Alcohol & Health
Treatment
Helping Alcoholics
Medically Reviewed by Annamarie Coy, BA, ICPR, MATS
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For many people, alcohol is a common part of social gatherings and celebrations. However, frequent alcohol use can quickly lead to dependency, addiction, or even drug abuse.
Because of the risks, it's important for parents to understand the signs of alcohol addiction. Here are a few signs that may indicate your son is dealing with alcohol abuse or addiction:
Addiction wreaks havoc on many families. It can leave many people feeling isolated, vulnerable, and afraid. Knowing what to do with an alcoholic son can help you and your family heal from the effects of alcoholism.
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Many factors can contribute to your son’s alcoholism, including:
Coping with a son’s alcoholism is one of the most challenging experiences a parent can have. When you have a child with alcohol use disorder (AUD), it tests boundaries, affects your well-being, and strains your marriage.
It can also negatively impact your relationship with other family members, especially children. Understanding substance use and alcoholism is one of the most important things you can do if your child struggles with addiction.
There are many things you can do to help your alcoholic son, including:
When your son is experiencing alcoholism, you will do more harm than good if you don't take care of yourself. You must practice good self-care during this period. Self-care may involve:
Taking care of your needs not only helps you but also helps your son. By staying healthy, you'll have more energy and strength to handle bigger problems.
If your son struggles with alcoholism, it's important to know as much about the condition as possible. There are plenty of nuances that go into addiction and alcoholism. For example, problem drinking doesn't necessarily mean someone has an alcohol use disorder (AUD).
Alcohol can have a significant impact on the brain and the body. It's also important to know the symptoms of alcoholism and alcohol withdrawal syndrome.
Knowing what to expect with alcoholism can help you better prepare yourself and your son for it. Most importantly, educating yourself can ensure your son's safety.
There are many programs created to help people who struggle with alcoholism. These include:
Finding the right treatment program for your son can help increase the chances of a successful recovery. Ensuring that they have the appropriate support and aftercare treatment is also important.
Most parents don’t want to accept or believe their son is an alcoholic. They may tell themselves various things to reject or account for their son’s drinking, including:
However, by living in denial, you are not helping your son when he requires it most. As a parent, it is essential to come to terms with your son’s alcoholism. Do your best to remove feelings of guilt or shame so you can get your son the help he needs.
Intervention is one of the most effective tools parents and other family members have for dealing with an alcoholic loved one. This is especially true if the alcoholic loved one doesn’t want help. Interventions led by an addiction professional increase the odds that the person with AUD will enter treatment and that treatment will be successful.
An environment with easy access to alcohol can be a detriment to recovery. To ensure the best possible chance of recovery, it's best to avoid situations or places where your son can be tempted to start drinking.
These situations and environments involve:
Developing a healthy interest in something new can help your son avoid alcohol. These new hobbies or interests can help them distract themselves from alcohol and lessen the chance of crossing paths with enabling situations.
Furthermore, hobbies can help them explore new places, meet new people, and find happiness in new things. These activities can provide an outlet to have fun and express themselves outside of alcohol.
Empathy and enabling can easily go hand-in-hand. Both often come from a place of compassion and a place to help. However, the outcomes are different.
Enabling allows unhealthy and self-destructive behaviors to continue. This may worsen the problem rather than solve it.
On the other hand, empathetic parents offer emotional support and encourage their children to confide in them about stress and other issues related to their drinking.
Family therapy allows you and other family members to discuss the impact of your son's AUD. It can help you understand the nature of alcoholism and the root of the addiction together.
Family therapy also teaches you how to properly support your son without enabling him. It also teaches you coping mechanisms that can help you take care of your mental health during this time.
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While empathy is important, you must also understand where to draw the line. You should never enable your son’s drinking. Enabling comes in various forms:
Understanding the distinction between empathy and enabling is challenging for parents. It might help to seek counseling to help you manage your role in your son’s life.
Here are a few things you can do to stop enabling your alcoholic son:
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Yes, genetic and environmental factors play a major role in someone’s risk of developing alcoholism. For example, a male with an alcoholic parent, especially a father, has a high risk of being an alcoholic. Men are twice as likely as women to develop alcoholism.7
This is due to genetic factors that biologically increase the odds of alcoholism. In addition, environmental factors, such as living with an alcoholic, can make someone more prone to alcoholism.
Children who grow up in an alcoholic environment are at risk of developing adult child syndrome (ACA). They'll be unable to navigate adult life and develop emotional maturity.
You might not convince your alcoholic son to get help, but there are things you can do to encourage him to take that road himself.
Accept that you might face resistance if you confront him about his drinking or suggest that he get help. That doesn’t mean he won’t eventually enter recovery.
You need to realize you cannot control his behavior. The only thing you control is how you respond to his drinking and whether or not you enable his alcoholism.
If you choose to confront your alcoholic son, think carefully about what you want to say. The goal is to open the door to effective communication while respecting whatever boundaries you set with him.
Begin the conversation when your son is sober and do not attack or place blame. Explain how his actions affect you and the rest of the family and suggest treatment options. Loved ones are a big reason for alcoholics to seek help.
It can be difficult to know what to do when talking to an alcoholic child. Fortunately, professionals can provide guidance and support throughout difficult conversations. Addiction specialists or substance abuse counselors can provide information and recommendations for treatment to help your son overcome his addiction. They can also provide information on treatment centers and other services.
There is support available for parents of alcoholic sons. Al-Anon is one of the most accessible and effective support groups available.
The Al-Anon program is based on the 12 steps developed by the founders of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). It provides a peer support environment for those who care about people with AUD.
Al-Anon allows you to share your experience and listen to other people with similar struggles. It can also teach you coping strategies and techniques to help your son and yourself.
Having a son develop an alcohol use disorder can be difficult for a family. It can ruin your marriage and fracture your relationship with your child.
It can also lead to long-term health problems and other social issues. It's important to understand the signs and symptoms of alcoholism to prevent it or know when to seek treatment.
Fortunately, there are various ways to help your son and yourself through this difficult time. Treatment options and therapies are available to help your son recover from alcohol addiction.
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