One of the most difficult situations you’ve ever faced in your life is being married to an alcoholic who refuses treatment. Perhaps you’ve tried to encourage your spouse to just consider talking to someone about the possibility of getting treatment, but your pleas are falling on deaf ears. You’re at the end of your rope, or you’re approaching it quickly, and you’re just not sure what to do next.
These are common feelings for someone in your situation. While you’d do anything to get your spouse to agree to get help for alcohol addiction, nothing you’ve tried seems to be working. What many people don’t realize is that they could possibly be enabling the addictive behavior to continue. It’s important to find out how you can change your own response to the addiction if you’re going to help facilitate a change in your spouse’s response to your requests for alcohol addiction treatment.
Alcohol Addiction Treatment
For those who are addicted to alcohol, their addictions began with alcohol abuse. It’s possible that the abuse occurred sporadically at first, and then became more regular with time. Before long, like many people, alcohol abuse becomes a crippling addiction that requires treatment in order to begin recovery. When your spouse decides he or she is ready to get help for alcohol addiction, sobriety will be a major challenge. However, that’s just part of the process toward healing.
There are many steps to take when it comes to alcohol addiction treatment, and not every method is right for everyone. It can be a painful journey, which is why so many people struggle with taking that first step. You love your spouse, and you want to do everything you can to provide support, but how do you do that effectively?
Help for You
You’ve probably heard the expression that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, expecting a different result. In a sense, this might explain what you have been facing as you’ve dealt with your spouse’s alcohol abuse and his or her subsequent addiction. In order to stop the cycle and get a different response, an addict has to get to the point where he or she feels there is no other choice. In a sense, that person has to hit rock bottom.
There are a variety of ways to accomplish this, and one of the ways that works for many people is having some type of intervention. Of course, it’s never a good idea to have an intervention without an experienced professional present to facilitate and help guide it.
In the meantime, it’s important for you to obtain the type of professional support you need. It’s possible that you have been handling your spouse’s alcohol addiction on your own for years because you just couldn’t bear the thought of sharing the burden with friends or family members. An alcohol addiction therapist can offer you the tools you need to take proper care of yourself as well as to begin to see a change in the desires of your spouse.
Addictions are very powerful; there’s no question about that. Research has shown that threats, ultimatums and pleas usually fall on deaf ears because of the power the addiction has over the addict. With help and guidance, you can stop the cycle of addiction and enablement, which will empower you and bring about a desire for recovery within your spouse.
If you’d like to talk with a professional who understands what you’re going through, and who is able to help, please contact me.
