ADDICTION: TALKING TO SOMEONE WITH EXCESSIVE ALCOHOL CONSUMPTION HABITS

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Hello everyone and welcome to my blog at this hour. Perhaps you have a partner whose excessive drinking habits is disturbing you and you need to seriously speak with him or her. It can be hard to start the topic because you are not sure of their reactions. You'd not want to speak about such sensitive and ruin it all when s/he gets angry.

The effects of excessive drinking of alcohol can be displayed in so many ways in a person's life. There is a cause for concern when a person is always having strong urge to drink, spends a lot of time that should be used in doing other important things in drinking and have to spend several valuable hours trying to recover. It has got to the extreme when your partner's drinking habits put him and everyone around in risky situations. For instance, if he's always drinking and driving or he chooses to drink instead of attending to his means of livelihood.

I use to have a colleague at my former place of work who resumes to the office as early as 8am smelling alcohol all over his body and he still goes to the bar every evening to drink alcohol before going home. But one interesting thing about this man is that despite his drunkenness he carries out his office duty efficiently without errors. He always boasts that he can't function well when he doesn't drink. His drinking habits was a concern for the company but they had no course to take a disciplinary action against him because he's doing his work well. But im sure his family will be worried about his health.

Some ways to talk to an excessive alcohol drinker are:

Trying to talk to someone who has an addiction is a very serious task, so prepare your self ahead. Know what to say and how exactly to say it.
Next, find a good time to have the discussion with your partner. A good time means that moment when the two of you are in a relaxed mood and there have not been consumption of alcohol in the past six hours at least. Also, the two of you should put your phones aside or switch of the television.
Continue by expressing your concerns about his habits in a tone that won't piss him off. Let him know you have been concerned for awhile about the damages it can cause to his health and to you all as a whole.
If he or she doesn't see the habit as a concern, they might start to be defensive in their response or even walk out on you. On the other hand, if s/he see it as a challenge but has been finding it difficult to stop, they will be open to continue the discussion.
If your partner is willing to have the conversation with you, the two of you should work hand-in-hand to develop a plan.
It may be bad idea to totally take the alcohol away from your partner but you can talk about how many times a week they will drink or how many bottles/shot they will have in a day.
Let your partner start developing interests that does not have to do with drinking alcohol. These interests may include preparing fruit juice every day for the family, going to see movies instead of going to a lounge or bar etc.
As times go on you two may decide to get rid of alcohol in your home. It may be quite difficult but is doable.

Addiction can cause damages to a person's mental health and overall well-being if it is not well managed. It is important to speak up and assist your partner to stop their excessive drinking behaviour.

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