How can we best help an alcoholic who is in a treatment center?
The first thing I would do is to encourage family members to seek help and get education for themselves. The absolute best way to do this is to attend the family program offered by the treatment center. More often than not family programs are designed to be a benefit to the family member.
You can also arrange go see family counselor for yourself, or try going to Al-Anon and Coda meetings. Al-Anon has some very good pamphlets that are specifically designed for family members such as “A Guide for the Family of the Alcoholic” or “So You Love An Alcoholic”.
The next thing to become aware of is that a family member or friend actually has virtually no control over whether their loved one will maintain abstinence or not. The decision to enter recovery and get sober and stay sober is an internal one for the patient that is the prime determining factor.
Family members should be aware that their loved one is going to go through a lot of ups and downs in treatment, physically, emotionally, and mentally. For instance, mood swings are the norm rather than the exception. As patient’s learn more about their addiction and their consequences, emotions will be triggered. This may lead to calls home expressing exaggerated feelings or a desire to leave treatment early.
People in treatment are often ambivalent about being there. Sometimes it seems like a great idea, and other times it seems like a waste of time. Expect calls home to reflect this. It is an excellent idea to maintain good communication with the staff of the treatment center, particularly counselor.
One way that you can help their loved one during alcohol treatment is to provide honest and specific collateral information to staff rather than engaging in secrets with the patient. Quite often the patient will minimize or under the estimate the extent of problems created more of their alcohol use. The counselor can work more effectively with accurate information.
It is a good idea to avoid providing any situations that may remind the patient of drinking. For example, it is a good idea to remove alcohol from the house, and not to drink in front of them. The idea is to remove temptation and ease of access, but that being said, ultimately they must make that decision for themselves.
It truly is a bit of a balancing act, on the one hand you want to remain supportive and positive, but on the other hand you cannot do their recovery for them. Be supportive, but keep healthy boundaries. It’s important to keep healthy boundaries when dealing with the recovering alcoholic; otherwise you could enable them to relapse when you thought you were actually helping them.
Do not support any plan to leave treatment early. Finishing treatment does not guarantee success, but leaving early is almost always stacks the odds against them. Your expectation should be that the person stays for the duration. That is non-negotiable.
Treatment centers will recommend continuing care plan for when the alcoholic leaves treatment. Depending on the situation, this plan might include group therapy, or meetings, or even long term treatment. Whatever the recommendation is, encourage the recovering alcoholic to follow through with it.
Every family member that I have spoken to deep down inside wants one thing, a guarantee that their loved one will not return to using alcohol. Unfortunately, there is no such thing. There are certain things they can be done to maximize a person’s chances for success, however.
One of the first challenges in getting help for yourself or a loved one, is knowing where to start. We can help with a free assessment and someone to talk with right now. Click Here For Immediate Help And AnswersLast 3 posts in Addiction Treatment
- About - December 31st, 2008
- Addiction Treatment: Is Spirituality A Vital Part Of Drug Abuse And Alcoholism Treatment? - January 4th, 2009
- Drug Addiction Treatment: Is It Time? - January 8th, 2009
Welcome back!
Related posts:
- Addiction Treatment: Motivating Compliance With Drug Or Alcohol Treatment Getting an addict to listen to your concerns about their...
- How to Do an Intervention With an Addict Or Alcoholic By Patrick Meninga Organizing an intervention is not a trivial...
- 5 Questions About Drug Treatment Answered Drug and alcohol addiction is never suffered alone. Drug abuse...
- Treatment For Alcoholics Alcoholism is a disease that destroys lives. The alcoholic suffers...
- Does an Alcoholic Have to ‘Hit Bottom’ in Order to Get Alcohol Treatment and Becomes Sober? Hitting bottom or being at rock-bottom is an expression used...
