How to help someone stop drinking

Unfortunately, there are a number of things in the world that are extremely difficult for a person to change, especially if he lacks the desire. After all, it is your own attitude and motivation that plays a decisive role in achieving your goals and fulfilling your plans. It seems that there are means, opportunities, conditions, helpers, but in the absence of personal attitude and goals, all existing prerequisites become ineffective.

The same applies to existing diseases. If there is no desire to be cured, even the most qualified specialist and the best techniques will not help the patient. But the worst thing is when situations requiring treatment arise when a person has addictions. How to help an alcoholic quit drinking if he doesn’t want to and, moreover, denies the presence of the disease.

There are many ways to help a person stop drinking if he doesn’t want to.

In our country, alcohol-containing drinks are available to every adult; store shelves are bursting with a rich variety of alcohol. Of course, no one is forbidden to spend a pleasant evening, celebrate a holiday, or a special event with a glass or two of spirits. The problem becomes drinking alcohol every night, when alcohol is included in the daily menu and in quite large quantities.

According to statistics, about 2.5-3 million people die from alcohol abuse every year around the world.

Narcologists divide modern alcoholism into several types. Unfortunately, teenage (children's) alcoholism has been added to the already existing male and female alcoholism. Psychologists also include types of pathologies such as:

  • beer (if the patient drinks exclusively beer);
  • “weekend” alcoholism (when alcohol is consumed in large quantities only on weekends);
  • cocktail (mostly affects young people who constantly drink all kinds of alcoholic cocktails at parties and bars).

But regardless of the type and type of alcohol addiction, each one is based on a deadly addiction. It should be dealt with using all known methods. After all, alcoholism ruins the life of the patient’s family members, and leads to death of the addict himself.

The essence of alcoholism

Ways to solve the problem

The situation is complicated by the fact that people suffering from alcohol addiction and those who periodically go into drunken states do not admit that they have a problem. What to do in this case, how to help a person stop drinking? There are several methods that can help with this matter. In particular:

  1. Use persuasion to persuade a person to undergo treatment.
  2. To cause the drinker to experience some kind of nervous shock due to drunkenness.
  3. It is unnoticed by the drunkard to add various medications to alcohol (or other drinks), which provoke an aversion to alcohol in the patient. This is how they act folk recipes.
  4. Seek help from witches and magicians to carry out suitable ritual to wean a person from drunkenness.
  5. Intimidate the drunkard to such an extent that he agrees to treatment and goes through all the prescribed procedures.

The Power of Beliefs

This method of saving a person’s life should be used immediately, preventing the development of alcoholism. As soon as an individual’s excessive addiction to alcohol consumption is noted, one should begin talking and convincing. Otherwise, it will be too late and an increased love for alcohol will quickly lead a person to the emergence of a strong addiction, where beliefs alone will no longer help.

If it is noticed that a person begins to abuse alcohol, the first thing you need to do is talk to him and try to convince him to quit the habit before it develops into addiction.

Psychologists advise conducting the conversation in a calm tone, without tears, reproaches and screams. You should tell the person about his behavior when drunk, and how he looks from the outside. Before the conversation, you need to prepare evidence:

  • film drunken antics and then show the footage;
  • bring family and friends who were present to the conversation;
  • remember all the troubles that happened to the drinker and remind him of everything in detail.

It is necessary to ensure that the drinker remembers this situation and thinks that it is time to “quit” and stop drinking. It’s also a good idea to remind a person about the torment that a hangover brings. A good argument is money spent (thrown away).

Main causes of alcoholism

You need to prepare yourself for possible reactions to such a conversation on the part of the drinker. An alcohol lover will be offended, swear, argue, and there may be subsequent quarrels and discord. You should arm yourself with perseverance, patience and stand your ground. You cannot agree with his arguments, but in response offer more a worthy alternative drinking:

  • needlework;
  • playing sports;
  • jogging in the morning;
  • pets;
  • new hobby, passion.

will become excellent option share a new hobby with him. It is impossible to refuse help to a person who is in a risky situation. On the contrary, all possible support should be provided, it is necessary to ensure that the alcohol lover completely trusts and believes, knowing that loved ones will always support and come to the rescue.

Is it worth intimidating?

You can try to help drinking man stop drinking alcohol using intimidation methods. But psychologists do not advise practicing this; these methods are too contradictory and, moreover, can only aggravate the situation.

Intimidation methods are applicable only in extreme cases and only subject to the specific character of the drinking person.

What does alcoholism lead to?

What can you do to intimidate? Using those criteria that have the greatest value to the drinker. For example:

  1. If you come drunk again, I won’t let you go home.
  2. If you continue to drink, you will be kicked out of work.
  3. If you lose your job because of drunkenness, you will have nothing to pay off your loans, which will lead to the loss of your home; your apartment will be taken away through the courts.
  4. A new job You won't be able to find anyone who needs drinkers.

Seek medical help

If confidential conversations do not help, exhortations and convictions do not reach the recipient, you should pay attention to the use of medications. In particular, those that can be used without the knowledge of the patient. They exist in two types. A narcologist will advise you which one to choose.

Drugs that cause aversion to alcohol

These medications are added to the drinker's regular food or drink. Being in a sober body, such medications do not manifest themselves in any way. But as soon as you consume a small amount of alcohol, ethanol reacts violently with them, causing the development of unpleasant and very painful symptoms, similar to severe poisoning.

Medications that provoke aversion to alcohol should not be used independently. First you need to consult a narcologist. The fact is that all drugs of this level are toxic and have a large number of contraindications.

And in people suffering from problems with the heart, these medications can provoke heart attack and stopping breathing. The most common medications of this type include the following medications:

  • Teturam;
  • Antaxon;
  • Esperal;
  • Naltrexone;
  • Disulfiram.

Medicines that stop the pleasure of drinking

And the work of these drugs lies in their specific effect on brain receptors. In particular, such drugs lead to blocking the production of pleasure hormones (dopamine, serotonin, endorphin) when drinking alcohol. That is, when drinking, a person does not receive the expected euphoria, joy, or relaxation. And over time, alcohol loses all its meaning.

Alcoholism should be fought in every possible way

Unlike those drugs that cause disgust, medications of this level have practically no contraindications. These medications can be used without fear of possible negative consequences. In addition to reducing cravings for alcohol, such drugs improve a person’s condition by stabilizing his psycho-emotional level. These include the following medications:

  • Vivitron;
  • Balance;
  • Acaprosat;
  • ProProTen-100.

Arm yourself with traditional medicine

Healers use to treat cravings for drinking various infusions, decoctions that are added to drinks and food without the person’s knowledge. The result is nausea, vomiting, and painful pain in the abdomen. That is, drinking will only bring negative and unpleasant sensations, which will lead the drinker to give up drinking.

Before you start implementing folk recipes, you need to consult a doctor. Medicinal herbs also have a lot of contraindications and, out of ignorance, you can only harm a person and not help him.

There are many more folk recipes that can help discourage a person from drunkenness than patented medicines. The most commonly used are decoctions and infusions prepared from the following plants:

  • oleander;
  • St. John's wort;
  • club moss;
  • centaury;
  • creeping thyme (or thyme);
  • Lubel's hellebore (or puppeteer).

When using this or that plant, be extremely careful. Many of these crops are toxic and poisonous. When executing a prescription, you must not deviate from the suggested doses and carefully adhere to the conditions prescribed in the recipe.

Let's go to see the magicians

Another option to help a person cope with the craving for drinking without his knowledge is to visit representatives of the esoteric world. Many of them will also offer recipes traditional medicine. Others will work through spells and incantations. To believe in this field of activity or not is an individual matter.

Main signs of alcoholism

But there have been cases when people actually stopped drinking with the help of such healers. Perhaps this is just a lucky coincidence, a coincidence, but miracles have not yet been canceled. But in trying to find a really good healer, there is a high risk of encountering notorious scammers, and there are a lot of them in this environment.

Provoke nervous shock

By the way, this new way attempts to reason with a drinking person. Its meaning is to artificially create a certain situation, extremely dangerous and unpleasant, the cause of which will be intoxication. Having found himself in such a situation, a person, in the process of searching for a way out of it, sobers up, a rethinking of his lifestyle occurs and a transition to a new level of consciousness, where there is no place for drunkenness.

Such situations are created by professionals, this method is the most expensive, but also quite effective way stop drinking. Here are just some of the scenarios that can be used in this situation:

  1. The man goes into Once again to the bar to get drunk.
  2. A specially hired person quietly drops a sleeping pill into a glass of alcohol.
  3. After the person passes out, she is taken out of the bar and taken away from the city.
  4. They leave you sleeping in the forest (or somewhere else), having previously taken all documents, money and means of communication.
  5. Having sobered up, a person has to endure the horror of being robbed and left in an unfamiliar and frightening place.
  6. When he finally gets home, before he gets drunk in the future, he will think a hundred times about whether it's worth it.

Specialists who arrange these situations can also use the child, making him “lost” from his drinking father. Or suggest other ways. There are a lot of these “representations”. But, if it has been decided to resort to this method, the choice of a “frightening” situation should be approached wisely, taking into account the character and emotionality of the person. Otherwise, you can lead him to a nervous breakdown. Ideally, you should consult with a psychologist, and then seek help from actors.

conclusions

So, there are a great many ways to help a person stop drinking without his knowledge. Nothing is impossible in life, it's all about purpose and perseverance. Which method to use for a good cause must be decided individually, taking into account the characteristics of a particular person. But something needs to be done; alcoholism should not be allowed to develop to such an extent that a person can only be helped with the help of psychiatrists.

When I was around people who didn't drink, I never thought about drinking.

Jack London

Quitting drinking is hard, but possible. Only a truly loving loved one can help in such a situation. Those who try to help an alcoholic quit drinking, to save him in order to solve some of their problems (for example, housing) will achieve nothing. Love alone is also not enough to help get rid of severe addiction; you also need to know what to do. Because it happens that the strongest and noblest human feeling in a given situation forces relatives, while saving an alcoholic, to create an incorrect stereotype of relationships with him. As a result, they only contribute to the development of alcoholism, and themselves become codependent.

The traditional role played by relatives of alcoholics, most often wives, is that of “nanny.” IN classic version The “nanny” does everything possible and impossible to ensure that the family stays afloat and those around them do not realize that they have an alcohol problem. She provides for the family, maintains order in the house, raises children, and this upbringing also has its own characteristics: children from an early age are taught not to wash dirty linen in public. The relationship with the drinking “half” of the “nanny” depends on the state in which this “half” is. During a binge, the “nanny” looks after the alcoholic: she finds him in the places where he drinks and brings him home; calls to work and says that he is sick; tries to neutralize his aggression, often enduring beatings and insults; feeds and washes him.

During the sober period, the “nanny” can continue to look after and please the alcoholic, thus hoping to keep him from drinking, or, on the contrary, as if playing out, burden him with various tasks and responsibilities. In both cases, after some time, another binge develops and everything starts all over again. Such a cyclical algorithm of relationships can exist indefinitely. Not only does the “nanny” with her actions only aggravate the development of alcoholism, but in the end, she herself can no longer live differently. This is why so often the wives of alcoholics, when they remarry, again choose drunkards or drug addicts as their life partners.

The general rule for all relatives, regardless of who is sick - husband, wife, father, mother, son, daughter - is not to do anything that contributes to the development of addiction. This means the following:

1. A drinking person must solve his problems himself.

Well, since he creates them for himself, let him decide for himself. Otherwise, he will not have a barrier before another drinking session, since he will hope for your help. Sometimes it gets to the point of absurdity: the husband drank the entire “family pot”, there is nothing to eat in the house, and the wife runs around to friends, borrows money to pay her husband’s debts that he incurred during his drinking binge.

When trying to save you, you don’t have to call the alcoholic at work and say that he is seriously and suddenly ill. Firstly, it’s not good to lie - don’t set a bad example for your children; secondly, after two or three such calls, simply no one will believe you and they will, at a minimum, quietly laugh at you; Well, and thirdly, today you will save him from a simple thrashing, which might have stopped him, and tomorrow he will drink even harder and, in the end, lose his job.

From our point of view, it is completely unacceptable for compassionate relatives to buy alcohol themselves in order to soothe an alcoholic. With the same success, you can offer drugs or some other poison to a loved one.

Treatment is not always pleasant and painless.

If, for example, an abscess has formed somewhere on a person’s body, then you can hide it under clothes, spray it with deodorants so that there is no smell, create greenhouse conditions for the person so that he moves less and does not experience pain. Ultimately, all this will lead to the development of sepsis and death. If, despite the pain, you open the abscess and administer a course of antibiotics, although this is also quite painful, then there is a high probability that the person will recover.

2 You need to keep your promises, and if you can’t keep them, then it’s better not to make them.

Alcoholics who quit drinking and drug addicts very sensitively feel where they can achieve something and where there will be a categorical refusal. In this respect, they are like children, and you should often communicate with them as with children: where necessary, praise, and where necessary, punish. But not a single episode, even the most insignificant, associated with drinking alcohol should be left without your attention, and, of course, it is necessary that the degree of “punishment” corresponds to the degree of “offence.” And don’t let the respectable age and respectable appearance of the “guilty” person bother you. Smart carrot-and-stick policies often produce good results across a wide range of age groups and social strata.

So, for example, if a wife promises her husband that in the event of another binge, she will divorce him, and he comes literally “on eyebrows” that same evening, then she should, at a minimum, write a divorce statement the next day and ask her husband to sign that he agrees. An application submitted to the registry office can always be withdrawn, but practice shows: such decisive actions force the husband to think about his problems much faster than numerous reproaches and broken promises.

3. Your attitude towards alcohol should always be negative.

Any consumption of alcohol, even the most minimal, even the smell of fumes, should not remain without your negative assessment. This doesn't mean that you have to make scandals with breaking dishes every time. This is exactly what you should not do under any circumstances - such “showdowns” will only lead to the fact that an alcoholic with clear conscience he will go to “relieve stress” and will happily tell his sympathetic drinking buddies what a bitch his wife is, and that he drinks solely because of her. Such situations must be discussed calmly, naturally - with a sober head, analyze their causes and draw real conclusions. It should look something like this:

Expensive! Yesterday, at a party, you drank again, despite given promise don't do this. I was very unpleasant, because at the end of the evening you looked completely indecent, and it was simply scary to return with you, you behaved so aggressively.

You see, yesterday I had a very Bad mood because of troubles at work, and I decided to drink a little so as not to spoil the mood of others with my appearance. And the hostess’s husband was sitting next to him, who kept refilling me, so that I didn’t have time to have a snack. And the vodka was probably of poor quality - I still have a headache. That's probably why I went overboard.

It seemed to me that if a man gives his word, then he should keep it! But it turns out that it’s easier for you to break this promise than to say “no” when they pour vodka on you!

Understand...

No, I don't understand! Let's not deceive ourselves! IN Last year More and more often we have to talk about this - I think it’s time to consult with specialists.

You need it - you get treatment.

Firstly, we both need this, and secondly, no one is going to treat you, we will just talk with a psychotherapist about how to behave in certain situations related to drinking.

Sometimes such a conversation is enough for a person with alcohol problems to agree to come to us, but more often he resists in every possible way, citing the lack of free time, the uselessness of this visit and many other “valid” reasons. You must be unbending and with each new alcoholic episode, insist on your point more and more decisively. Moreover, if conversations are ineffective, do not hesitate to use other methods of pressure, which your intuition and knowledge of your character should tell you. loved one. By the way, do not forget to periodically remind that in developed countries Any person who has the slightest bit of self-respect has his own psychologist, with whom he meets periodically. And not having one is as shameful as, for example, driving a humpbacked Zaporozhets.

4. All conversations with an alcoholic must have a specific logical conclusion.

Any conversation you have, any dispute about an existing alcohol problem should end with some kind of constructive solution. Under no circumstances should you stop halfway and give your patient’s alcoholic “I” the opportunity to once again deceive everyone and force them to postpone real anti-alcohol actions indefinitely. Because usually such conversations end with the alcoholic promising to quit drinking, and everyone formally calms down. It is clear that after some time everything repeats itself from the beginning, and so on ad infinitum. So, if your drinking relative tells you that he understood everything, realized it, deeply repents and will not do this again, take his word that if he does drink at least once again (no matter how much), you will go together to a psychologist.

5. To save you from drunkenness, do not drink in the presence of an alcoholic.

The smartest thing that the patient’s relatives can do is not to drink or keep alcoholic beverages at home. Alcohol in such a house can only be in one form - as part of external disinfectants (iodine, brilliant green, etc.). And although many of our patients who have not drunk for many years feel completely at ease in drinking company and are indifferent to alcohol, it is better to play it safe. The fewer provoking factors, the calmer. This is first, and secondly, remember the following:

The situation is unpromising when one alcoholic, who categorically does not consider himself such, educates and tries to help another alcoholic who has been more “successful” in creating (together with the Green Serpent) everyday and social problems. It is clear that calls for a sober life sound unconvincing if at the same time you are breathing fumes, and the difference between a sick person and a similar “healthy” person is that the latter for now I didn’t lose my job from him either for now the wife did not leave.

6. There is no need to hide the fact that your loved one has problems with alcohol.

This is not about the fact that you urgently need to tell everyone about your husband’s drunken antics. No, but you should not deceive anyone, mislead anyone, pretending that you don’t know anything. Under no circumstances should you deceive children, much less force them to tell lies. As a rule, they know and understand everything perfectly.

If you are sure that involving people who have influence on the alcoholic in solving the problem: parents, adult children, friends, bosses, colleagues will help advance the matter - do not hesitate to tell them everything and ask for help.

7. A conversation with an alcoholic must be conducted in a substantive manner.

For this, it is not enough to say that he drinks a lot and often. For him this is an empty phrase. You need to prepare for a conversation with an alcoholic in advance, especially if you are going to involve someone else in this. To do this, it would be useful to record the frequency of alcoholic episodes, the degree of intoxication and behavior in this state. Simply put, you need to keep a diary and preferably with illustrations. That is, if it is possible to film drunken flights, this must be done, and you will discuss the moral and ethical aspects of such actions when you save your loved one from the consequences of a serious and incurable illness.

8 An alcoholic must be given objective information about his illness.

A drinking person unconsciously perceives any information one-sidedly: he hears and sees only what he wants, and what he doesn’t want he lets pass by, without paying any attention to it. Naturally, only that information is allowed into consciousness that does not harm friendship with the Green Serpent. The role of the censor is played by the same alcoholic “I,” the inner voice that sounds inside every alcoholic and in every possible way justifies, masks, and adapts to the norm everything related to drinking.

In this regard, in order for all negative information about the disease and its consequences to reach the recipient, it is necessary to approach the problem creatively. You won't achieve anything if you cover your walls with newspaper clippings and anti-alcohol posters. But if you casually tell us that one of your mutual acquaintances, who, by the way, was several years younger than you, is already in the next world, and his latest binge is to blame for this, the alcoholic may become thoughtful.

One of our patients “woke up” (in his words) after he barely recognized his school friend in one of the homeless people picking around in the trash heap.

9. Help the alcoholic's sober self.

Do not wait for the alcoholic to begin to change his pattern of life, but actively (but not intrusively) help him in this. Take him to the movies, theaters, sports grounds, take him out of town, introduce him to interesting people. It is often very difficult for an alcoholic himself (if, of course, he is still socially adapted) to do this, since he is in constant time pressure - the Green Serpent takes the lion's share of his time. And he’s already unaccustomed to such events; he doesn’t know which way to approach them.

10. And finally: if you don’t already go to classes with a psychologist or psychotherapist, go to them urgently. It’s not for nothing that the truth exists: “One head is good, but two are better!”

First of all, it is important to understand that alcoholism is a chronic disease associated with impaired fermentation, which is responsible for processing alcohol in the body. In other words, an alcoholic will never be able to drink as much as healthy man, just like a person with lactose intolerance will not be able to drink milk. Alcoholism does not go away completely, but you can achieve a stage of remission and make efforts to ensure that this stage never ends.


Treatment of alcoholism is carried out in two main directions: medication and psychotherapy. Having suppressed the desire to drink with medications, it is important to show the person how good life is without the “degree” and help him adapt to a sober existence. Throughout the treatment important role belongs to close people of the alcoholic - parents, spouses or adult children.


Say no


First of all, you need to understand what you should not do:


Solve the problems of an alcoholic: lie at his job, lend money, pay off his debts, buy alcohol. Let him not rely on you. Once in predicament, he will make a decision about treatment faster.


Forcibly drag him to a narcologist or psychiatrist. Until the decision about the need for therapy appears in the addict’s own head, all attempts at treatment are in vain. Patients run away from clinics and get drunk immediately after coding.


Threaten with leaving, divorce, calling the police and not doing any of this. If after the first promises it is scary, then after the second or third time your words do not have any effect. If you promise to leave, leave, and do not return until you see that serious treatment has begun.


Hide the problem from friends and relatives. Silence will deprive you of understanding and help, and will also increase the number of awkward situations. If you make your alcohol addiction known, others will think twice before offering to have “one drink” at a family gathering.


Drinking in front of an alcoholic and keeping alcoholic beverages in the house. It is not difficult to guess that a bottle of wine or vodka will cause unpleasant associations and unwanted temptations in a sick person. Be in solidarity. It is best if you also give up alcohol completely.


Add medicines and herbs to drinks and food. Do not forget that this way you can poison. From a helper and a virtue, you can turn into a murderer. Don't joke with methods.


What to do?


When an alcoholic is drunk, talking to him is useless. Wait for the moment when he stops, sobers up, comes out of his drinking bout. You must convince him to see a specialist who will abstain from drinking alcohol with medication and also conduct psychotherapy.


If the alcoholic is poorly motivated for treatment, you can list to him the dangers of his illness and the losses he will suffer in the future: work, family, relationships, respect, money, health. You also have the right to give an ultimatum that if he does not get rid of his addiction, then you will take extreme measures.


Help me find a good clinic, good specialist. Rely, first of all, on the recommendations of friends who have encountered a similar problem. You can independently seek help from a psychotherapist, who will advise you and tell you how best to behave in your particular situation. Also be sure to find your nearest Alcoholics Anonymous Association.


If your loved one has already started therapy and is not drinking, they are facing new challenges. He soberly assesses the losses that alcoholism has brought him, sees how the attitude of those around him has changed, and realizes “what he has come to.” At this time, it is important to support and strengthen his self-esteem. Don’t nag about the past, but draw the patient’s attention to the values ​​that remain and to future prospects. Make plans together and praise them for their first successes.


It is important to teach an alcoholic to have a good time free time on a sober head. Learn new hobbies, start a hobby, travel. Play Board games, look interesting movies, take up painting or music. You can also remember those activities that alcohol replaced. The main thing is that the patient has the opportunity to escape from bitter thoughts and the desire to drink.

Video on the topic

People strive to compensate for stress, dissatisfaction with their lives and other discomfort with something enjoyable. Someone starts eating a lot, another starts smoking or drinking, a third starts spending days and nights in in social networks. All these addictions are not only harmful in themselves, but also cause additional health problems. Getting rid of addictions requires serious work on yourself.

Instructions

To recognize whether you have an addiction or not, analyze your behavior. What do you do in your free time? How do you deal with bad mood? If some activity takes up most of your time, energy and money, it may be an addiction. An accurate sign of addiction is a state of depression that occurs when you give up any activity. In addition, a person can depend on another person. It is dangerous if someone becomes the meaning of your existence, because... after separation there is a big void in your life.

Since any addiction arises from a lack of positive emotions, to combat it it is necessary to fill this deficit. Just don’t get hung up on one thing, it won’t be long before another addiction appears. Instead of eating sweets, take a walk, go to the cinema; instead of communicating on social media. networks – meet friends, go hiking; Instead of senselessly wasting money, listen to music, play sports.

Exist drinking people who understand the harmfulness and danger of addiction to alcohol and are trying to figure out the problem themselves. However, they cannot do anything to get rid of this habit forever: the situation has already turned out to be very serious. In such a situation, it is very important to help a person stop drinking; this can be done not only by a specialist, but even by a loved one or relative.

The vast majority of alcoholics do not consider themselves such. Such a person must be convinced of how valuable his health and the health of loved ones are and that it is much more interesting to live in sobriety than in drunkenness. Relatives can provide psychological assistance and help a person who drinks only if they talk tactfully and unobtrusively.

You can also help an alcoholic quit drinking if he refuses treatment by using medications and herbal decoctions that help against drunkenness. They can be added to food and drinks at home without the patient noticing. When consumed with alcohol, the patient experiences a feeling of nausea, headache, and the taste of alcohol changes. They help you stop drinking, but before using medications or folk remedies Physician approval is required.

Some of them:

  • thyme in the form of a decoction;
  • puppeteer's infusion;
  • decoction of European hoofed grass.

Drugs to help alcohol addicts should be prescribed by a narcologist. In addition, without his prescription, most of them will be impossible to buy.

Support from loved ones

If one of your relatives begins to drink alcohol frequently, you should not hope that he will quit on his own. To help him stop drinking, you need to have a heart-to-heart talk with him, but do not lead the conversation to scandal and insults:

  1. Remind him how drunk he looks and how he behaves.
  2. Give examples of tragic cases involving drunk people.
  3. Remind about the money spent on alcohol that could be used for something useful.
  4. Offer to spend time with friends and family.
  5. Set before him the condition that he must solve his problems himself.
  6. Offer to visit a psychologist together.

Close people need to remember: any alcoholic drink that is in the house can provoke an alcoholic, their attitude towards alcohol should be negative.

Drugs that can help you wean yourself off alcohol

Only a narcologist can prescribe tablets or drops that will help in the treatment of alcoholism in each specific case. For aversion to alcohol, Teturam, Lidevin, Antabuse, Esperal, Colme, Clonidine are used. Tetlong-250 is available for injection. The effect of its use lasts longer, but the active substance is very toxic. For this reason, the drug is prescribed in short courses and is used, like any medicine, only under the supervision of a doctor.

For the treatment of alcoholism, Proproten-100, Vivitrol, Acamprosat are used. As a result of the action of these drugs, the desire to drink alcohol disappears and the positive emotions. Vivitrol, Acamprosat and Proproten-100 have little side effects, but they can only be taken as prescribed by a doctor.

These anti-drinking medications reduce the symptoms that occur when you suddenly stop drinking. Dizziness, insomnia, mood swings, tremors, tachycardia and other associated unpleasant sensations will bother the patient much less.

Rehabilitation centers for alcoholics

It is possible that a dependent person who has undergone treatment for alcoholism may return to his former drunken company, unable to adapt to society. A person is frightened by a new sober life, and he does not know how to fill the time that was previously spent on drinking. To prevent such a situation from arising, it is necessary psychological help alcoholics. To provide assistance in socialization, there are special institutions - rehabilitation centers.

The difference between drug treatment clinics and rehabilitation centers is that the clinics provide assistance for alcohol addiction with medications or coding, and in rehabilitation centers it consists in restoring the psychological state and physical strength, but in the same way as in clinics, with the voluntary consent of the patient. Institutions that help patients stop drinking alcohol are creating comfortable conditions and an atmosphere of mutual understanding, which is very helpful in the treatment of alcoholism.

To undergo a rehabilitation course for alcoholism in a clinic, you must consult a psychiatrist-narcologist, and you may need the help of a psychologist. He will decide whether further help in getting rid of drunkenness is needed and whether it will be effective for the patient and his loved ones. They also need psychological support for the right actions.

Free help for alcoholics

It is provided by such organizations and institutions as:

  • drug treatment clinics;
  • Alcoholics Anonymous Society;
  • churches and monasteries.

Drug treatment clinics provide assistance to alcoholics. But a significant disadvantage is that this is not anonymous help for alcoholics. Therefore, for most alcohol addicts it turns out to be unacceptable, because when applying to this institution, the person is placed on the drug treatment register. Because of it, problems may arise when finding employment, obtaining a driver's license and other situations.

Alcoholics Anonymous societies exist in many major cities. To help alcohol addicts in their activities, most of them successfully use the “12 Steps” program, during which each alcoholic seems to live and evaluate his life anew. Mutual assistance from people with alcoholism is a big plus of such sessions, and attending them is free. But there is a condition: every person who has been cured must help, by example, at least one patient to master this program and stop drinking alcohol.

The Orthodox Church and monasteries can also help wean a person off drinking. Spiritual help for patients with alcoholism is provided completely free of charge. In providing support to alcoholics, the same 12-step program is used, but based on religious basis. Asceticism and constant work in monasteries make it easier to give up alcohol.

Important! There are many methods to help a drinking person quit drinking. For any patient, it is necessary to choose one of them, but one that is effective and not harmful to health. And in order for the chosen method to help an alcoholic get rid of addiction, the patient must firmly decide to give up drinking. Also, to help an alcoholic, you need to create comfortable conditions for him and surround him with care and attention, so that he understands that not drinking is much better than ruining his life and relationships with his family.

Life with a drinking person is not a piece of cake, and the point is not only - and not so much - that he creates a lot of problems for those around him, it is difficult to watch how a person dies next to you - even of his own free will. Is it possible to help an alcoholic and how to do it?


Answering this question, psychologists divide the self-perception of a person suffering from alcoholism into two stages: the first, when he is still ashamed of his behavior and tries to change himself by giving up strong drinks, and the second, when he no longer cares how he lives and how he looks in the eyes surrounding people, the main thing is to get another portion of alcohol.

In the first case, the drinking person can still be saved from bad habit, in the second it is very difficult to do this, and sometimes the mission may even turn out to be impossible.

If you see potential in your drinking partner that will allow him to get rid of alcoholism, you can and should fight for it.

Experts and psychological techniques will help

This can be done using several psychological techniques. They are not difficult in themselves, but the most important thing is that they need to be done persistently, methodically and purposefully, and with this problems can arise - not everyone has enough qualities necessary for the job - and this is precisely the work that needs to be done every day. Of course, in most cases you will need the help of drug addiction specialists, but you can do quite a lot on your own.

First of all, when taking something away from a person, you always need to think about what he will receive in return. It is not for nothing that the famous psychiatrist Pyotr Borisovich Gannushkin argued that an alcoholic has a whole world - bad or good, this is the second question, the main thing is that it means a lot to him, and with its loss there will be a void that definitely needs to be filled with something - Otherwise, it will not be possible to get rid of alcoholism; sooner or later it will come back.

There are many ways to fill the void that will certainly arise as soon as a person stops drinking - in each specific case, the tactics depend on the interests and affections of the person who quits drinking. You can go to the theater or concerts, travel, collect stamps or matchboxes, as the heroine of the film “In Love with” advised her friend at will", the main thing is that the emotions that he receives as a result could, if not cover, then at least partially overshadow the sensations that strong drinks give him.

The only type of activity in which it will be difficult for him to find himself - due to his state of health, undermined by years of drunkenness - is sports, although this can also be done by increasing the load gradually. In addition, no one says that you need to immediately set sports records - physical education - exercises aimed at general strengthening of the body can also give good results.

Getting rid of addiction does not solve all problems

Unfortunately, getting rid of alcohol addiction, even if it happens, does not solve all the problems associated with communicating with a heavy drinker.

Psychologists warn: his refusal to drink will not make your life together- as if by magic magic wand! – easy and morally comfortable.

A former alcoholic, having lost the constant care and attention with which he was previously surrounded, may begin to behave inappropriately in order to get it all again. What might his behavior be and what should you be prepared for?

At a minimum, the former addict will show you his bad mood- be sad, whine, complain, be capricious. However, it could be much worse: “The one who has given up” may begin to make trouble - not only at home, but also at work, throw hysterics or scenes of jealousy.

How should you behave to those around you in this case? Accept that for some time the person you love will be, to put it mildly, inadequate, accept him in a new capacity, help him recover and again find his place in the profession, society and family.

So, if before he was just an alcoholic, now you need to make him feel that he has again become a husband, father and a strong professional in his field - as you know, you can’t drink a skill. You should not demand from a person that he change in the blink of an eye, becoming the same as he was before his passion for strong drinks, since this is impossible - as Ostap Bender said, only cats will be born quickly, and this is not our case.

The main quality that you will need in this case is patience - if you have it, then no psychological tricks will be needed, but if you don’t have it, then they will not help.

To save or to be saved?

Life with an alcoholic - both current and former - is so difficult that from time to time the person next to him has a faint-hearted desire to leave, leaving him to his fate.

It must be said that in some cases this would be much more correct and honest than suffering yourself and not being able to help your partner suffering from drunkenness. Psychologists suggest telling him directly about this: admitting that you love him, but that you are no longer able to be around him.

The main thing is not to blackmail, threatening to leave a loved one, but still staying close. Determine for yourself what you think is the right thing to do, and if you decide to leave, do it quickly and decisively - perhaps your action will give the drinking person a chance of salvation: there will be someone who will really help him.

How to help an alcoholic (Video)



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