Alcoholic family member

rhino_horn

Again thanks for all of the advice and kind words.

It definitely seems that our current thinking is the best way forward. We are going to be speaking to him this weekend so I will update on how the conversation goes.

System

Drinking can be used as a form of self medication (i hold my hand up, i'm bipolar and ive used it more times than i should as a crutch ) for mental illness but sometimes there isn't a clear cut reason for it.

Your brother is not going to stop drinking unless he wants to. And unless he does anything and everything you do will just be enabling him to continue. Lost his job? Doesn;t matter family will sort him one out. No where to live cos he's drank his money? Dpesn;t matter family will find him somewhere to live. No money? No problem fmaily will bail me out. Do you see the pattern? Nothing he does has any consequences. So why would he stop drinking? I honestly 5think with addictiion people need to hit rock bottom and want to change before they can be helped. As brutal and as hard as it is, he needs to experience his mistakes and live with the consequences.

If he has to sign on he;ll find his JSA doesn;t really cover drinking binges. If he has to apply to the council for homelessness and live in a b&b he might learn the only way out is stop drinking.

He needs tough love right now.

Mojisola

xXMessedUpXx wrote: »

I honestly 5think with addictiion people need to hit rock bottom and want to change before they can be helped.

As brutal and as hard as it is, he needs to experience his mistakes and live with the consequences.

And it's appalling hard to stand by and let this happen, especially if the addict doesn't turn their life around.

The alternative is to keep on enabling the addict and to have your own life disrupted at the addict's whim and your own health and finances permanently damaged.