Family orientations and therapeutic steps to help the alcoholic

Alcoholism is a problem that not only affects the person who suffers from alcohol addiction, it is also a problem for the circle of family and friends who try to understand what is happening.

In this Psychology-Online guide, we will offer Orientations to relatives and therapeutic steps to help the alcoholic. This article was originally designed by the author to be given to the family of the alcoholic patient. We hope this article can help you as a guide, however if you think that you or someone in your family has an alcoholism problem is essential to visit a professional or contact an association for help.

Index

1. How to help an alcoholic family member: previous comments
2. How to Help an Alcoholic Who Doesn't Recognize You
3. Stages that a family follows and symptoms of an alcoholic person
4. Denial and confrontation: how to help an alcoholic who does not recognize you
5. Acknowledgment: "I have a problem with alcohol"
6. Control: how to convince an alcoholic
7. Survival and acceptance of alcoholism
8. Helping an Alcoholic: Supporting Sobriety
9. Communication to treat an alcoholic
10. Family therapies to treat alcoholism
11. Therapies and psychological treatment for alcoholics
12. Helping My Alcoholic Husband: Recognizing and Developing Changes
13. Help for alcoholism: how to treat relapses
14. How to Help an Alcoholic Prevent Falls
15. Help therapies for relatives of alcoholics

First of all it is good to remind you that "A subject with alcohol dependence" is the person for whom drinking causes problems in their personal, family and / or social life. They have lost their ability to abstain and stop with alcohol, suffering a dependence, both physical and mental, which determines the appearance of visible disturbances. He cannot think, understand, study, work, or distinguish Good and Evil. The alcoholic is a patient who can recover for himself, his family and society "

Helpful Tips for Family Members of Alcoholics

Someone in your family has an alcohol problem. His drinking has caused him difficulties in one or more areas of your life. The most appropriate relationships with other people have been diminishing or have completely disappeared. He or she has received notices from their bosses at work or has become unemployed because of drinking. Your children may even have received less attention than they should have during their mother or father drinking stages. Household chores have been totally neglected. The bills and debts have started to pile up as soon as the person with alcohol problems has neglected their budget and did not make the payments. He or she may have quickly spent it just after receiving their pay to buy alcohol or pay off debts due to drinking.

At this point, it is possible that health problems due to alcohol. Some people also experience memory lapses or forgetfulness due to alcohol, which means that they do not remember what they did for some periods of time. There may also have been problems with fines or driving license withdrawals for driving under the influence of drinking. In short, the list of problems could go on almost indefinitely, since each one has had and still has their problems derived from drinking.

If your family member has started or wants to start treatment for the alcohol problem, she may begin to feel better physically, mentally and emotionally. The detox phase is important And after getting it, your family member will be starting to feel a little more optimistic as the withdrawal symptoms disappear. Some of your sadness and regrets are beginning to emerge. But how is the rest of the family? How are you? If your case is similar to that of the rest of the family members, surely you are full of mixed feelings, some positive and others negative.

You may feel some relief and hope But you may still feel anger and rejection if the communication between the two of you has broken down. You may have tried to talk to each other only to end up in arguments or without speaking to each other at the end. It is also possible that you feel guilty to some degree that you have not been able to get your family member to stop drinking even if you have tried very hard. You may have searched for the wine, liquor, etc., found it, hidden it, or emptied it down the sink.

You may have asked, yelled, or begged for him or her to stop drinking. You may also have sometimes tried to cover up for him and excused him. You may even buy the alcohol because he was very restless or restless without it. Many family members feel bad because they have not been able to get their family members to stop drinking. Children often blame themselves for their parent's drinking problems. Definitely, family members are under the burden of great stress.

You may have developed your own interests, friends and activitiess to keep your own identity “safe”. But as hostility has grown in your families, you have not been able to allow your relatives to continue like this even for a moment longer. You've heard him or her promise to stop drinking before. It is also likely that you are afraid that he or she will enter treatment and that you will not get any changes that will last.

Treatment programs for relatives of an alcoholic

Many people like you hesitate to trust and risk continuing to lose if you commit to supporting your family member and even making some kind of changes in yourself. It is very natural for all family members to have these positive and negative feelings.

For this reason it is very important that the whole family becomes part of the treatment or support programs.

As you join the program, you will realize that you will have the opportunity to bring your feelings to light and share them with others similar to those of other families. It will be an opportunity for you to see that you are not alone. At the same time it will also be an opportunity for you to learn information about alcohol and drinking problems. In addition, new communication skills will be learned and it is possible that family roles and responsibilities are redefined. You will have the opportunity to know how to manage your feelings and desires to help your family member to maintain his abstinence. The responsibility of not drinking alcohol falls on him or her but surely others can also provide help with their support.

If each member of the family begins to open their communication channels, support each other and work together as much as possible, the family will be better and more satisfied at the same time.

One of the most tragic characteristics of alcoholism is the long period of time between the emergence of alcohol problems, their recognition and the decision to undergo treatment.

Since there is no magic line that divides social drinkers from problem drinkers, each person will need to assess the extent to which they have control over your drinking as well as what are the negative consequences of it before proceeding to make the necessary constructive changes. This can be difficult since there are several stages that are common to all families with problems of alcohol before the person is aware that her drinking is causing difficulties in her lifetime.

Let's take a look at all of this so we can understand alcoholism and how thoughts and feelings affect the way family members react to each other so that this We can later find answers to help us cope with these kinds of thoughts and feelings.

The first stage would correspond to the Denial of the alcohol problem. It is a period in which the way of drinking of the person begins to cause problems; he or she or her family member is not aware of this. The fact that we live in a society where many people drink alcohol makes denial easier.

The person with an alcohol problem may say, “Okay, I drank a lot last night but I drank just like the other people at the party. I drank the normal ”. Friends and neighbors try to downplay the possibility of a drinking problem. How many times have you heard them say, "Don't be silly, everyone drank a lot at one time", or "If you were an alcoholic, what would I be then?"

The social concept that problem drinkers are ramshackle people doesn't make denial even easier. It would be difficult for a person with their own house, car and a good job to define themselves as a problem drinker or alcoholic when people considered as such have the appearance of homeless. The children of people with alcohol problems are often very responsible and academically successful. Family members often say, "How can you have a problem with alcohol when it doesn't matter to him or her?"

If a person drinks excessively, family members can justify it by saying that he does. like this because something unpleasant has happened to him such as: “an argument with his boss or a co-worker, etc.". This may be true in the sense that seizures can trigger the possibility of drinking, but there is a point at which drinking further increases problems by creating new ones. A person with alcohol problems must take responsibility for the way they drink regardless of the circumstances that lead to it.

Another circumstance that helps people deny the problem is that there is a stigma associated with alcoholism. Many people view alcoholism as a moral issue and therefore an indicator of weakness rather than learned behavior. Because of this attitude, many people feel ashamed and refuse to admit that they have a problem.

To conclude, drinking problems are not a one-night stand. In many cases, a person progresses from social drinking to occasional periods of intoxication to a point where alcohol interferes with the person's own life. The family often denies that there is a problem and the need for treatment is postponed for a long time because of attitudes and beliefs about alcohol.

Family members often try to cover up and protect the person with alcohol problems so that they do not have to feel the negative effects of their drinking. This is usually done to try to get the person to save her reputation, not lose her job, etc., but in the long run what it allows is for the alcohol problem to continue for a longer time.

Confrontation

At this time, family members may discuss the effects of overconsumption with their family member. alcohol problems in an attempt to make you aware of the complications you have with and from drinking, and the need to change. It is important to do this as calmly and naturally as possible, avoiding dealing with an alcoholic aggressively and remembering the following warnings:

• Should talk to the person when you are sober or when you have the least amount of alcohol in your body, for example first thing in the morning.
• Highlight your concern and desire for help for the person with alcohol problems, emphasizing the good things that you enjoyed when that person was sober.
• Carefully mention some of the negative consequences of drinking that you have seen that have happened to him, for example, losing days of work, leaving the family, being more irritable remember nothing when drinking (memory gaps), etc.
• Mention that you will support him if you decide to attend treatment.
• Finally remember that the decision to abstain from drinking only depends on the person with drinking problems.

The next stage would be the recognition and it happens when the family defines the behavior of the person with alcohol problems as behavior that is not normal.

How to Help an Alcoholic Who Doesn't Recognize You

Somehow, the family is recognizing that the person is drinking differently from other people. He or she may start drinking more often and pay less attention to family, work, and activities in general. They start drinking not only during a party but before and after it as well. They may also gobble up more beverages than drink. That they have memory gaps, that they lose days of work, etc.

Whatever is happening, the family is aware that he or she is having a problem with alcohol. However, it is imperative that the alcoholic becomes aware of it.

The controlIt would be the next phase, where they would try to control or assume responsibility for the drinking problem. At first the answers are very varied and family members try all kinds of "homemade recipes" as a method to control or stop alcohol abuse. Little by little the family feels more fear and frustration. Family members may begin to look down on themselves, feel guilty, and fear a possible divorce. To avoid arguing, they may try to avoid or protect the person with an alcohol problem. The family feels angry and they reject that they are making a great effort and that it is worthless.

How NOT to help an alcoholic

Some ways of expressing family anger are control alcohol, money, and children more than saying or doing something directly.

Unfortunately, the methods used by family members fail to stop the problem and, in many cases, actually reinforce continued drinking. He or she may respond to these family attempts in a non-constructive way. We present a list of the family's efforts and the type of reactions that the person with problems may have alcohol at any time through any of the stages that the family with alcohol problems goes through alcohol:

• Family members may think that if they make life as difficult as possible when their family member drinks through fights, threats, etc., the person will stop drinking. The normal thing is that the alcoholic feels even more guilty and still drink more. You will complain that your spouse does not understand you. All of this may lead to you continuing to deny your drinking problems even longer.
• Family members can be very supportive and comforting after a binge. Although the understanding and support can be very important during sobriety, special care must be taken with these two aspects:

1. If family members are normally more attentive after the binges, they are reinforcing that he or she continues to drink. For example, a wife who drinks when her husband is away from home for long periods of time. The woman complains about this, but to no avail. When she gets drunk, her husband feels forced to come back to take care of her, reinforcing that she keep drinking.
2. Family members, to give greater comfort, may change the negative consequences of the drink being they who assume the responsibilities that the alcoholic patient had to assume. The husband or wife assumes the housework and childcare that the other should have, feeling the person with drinking problems more comfortable and without wanting to return to abstinence. The spouse may also call work making up an excuse why the PPB (Person with Drinking Problems) cannot go to work.

• The family tries hide and destroy all house drink. Also eliminate the money available to buy alcohol. All of these efforts may add to the resentment and anger of the PPB. In this way, the PPB may increase his drinking behavior to punish or turn his back on the wife and family members and thus be loaded with reasons to continue drinking.
• Family members often try to change their own behavior or behavior. This may be because they believe that they are the ones who lead the drinker to drink. In this case again it is the family who takes responsibility for the drinking problems. Whether the family takes responsibility for the change is only half the problem, but the most important thing is that the drinker changes her behavior as well. The Person with Drinking Problems must take responsibility for her drinking problem.

How to leave an alcoholic

The spouse tries to leave the person with alcohol problems. This could increase tension, anxiety and fear and all this make him drink even more. This does not mean that the spouse cannot make the decision of abandonment, but that if they make this decision they must do it thinking what is best for him or her or her children and not thinking about the effect it might have on him sick.

The last two stages in families with alcohol problems are survival and acceptance. Both steps are essential to be able to follow the family orientations and therapeutic steps to help the alcoholic.

Survival

The survival stage refers to the family's attempts to recover despite the problem. When the family realizes that their attempts to deal with alcohol problems have failed, the disorganization of the family unit occurs, producing the following changes:

• The main objective of the family is to survive. Family goals begin to change and tired, they no longer try to change the drinker's behavior.
• The roles or roles of each member of the family unit begin to change. They must assume the responsibilities of a sick alcoholic. For example: the wife should be the one who manages to support the family and the children also assume certain household responsibilities. Doing so reinforces and supports the drinker in a number of ways:

1. It allows you to avoid unpleasant responsibilities thanks to drinking.
2. Responsibilities and pressure from family members increase, thereby increasing anger and resentment towards PPB (Person with Drinking Problems)

• Feelings toward the person with alcohol problems begin to change. Family members lose concern and respect for this person.

Acceptance

The final stage would be Acceptance, common in all families with alcohol problems. Is when the alcoholic accepts that there is a problem and that you need to go to treatment. As the family is not only changing roles, but also feelings towards him or her, the drinker is faced with the possibility of total isolation and rejection. It may also be that they have received notices from their bosses or are beginning to feel physically unwell.

Thanks to all this, the situation makes denial of the problem impossible and the PPB (person with drinking problems) seeks help. If, on the other hand, the PPB likes the family reorganization, that is, it thinks “now nothing will stop them from drinking”, then he or she will continue drinking. For this reason, their chance of recovery is very difficult, but this person may end up with even greater losses or become even more suspicious about going to treatment.

However, this person also ends up recognizing that they need help and start a treatment program.

This is when your family member decides to enter a treatment program. He or she still feels that drinking gives them some kind of reward despite all the negative consequences it has brought. Therefore, he or she will spend a lot of time within the program defining how they used alcohol and how they will be able to choosing behaviors other than drinking to achieve the same positive effects that you previously achieved with drinking alcohol.

The goal now is to show how the whole family can try and support sobriety. Family members have a wide variety of conflicting feelings and attitudes about drinking. These feelings and attitudes need to be brought to light and discussed. Families can also make changes to help the person stay sober, but without jeopardizing the family's own well-being. Channels of communication must be reestablished and each other taken care of. Family responsibilities must be redistributed. Leisure and enjoyment time must be improved. For all this series of things, it is necessary that the whole family is involved in the treatment.

Reasons to change

Getting changes is difficult for the whole family. It takes time and effort, assuming that there are risks, so the whole family should feel that changes are needed. Stop now and examine your reasons for supporting sobriety and making changes. For example: All family members are very nervous with each other and also do not talk much. Separation is something that will certainly happen unless things get better. Use the lines below to make a list of the negatives that you will eliminate if everyone decides to support sobriety and make changes.

Good things, or reinforcing things, you will surely achieve quickly if you all support sobriety and work together.

Make now a list with the positive things what will happen if you do all this.

Confidence

It will take a long time for family members to trust the person with alcohol problems to stay sober. The most normal thing is that confidence has been replaced by doubt. This is natural and should be recognized by all. If people are nervous because they distrust their family member continuing to drink, it is good to express it in an appropriate way. For example, you can say, “You have made a great effort to stay sober. I have enjoyed being by your side all this time. However, you've been late several nights after getting off work and you seem quite worried. I wonder if you're having a drinking problem again”.

This form of express concern It may encourage your family member to discuss the situation much better than if you are angry, smell her breath, or look him up and down and keep your suspicions to yourself. Learn to be assertive it is an essential element to follow the therapeutic steps and help the alcoholic.

Lack of confidence is unpleasant for everyone and can become a trigger (it would be something that arouses the desire for ...) of the drink. Let's examine several ways in which the family and the relative with alcoholism problems can trust each other:

• Developing a good communication among all family members.
• All family members can be asked for contributions to create new ways of communication, alternatives to drinking or avoiding triggers.
• Family members must know the goals of the person with alcohol problems and how you plan to meet them. Remember, it is his or her responsibility to follow through on her plans.
• Family members should keep respect and consideration towards the PPB. Explain, for example, that you will be late. He or she may think wrongly and hurt himself or herself. Promises should only be made if they can be kept.

If the family understands what prompts their relative to drink, what changes he or she is going to make, and what changes he or she hopes the family will make. This will serve as a starting point to re-establish the family's confidence in the PPB at least for a certain period of time. weather. Family members can and should use family therapies as places to express their lack of trust and thus be able to cope with it.

However, trust takes a certain time to be able to recover. This fact should be passed on to the person with alcohol problems from time to time especially if he or she feels that the family does not trust him or her not to drink and it shows that his or her relatives are wondering if he or she continues to drink alcohol.

For most alcoholics, one of the biggest obstacles to getting sober and improving relationships will be the problem of communication, which has not existed while drinking. Complaints and small uncommunicated feelings may gradually begin to grow into unsolvable problems. Furthermore, family members may be making mistakes by not communicating their feelings for fear that it may affect their sobriety.

We have to take into account some bad communication styles to avoid in the future:

• No listening or pretending to be listening to the speaker (the husband watching television or reading the newspaper while his wife is talking to him)
• Kidding serious problems, (the wife may laugh or make jokes while her husband complains about her work problems)
• Avoid clashes to apologize and / or appear hopeless or depressed. This keeps family members from showing their angry responses and thus they never face problems. From her (The wife crying when her husband complains aloud of lack of affection and affection)
• Avoid discussion important issues by attacking in anger and blaming others (husband yelling and arguing when her wife sits down to discuss her school grades. children).
• Not speaking clearly, giving answers that do not have much to do with what is asked. (The husband mumbling and not expressing what he feels when his wife and her children are looking for some kind of suggestions to paint the house)

Honest and direct communication is what increases the chance that sobriety can be achieved. The long-term goal is to learn to express yourself as clearly as possible and to learn to listen with empathy and without judging other people. Sometimes it may be necessary to interrupt a discussion and continue it later if feelings of anger become so intense that the discussion becomes a vicious cycle.

Family, couple and group therapy are the recommended places to develop and improve the techniques for effective communication.

Share the responsibilities again

People dependent on alcohol and their family must re-establish the responsibilities of the drinker. He or she must again share the responsibilities of the children, the family budget and perform the household chores that correspond to him or her. Family members should not prevent the PPB from assuming their responsibilities, nor should they think that giving them responsibilities goes against their achieving sobriety. Achieving goals increases self-esteem and provides the satisfaction of a duty accomplished.

Coping with alcohol problems that affect the family

There are several issues regarding the social use of drinking, and that the family should discuss. The whole family, including the person with a drinking problem (PPB), should talk about the pros and cons of having alcohol at home. The final decision should be based both on what is best for abstinence from PPB, and on the decision to have alcohol at home so that others can drink, but on Never forget that it must be borne in mind that the fact that there is physical proximity of drinking to a person with alcohol problems and that they have not yet found it. sufficiently prepared to refuse a drink, the urge or desire to drink will be irrepressible in the first moments, as her self-control is not yet sufficiently established.

The whole family should talk about whether they should attend social gatherings where alcohol is involved, and in that case decide if family members will drink in front of the PPB. This should be an open topic for discussion, and be taken into account whenever a similar social situation arises. Feelings change over time, and some situations can be more dangerous than others.

It is also important to decide and plan in advance together what it is that certain friends, certain neighbors, and co-workers will be told about abstinence.

Likewise, you should help the person with alcohol problems to do plans to refuse drinks.

Is very It is normal for the PPB to continue to urge to drink. Especially in the beginning, when you start to stop drinking, you may not be able to anticipate the triggers that may come your way. Due to lack of alcohol consumption, you may sometimes experience irritability, depression, and sometimes overreact. In extreme cases the person may even appear to be intoxicated (drunk).

These impulses towards drinking are not much of a problem if the person is prepared for them and has alternatives to use if those impulses arise. This way the longer you are sober and more aware of triggers, the easier it is for you to it will turn out to detect and prevent them by preventing them from becoming too strong or actually leading to to drink.

For the family it is important recognize those situations, moments, etc., that awaken the desires to drink and provide support when they do happen. It can be helpful for family members to recognize the triggers, alternatives and purposes of their family member with alcohol problems and also suggest to him or her that they use these alternatives to reduce the urge to drink and achieve what they want without having to alcohol.

The best method is not to panic or react in an alarmist way but calmly do more make the family member aware of these impulses towards drinking and help them to continue without resorting to alcohol. The important thing is not only if he or she is going to drink but if they are planning to do so.

Improving the use of free time

Both the family and the patient should enjoy while sober. To achieve quality sobriety, it is necessary to make it a more pleasant phase than the periods in which you drank. It is important that all family members enjoy being next to each other so that all changes are easier and more possible to make.

Time is needed to plan the individual and collective purposes of enjoyment of free time for the whole family. Try new activities!! Experiment!! Get a compromise!!
EXAMPLE: If your wife wants to see a certain movie and you want to see a soccer game, do both. You go with her to the movies one night and she goes with you to watch the game another day. In the family you have all worked very hard. Therefore, do not forget to give yourself some type of compensation by doing activities that you can enjoy. These activities are very good alternatives too !!

Make compliments

When we do something on our own or with the help of others, it is nice to have someone tell us that it was good and that they appreciated our work. It helps to be interested in doing it again. For example: if your husband invites you to dinner he will feel good if he says, “I had a wonderful time tonight. Dinner was delicious. Thank you for such a happy night ”.

Do not forget that the reward yourself each other makes everyone feel good and continue to make constructive changes.

To know how to help an alcoholicIt is important for all family members to give up old methods of behavior that were not of great value in the past. You have learned to identify the changes that both you and your family would like to see occur in your relationship.

Now you are beginning to talk to each other again, enjoying each other's company once more. It's even easier for you to be good to your spouse and even compliment each other from time to time.
To keep things on track, it is important to make a list of all those changes that you would like each member of the family to make.

Some general rules to remember when making trade and prize lists are:

1. Talk about the changes you want with your partner to make sure they accept and understand them.
2. Ask for the changes and rewards that you really want, and not what you think your partner wants.

The following is a list that summarizes the changes that family members they can carry out to improve the quality of sobriety and family relationships:

• To procure improve communication expressing in the most direct way possible the thoughts and feelings of each one of you. Interrupt the conversation if it becomes too confrontational and return to it later.
• Listen carefully to each other, respecting differences of opinion.
• Set aside a time of day just to talk.
• Set goals day by day.
• Reward you in the short and long term.
• Dedicate some time of the day just to relax.
• Begin to share responsibilities again.
• Make an effort to improve leisure and free time activities both individually and jointly.
• Give compliments to enhance good feelings.
• Make commitments so that everyone wins.
• Develop adequate monitoring plans to be able to maintain the changes achieved.
• Speak openly of alcohol-related problems. Addressing directly when family members should drink, whether to keep alcohol at home, and whether to go to certain types of parties or social gatherings.
• Talk about the temptations and urges to drink and support the positive changes that are being made.
• Letting the person with alcohol problems take responsibility to drink or not to drink.

Since your relative's drinking was learned and used in response to certain triggers, he or she may start drinking again.

It is important for the whole family, including the alcoholic, recognize how you can react before or immediately after that happens:

• There are many signs that the person may be thinking that a drink may be good, helpful or necessary.
• He or she may make less effort to carry out or try new alternatives or even to hope that they will work.
• He or she may seem calmer or more reserved than is normal. They may be "Bottling" your feelings again.
• He or she may be talk about the positive effects of alcohol forgetting about the negative consequences of drinking.
• They may not realize the gains from sobriety and begin to think that they can control their drinking and therefore start drinking again.
• You may become less active or forget your responsibilities within the home and family.
• They may start to hang out with your old drinking places and your latest "hang out" companies. Some assume very little responsibility.
• The PPB often feels like it can handle things on its own.
• May decide stop going to treatment, stop taking Antabus.
• You may become irritable or have trouble sleeping.
• You may even feel pity for himself developing the well-known case of the “poor me”.

How can you overcome alcoholism?

At this point it is important that family members review their own behavior. Sometimes they are not aware that it is influencing the behavior of the person with alcohol problems. Sometimes family members are too busy with their individual interests and spend less time with the person. Feelings are not expressed and commitments are forgotten. Families sometimes bear the responsibilities of the person with alcohol problems and refuse to redefine or accept a new division of responsibilities within the family.

Sometimes some family members will suspect that their family member is drinking again and will become suspicious. they will quarrel, search your room, and may even remind the person with alcohol problems of previous incidents. The family may even try to control the person with alcohol problems by rejecting the drinks that other people offer them or even controlling the money that they carry. Trust takes time to rebuild, and it is easy for many actions to ruin it if you are not careful enough.

If these red flags occur, the alcoholic patient should talk about his feelings and thoughts with your family, friends, treatment partners, or therapy members. It will also help to think about the positive consequences of sobriety and the negative consequences of drinking alcohol. In this way, she or he can get in touch with people who provide support and advice, take Antabús or Colme and put her alternatives into practice.

It is often important for families to respond to these difficult circumstances as calmly as possible. The family therapy groups and other support groups from your own personal network will be of great help to be able to express your own feelings (the feelings of the family). You should look, in the most positive way possible, on the changes that your family member has made since he is sober. Mention those changes as well as the times you enjoyed together when he was without drinking. You can even suggest to him or her some of the alternatives and goals that he or she developed. Sometimes you even just need to chat or go for a walk with him to solve the situation.

Remember, still go on being your responsibility to drink or not drink. You can only try to be supportive.

A critical task to consider and plan ahead is falls. A drop is to go back to drinking alcohol after a period of abstinence. You may say, “But if my family member has no intention of drinking again. Why must he be thinking of making plans in case he falls? ". You will realize that falls are normal and that they are even part of the recovery process in many cases.

If your family member drinks an alcoholic beverage you can do the following:

• Try to keep perspective of your feelings. Remember that it is not the "end of the world." You can do something to help yourself and maintain your sense of well-being. Call the association, some other family member or friend, or anyone who can be of support to you.
• Remember that the decision to drink or not to drink is the responsibility of the person with alcohol problems. It will not be helpful to try to control or cover you up. Avoid searching or hiding the bottles. Be careful not to catch you spying on him wherever he goes. If you act that way, it may become a trigger for him or her to drink again.
• Don't take on the responsibilities of your family member even if it means leaving some things undone. Continue with your daily routines as much as possible.
• Try to talk to your family member at a suitable time, when he has little or no alcohol in his body (first thing in the morning)
• Remind him, in good manners, what he has achieved while he was sober and how much you all enjoyed it.
• You can carefully tell him the negative consequences that could happen to him if he continues to drink. It is important not to remind him of past situations.
• If you understand and know what his triggers and alternatives are, you may be able to help him explore them, and encourage him to put some alternatives into practice. You can also suggest some people who might be able to help.
• Remember, all these suggestions should be put into practice by the more positive way and that it serves as the greatest possible support. It is not always possible to use them, and, of course, each person should consider their safety first and well-being, leaving home if there is any danger that they may suffer some kind of mistreatment.

The program is just the beginning of a sobriety reinforcing and better family relationships. People begin to identify what triggers their desire or urges to drink, develop alternatives, and learn new communication skills while in treatment. But to achieve this requires a lot of practice and therefore it is encouraged to continue with follow-up plans in order to complete these efforts successfully.

The therapeutic group will expose some of the possibilities of follow-up, as well as it is necessary to make a list with these plans, which you will keep after leaving the association.

Cope with the turn to chronic drinking

Sometimes, despite having passed the Treatment program, the PPB reverts to its chronic and problematic drinking habits. If this happens in your family, it is important that you decide for yourself whether you want to continue living with that person or not. This decision should be made regardless of the possible effects it could have on the person with alcohol problems. They are very difficult decisions. There are support and advice systems that can help you if you wish.

• REMEMBER THAT:

Constancy is the virtue by which all other virtues bear fruit.

This article is merely informative, in Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.

If you want to read more articles similar to Family orientations and therapeutic steps to help the alcoholic, we recommend that you enter our category of Addictions.