There are anticraving medication which may be needed to keep him maintain the abstinence from alcohol once he has achieved it.


Over all this is a long process and best done by professional support.

Good Luck to you both.

Hi Zohara,

I don't know which manasa you are talking about and so can not comment on it but there is no last chance for giving up drinking.....there is always time to say no yet.

The first thing is that it is your brother who wants to give up drinking. If he thinks and beleives it, then half the battle is won. In that case repeated failures are only rungs on a ladder to success and not an indication that there is never/no chance at all.

If he is not motivated, then the first thing to do is to develop the motivation in him. Please read about "stages of motivation" in the internet to see where your brother is and depending on the stage he is in, different techniques/solutions need to be adopted.

I would suggest rehabilitation centres only when your brother is in "action" stage of change or else, you will be only setting him up to fail again, severly denting his self respect, allready at a very low now.

If he is in the precontemplation/contemplation/preparation stages, a psychiatrists/addiction group (like the AA-Alcoholic Anonymous) or such other help to move him onto the action stage is esential.

Later, when he is in action stage, you try rehabilitation centres.

And once he is back from the centres, he should try and keep himself busy with things that he used to love atleast, even if he does not get initially any joy now. He must try and structure his life, friends and family such that he is not tempted to try it again or be temped again.

Sometimes, unhelpful behaviour like alcohol dependency is used as a kind of treatment for depression by patients. Get him evaluated to see if this is the case as you have mentioned a tragedy (loss is the most important cause for depression). He may need antidepressants in addition to professional helpand medication for giving up alcohol.

The