Living with an alcoholic partner: Problems faced and coping strategies used by wives of alcoholic clients PMC
The impact of an AUD isn’t always limited to the one suffering from this chronic medical condition. AUDs may affect not only the person with the drinking problem themselves, but also their family, their loved ones, and others around them. Encouraging your spouse to embark on the journey of sobriety can be a delicate task. It’s important to approach the topic with empathy, understanding, and without judgment. Express your concern for their well-being and the impact their alcoholism has on your relationship and family. Encourage them to seek professional help and explore treatment options that are suitable for their needs.
- The first step can be reaching out and calling an alcohol hotline for advice.
- However, there are resources and methods to help both of you deal with the alcohol use disorder that has affected your marriage, all of which will lead you to a happier, healthier life.
- AUD treatment failures are more likely when we do not treat comorbidities.
- Having an alcoholic spouse is not a situation you will be forced to go through alone.
- It is further recommended that such investigation can be taken up in a qualitative manner to subjectively understand and acknowledge the pain of being a wife of an alcoholic.
Dealing with Your Spouse’s Alcohol Addiction: Options for Support
Approaching your alcoholic spouse with compassion and understanding can often be more effective than confrontation. Share your feelings and concerns, but be prepared to listen to their perspective as well. This can help open the lines of communication and create an environment for positive change. The physical and psychological consequences of alcoholism can be detrimental to both the person suffering from AUD and their spouse.
How to Cope with an Alcoholic Spouse
Therapy for spouses is one surefire way to help fight alcohol addiction. But for some people, alcohol use can turn into alcohol misuse and even alcohol addiction. Your partner may choose to attend some type of rehab center or employ some other therapeutic intervention for the treatment of their alcohol misuse issues at some point. 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. Explore the impact of alcohol misuse and discover resources for support.
Don’t Take It Personally
If your spouse fits any of these criteria, that may help you to understand why an alcohol use disorder is affecting your family. PTSD can cause a range of symptoms, including flashbacks, nightmares, anxiety, depression, and insomnia. These symptoms can be triggered by reminders of the traumatic event, such as the smell of alcohol or the sound of a raised voice. They can also occur without any apparent trigger, which can make the condition even more distressing. Many people who live with addiction, whether to alcohol or another substance or activity, carry a heavy sense of shame and guilt.
Your partner will be more likely to listen if they feel like you’re approaching them with genuine concern and love, not criticism. If this is the case, consider discussing the underlying issue as well as treatment options with your partner. If your partner has alternative ways of dealing with negative emotions and stress, it may remove some of the pressure to drink. It’s a good idea to start the conversation when your partner is sober — not intoxicated or hungover. Also try to make sure you’re both in a relatively good place mentally and emotionally. If you think your partner has an alcohol addiction, you might feel the need to speak with them about it but don’t know where to start.
What are the Different Treatment Processes?
Growing up in a home where alcohol use is common, can leave lasting scars. Before you realize it, you can find yourself in a full-blown abusive relationship. You just happen to love someone who is probably going to need professional treatment to get healthy again. For those who love someone living with an addiction, it is very difficult to sit back and let the crisis play out to its fullest extent. When they reach the point in their substance use when they get a DUI, lose their job, or go to jail, for example, it can be difficult to accept that the best thing they can do in the situation is nothing. If your loved one has become addicted to alcohol, however, their brain chemistry may have changed to the point that they are completely surprised by some of the choices they make.
Support groups and individual therapy can help you learn how to cope better with your spouse’s alcohol use. It might be time to reconsider your relationship if the problem becomes too much. Having an alcoholic spouse is not a situation you will be forced to go through alone. Some people have gone through and are https://sober-house.net/apixaban-eliquis-uses-side-effects/ going through the same situation, and they can offer insight, advice and understanding. While this may sound like an awful option, it is the decision that many people with alcoholic spouses choose. Sometimes it becomes difficult to separate the person they married from the person their spouse has become.
It is important for the non-alcoholic spouse to understand the impact of alcoholism on their own well-being and learn effective coping strategies to navigate these difficult circumstances. Alcoholism not only affects the individual struggling with addiction but also has a profound impact on the relationships within the family unit. Understanding alcoholism and its impact on relationships is crucial in navigating this difficult situation. Consider creating a list of goals with your spouse, such as discussing their progress at regular intervals, providing encouragement, and offering support as needed. Moreover, researching treatment options, understanding the effects of alcoholism, and establishing communication can significantly contribute to your spouse’s recovery journey.
As shown in Table 3, the mean percent scores were highest in emotional and social domain while lowest in the financial domain. Alcoholism can cause emotional distance between partners, leading to a breakdown in communication and a lack of trust. This can cause feelings of isolation and loneliness, which can lead to depression and anxiety.
Further, there are reports of association between the demographic variables of wives and coping styles employed. The other situational determinants of coping are the availability of social support and the financial independence. Looking at the traditional Indian society where females are seen as a weak gender, a dependent gender, there is more of tolerant coping. However, with changes in gender roles and understanding alcohol use disorder national institute growth of feminism, the engaged coping has turned high. Moreover, in Indian society, marital separation owing to drinking problem is still considered more stigmatic than staying in a conflicting discordant relation. The consequences of marital separation for the children are so overestimated that females do all they can to change their partner’s drinking problem for the sake of maintaining the marriage.
Disulfiram (Antabuse) is another medication FDA-approved to treat alcohol use disorder, but it is used very infrequently. AA meetings are free and nonjudgmental, and they are available day or night and even multiple times a day in many cities. Successful AA members usually become sponsors once they have been senior members in recovery https://sober-house.org/opinion-fighting-hopelessness-in-treating/ for at least a year. A sponsor is a confidante with essential lived experiences and can be called 24/7 for help. Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), with 2.1 million members worldwide, has assisted people to regain control over alcohol use since 1935. There are also medications effective in treating AUD, such as naltrexone and other drugs.
Natural consequences may mean that you refuse to spend any time with the person dependent on alcohol. The key to dealing with alcohol dependency in the family is staying focused on the situation as it exists today. It doesn’t reach a certain level and remain there for very long; it continues to get worse until the person with an alcohol problem seeks help.