someone recognized you? Would it raise uncomfortable questions? Have you considered Online Al-Anon Chat?
The first thing family members needs to understand, particularly a spouse, is that it is not their fault that their mate is drinking heavily. The embarrassment and any denial you experience is a natural reaction to a difficult circumstance. You may be in a rut and perhaps are feeling like there is no way out of it. You are a casualty of this excessive drinking and deserve as much help as you can find.
Your main feeling though is fear. What will happen to you if this situation continues? Will you be left all alone? Where will you go if you need to leave? Will there be enough money? When you confront your alcoholic spouse will they become abusive? You are already pretty sure you are being verbally abused, is physical abuse the next step?
Asking for help is difficult because you think you should be able to handle this yourself. Your self esteem is diminishing by the day and you have never felt so helpless. You failed to realize that they CAN'T stop their excessive drinking alone or even with your help and support. Outside help is imperative and you need to have all your questions answered confidentially.
It would also help if you could validate all of your suspicions and figure out if there really IS a problem, maybe you ARE overreacting. Is their some sort of test available? A list of warning signs or signals that will confirm my loved one is abusing alcohol?
How can you help this person you love find their way back to normalcy? You still love them and you really believed they would stop drinking because they love you. You want nothing more than to replace this dreaded feeling of loss with a renewed feeling of hope.
By coming to this website you've taken the first steps to bringing sanity back into your life.
Michael Pearlman M.D. understands what you are going through and he has a proven treatment program for excessive drinkers. The FreedomFromAlcohol Method has helped hundreds of people control or cease their drinking altogether while learning to live a full life once again. A combination of drug therapy to control the craving for alcohol and counseling to understand why the problem drinker feels the need to drink excessively and discover how to live again with little or no alcohol.
Call Dr. Pearlman for immediate assistance with your problem and even arrange an appointment for your loved one:
Call Toll Free: 1 (866) 285-3400
Or Email: DrPearlman@FreedomFromAlcohol.com
By taking action now you will hasten the recovery of your loved one and make your life more manageable.
Everyone Needs Help Sometime In Their Life, Let Me Help You Now
