Trying to help an alcoholic is a noble goal, but it isn’t always easy. Knowing how to help an alcoholic properly can ensure that you do the most good for a friend or family member. Explore how to help and what to avoid on your quest to help loved ones achieve sobriety.
Understand the Nature of Addiction
One of the top ways to help an alcoholic is to understand the nature of the disease. Addiction is an illness, not a choice. By understanding that, individuals can treat alcohol addiction like any other medical diagnosis.
By truly understanding what addiction means, it’ll be easier for your friend or loved one to approach recovery. You can’t expect the individuals to make sweeping changes without the help of medical professionals. Education can also reveal the root causes of addiction and the role of mental health in the development of addiction.
Support, Don’t Enable
If you have a loved one, a friend, or a colleague that is an alcoholic, then wanting to help is a natural impulse. However, there’s a fine line between helping an alcoholic and enabling one.
Helping and supporting means ensuring that an alcoholic gets access to the help they need. Enabling, on the other hand, might mean handing out money or covering up for the individual. For instance, giving an alcoholic money is rarely helpful. More often than not, it only encourages addictive behavior and makes a commitment to professional treatment less likely.
Locate the Best Possible Treatment Program
If you genuinely want to know how to help an alcoholic, consider helping them locate a suitable treatment program. Even when a person struggling with alcoholism can acknowledge his or her addiction, finding treatment can be overwhelming. Therefore, helping narrow down the options and handle logistics can go a long way in aiding his or her recovery.
To help a friend or loved one find a rehab program, look for a few key things like program type and reviews. Ideally, the facility will offer a range of programs to accommodate the needs and schedules of patients. A few examples of program types in addiction treatment include:
- Outpatient programs
- Intensive outpatient
- Extended care
- Partial hospitalization programs
Be Willing to Participate in Family Therapy
On a personal level, it can mean a lot if you’re willing to get involved in the recovery programs. For family members, participating in group or family therapy can accomplish a lot and show support for loved ones.
During family or group therapy, participants will learn more about alcoholism and how to prevent relapse. This type of therapy is also an excellent way to share personal experiences with others going through a similar situation. In addition, it can be an essential way to prevent alcoholism from spreading within a family.
In addition to family therapy, there are a variety of other addiction treatment therapy options. At Crestview Recovery, we offer a combination of evidence-based and holistic therapy options. Moreover, we tailor these options to your problems so that your loved one gets the treatment they need. Our therapy options include:
- Mindfulness meditation therapy
- Cognitive-behavioral therapy
- Group therapy
- 12 step program
- Recreation therapy
How to Help an Alcoholic – For the Long Term
If you want to help an alcoholic achieve sobriety, enlist the help of professionals. At Crestview Recovery in Portland, Oregon, we offer a range of programs designed to tackle addiction once and for all. Call 866.262.0531 and begin the road to health, happiness, recovery, and lifelong sobriety.
Since 2016, Dr. Merle Williamson, a graduate of Oregon Health Sciences University, has been the Medical Director at Crestview Recovery, bringing a rich background in addiction medicine from his time at Hazelden Treatment Center. He oversees outpatient drug and alcohol treatments, providing medical care, setting policies, detox protocols, and quality assurance measures. Before specializing in addiction medicine, he spent 25 years in anesthesiology, serving as Chair of Hospital Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee and Chief of Anesthesia at Kaiser Permanente. This experience gives him a unique perspective on treating prescription drug addiction.
