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Suggest Ways To Manage A Person Addicted To Alcohol
Question: My brother drinks alcohol a lot, now he has become habitual of this and even after so much counseling by parents. He is not ready to give up. We tried him to take to psychiatrist but he is not ready to go for counseling. All the family members always worried about him as he take alcohol 2-3times in week. and in family lot of disturbance is also going on due to him. Can you please suggest us the best treatment for us. Sometime we ask him to give up he told that he will but again after 3-4 days he take. We are totally fed up with him.
Brief Answer:
Try to develop motivation in him to stop alcohol use
Detailed Answer:
Hello thanks for asking from HCM for your health related queries
I can understand your concern about your brother. He is taking alcohol since long time and become addicted to it. You have mentioned that he takes Alcohol 2-3 times a week and this has resulted in a lot of differences at home. He is 24 years old and some times he remain without alcohol for unto 3-4 days.
First thing I would like to tell you that he is not taking alcohol regularly and take alcohol 2-3 times a week so most likely he has not developed dependence to alcohol and such alcohol intake is relatively easy to quit. He would not suffer any serious withdrawal effects after quitting alcohol. So if he develop motivation to stop alcohol he can quit easily. Try to make him realise about this.
If we consider stages of motivation in a patient of alcoholism then the stages are-
PRE-CONTEMPLATION> CONTEMPLATION> PREPARATION> ACTION> MAINTENANCE
So first of all try to make him motivated to quit alcohol. He himself should have motivation to stop using alcohol. Repeated fights, confronting him again and again would not make the things easy and instead will increase his habit of alcoholism. Any individual with alcohol if confronted again and again, gets angry due to these confrontations which further increase alcohol intake. Increased alcohol intake increase fights at home which ultimately worsen alcohol intake. Ultimately a vicious cycle of "alcohol intake--fights--alcohol intake" get formed. To bring him out of drug habit you have to try to break that cycle. He should start confiding in you and other family members. Built a rapport with him and you should develop empathy with him. Once you win his confidence then he would start listening your advise. This process will take some time but he would develop motivation with that.
After developing motivation he would start following advise and he would consult a psychiatrist to quit alcohol. Mild doses of anti anxiety drugs will help to stop the restlessness without alcohol and he will not develop craving for that.
Try to follow my advise and you will see improvement. Hope this helps you, please ask again for more doubts.
Take care
Try to develop motivation in him to stop alcohol use
Detailed Answer:
Hello thanks for asking from HCM for your health related queries
I can understand your concern about your brother. He is taking alcohol since long time and become addicted to it. You have mentioned that he takes Alcohol 2-3 times a week and this has resulted in a lot of differences at home. He is 24 years old and some times he remain without alcohol for unto 3-4 days.
First thing I would like to tell you that he is not taking alcohol regularly and take alcohol 2-3 times a week so most likely he has not developed dependence to alcohol and such alcohol intake is relatively easy to quit. He would not suffer any serious withdrawal effects after quitting alcohol. So if he develop motivation to stop alcohol he can quit easily. Try to make him realise about this.
If we consider stages of motivation in a patient of alcoholism then the stages are-
PRE-CONTEMPLATION> CONTEMPLATION> PREPARATION> ACTION> MAINTENANCE
So first of all try to make him motivated to quit alcohol. He himself should have motivation to stop using alcohol. Repeated fights, confronting him again and again would not make the things easy and instead will increase his habit of alcoholism. Any individual with alcohol if confronted again and again, gets angry due to these confrontations which further increase alcohol intake. Increased alcohol intake increase fights at home which ultimately worsen alcohol intake. Ultimately a vicious cycle of "alcohol intake--fights--alcohol intake" get formed. To bring him out of drug habit you have to try to break that cycle. He should start confiding in you and other family members. Built a rapport with him and you should develop empathy with him. Once you win his confidence then he would start listening your advise. This process will take some time but he would develop motivation with that.
After developing motivation he would start following advise and he would consult a psychiatrist to quit alcohol. Mild doses of anti anxiety drugs will help to stop the restlessness without alcohol and he will not develop craving for that.
Try to follow my advise and you will see improvement. Hope this helps you, please ask again for more doubts.
Take care
Note: For further guidance on mental health, Click here.
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
Answered by
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