What to Do When Your Family Member Won't Stop Drinking

02:23

What to Do When Your Family Member Won't Stop Drinking

by Michelle Farris

Rated

5

Type

talks

Activity

Meditation

Suitable for

Everyone

Plays

7

Families of alcoholics need support but not judgment. In this video, you'll learn about the importance of practicing detachment when dealing with addicts and alcoholics and how to stop codependent, enabling behaviors. Families with addiction suffer in silence, but addiction recovery can start whether the alcoholic is sober or not. Please note: This video discusses addiction and is not a replacement for professional care.

Addiction Family Support Detachment Codependency Self Care Emotional Health Detachment Practice

Meet your Teacher

Michelle Farris

San Jose, CA, USA

Meet your Teacher

Michelle Farris

San Jose, CA, USA

Transcript

Hi, My name is Michelle Farris, And I'm a psychotherapist in San Jose, California. And I want to talk to you today about what to do if a family member is addicted. So the first thing is I want you to look at all the time and energy and money you've spent trying to get them help and ask yourself, Has it worked? Are they in treatment? Are they any better? Because if they're not, The first step for you would be to stop. Stop trying to get them help because really what they need is to hit bottom. And I know that's hard to hear, But you know, The addict or alcoholic really needs to experience the consequences of their own addiction first. And a lot of times if you've already tried getting a therapist for them, Trying to get them into treatment and it hasn't worked, Then part of what you need to do is start preserving your own resources emotionally and get the focus off of them and onto yourself. I hope you found this helpful. At this point wanting to not participate in the disease and not participate when they're drunk or high because it really doesn't serve a purpose anymore at this point and you can't control it anyway. So that's really the first step I would say is to take the focus off of them and what they're doing as crazy as it is and to redirect that focus to you and your family. Start taking care of yourself again because a lot of families end up neglecting their own health, Neglecting their and their emotions because they're so overwhelmed with the addiction. That's step one. Step two is start to practice detachment. And detachment is you are going to be able to let go of what they're doing. As painful as it is to watch, You now recognize that their behavior is really based on the disease right now, And you can't change it anyway. So all you can do is be light and polite, Take care of yourself, Still to have a relationship with them if that's what you choose, That's totally okay. But really it's about not interfering with the disease when you know you're powerless over it anyway. So that's my tip. I hope it helps. Thanks so much.