4 Steps To Help You Live With An Alcoholic Partner

Our blog provides news, information, and motivation to help individuals start or continue on their recovery journey from their mental health condition or substance addiction. This will only impede your ability to communicate and can result in frustration instead of understanding. On the other hand, if your husband or wife is hungover, remorseful, etc., it might be a good time to talk about the negative consequences of their drinking. Whether you’re living with a functioning alcoholic, or someone with an alcohol dependency, life can be physically and emotionally draining.

• Things start with a small incident and can lead to bigger uncontrollable incidences that will only bring shame to you and your family.
• Remember, you’re not alone in this journey, and finding a balance between supporting your spouse and looking after your emotional health is key.
• Or, similarly, understanding why a sober partner might not want to go to a specific event because it may be difficult and/or unpleasant for them.
• Being married to an alcoholic partner can feel like riding an emotional rollercoaster.

Addictions

You try to avoid going to functions together, anticipating your spouse’s behaviour and the amount they’ll drink. You’re quite sure you’ll be feeling embarrassed, ashamed and let down yet again. It’s likely they’ve denied they’re an alcoholic, don’t want to know about the stages of alcoholism and no, they’re not depressed. Chances are they’ve accused you of nagging and being melodramatic. These are unhealthy because they ignore the real problem as it gets worse. Attending hospital follow-up sessions and self-help meetings have been shown to increase the outcome of a spouse’s recovery significantly, so your support makes a big difference in helping them succeed.

How Recovery Relevance Can Help?

A relationship with someone with an alcohol addiction is rarely fulfilling. This could include seeing a therapist, putting physical distance between you and your loved one, or having a trusted friend to call when things get tough. If someone you care about suffers from addiction, you’re likely familiar with the emotional rollercoaster it can cause. You try to find solutions, only to be told that you are the problem. Living with an alcoholic can be extremely taxing on your own wellbeing.

What to do when you’re married to an alcoholic

Encourage them to seek professional help and explore treatment options that are suitable for their needs. how to live with an alcoholic spouse Remember, taking care of yourself is not selfish but essential for your own well-being. By setting boundaries and prioritizing self-care, you can navigate the challenges of living with an alcoholic spouse while safeguarding your own emotional and mental health.

• And above all else, take steps to keep you and the rest of your household safe and healthy.
• If (or when) they do, you’ll want to know what options are out there for the treatment of AUDs and what to look for in a treatment provider.
• You’re now going to have to be strong with your spouse or partner.
• These boundaries shouldn’t come as a surprise; it’s important to tell your loved one ahead of time that you’ll be making changes based on specific actions or behaviors.
• With that in mind, here are seven tips that you must read, review, and remember to help you cope with your alcoholic spouse.
• When your loved one drinks or is experiencing withdrawal symptoms, their mood can become unpredictable.

You’ll connect with others who share similar struggles and gain valuable peer support. Supporting an alcoholic spouse is about balance—being there for them while also protecting your own well-being. A counselor or therapist who specializes in addiction can offer your spouse the guidance they need. While you can’t fix the problem yourself, connecting them to the right resources can make all the difference. The more you understand about alcoholism, the more compassion you’ll have for your spouse. Researching how addiction works and what it does to the brain can help you approach it with empathy rather than frustration.

• Part of that role may include helping your spouse or partner find the treatment they need.
• You’re increasingly concerned about the financial impact of their excessive drinking.
• Sometimes it becomes difficult to separate the person they married from the person their spouse has become.
• You can encourage them to think about their drinking but avoid acting like a counselor.

They will be able to advise you on many aspects of your situation, including how to talk with your Alcohol Use Disorder partner about their drinking, treatment options and a list of organisations that can support all the members of your family. When offers to help, pleas to stop or slow drinking, and additional interventions with loved ones fail to help moderate behaviors, a spouse may have no choice but to end the relationship or at least separate for a time. It is important to look out for one’s own health and well-being, and that of any children involved, by leaving the situation if all efforts to help are ignored and the negative and harmful behaviors continue. A man or woman who lives with a partner with an alcohol use disorder may face any or all of the possible challenges in the present.

Recovery Programs

Addiction is a medical disease—and you are not the first person to deal with it. “It’s not your fault,” Philip Kolski, a licensed clinical social worker at Mills-Peninsula Behavioral Health Center, says. “A person with addiction is not in control of their life.” Their sole focus is to relieve the emotional pain inside, and to avoid going through withdrawal. Whether your partner was already sober when you started dating or got sober while you were together, we’ve gathered some advice that will help you support them. Of course there’s no one-size-fits-all playbook, but these suggestions from sober folks https://ecosoberhouse.com/ and a therapist who specializes in addiction issues are a good place to start.

Further, that may eventually be the case, even if it isn’t right now. Learn about the warning signs, how to spot a problem, and what you can do if someone… Living with an alcoholic is traumatic, especially if there is serious abuse. Having boundaries avoids co-dependency and sets limits for your loved one. If you are trying to help someone get into treatment, he says, here are several things you can do.

The only challenge that arises at that moment is neither your husband needs your help at that very moment nor you’re a professional counselor. The worst you could do is take the place of a professional and try to look for solutions to ‘cure’ it. A spouse can confront the addicted person through a personal conversation or intervention. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), more than a third of U.S. adults who were dependent on alcohol are now in full recovery.