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Living with a n alcoholic can take a toll on your mental well-being. It is common to feel so concerned about your parent that you disregard your own mental health but burnout will make it even more difficult for you to support them. Use loving and encouraging statements showing your parent you believe in their ability to become sober.
Treatment programs for substance use disorders rely on a person wanting to get sober. If your parent refuses to stop drinking, there is not much that you can do to convince them otherwise. Historically, confrontation through ‘interventions’ were seen as the best way to encourage a person to seek help for his or her drinking; however this approach is out of date.
Tips for Talking to Your Parent
Growing up with a parent who has an alcohol use disorder can change how an adult child interacts with others. It can cause problems in their relationships with friends, family members, and romantic partners. Some adult children of parents with AUD take themselves very seriously, finding it extremely difficult to give themselves a break. If they had a tumultuous upbringing, they may have little self-worth and low self-esteem and can develop deep feelings of inadequacy.
But while living with an alcoholic can be tough to admit and even harder to deal with, there are some strategies you can use to help yourself and your parent to cope. Remember – there is nothing you can do to force someone who is in the throes of alcohol addiction to seek the help they need. There are certain steps you can take to try, and certain steps you can take to offer support, but ultimately your loved one will need to become willing to seek help. Think of the ways that your parent’s alcoholism has negatively affected your life, your family, your relationship with your parent, and anything else that you can think of. Organizing your thoughts on paper before you discuss them with your parent can be beneficial for both you and your parent. It can allow you to sift through the emotional trauma of living with an alcoholic and pinpoint specific examples of how their disease has impacted your life.
The effects of alcoholic fathers on daughters
Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is the term most often used by medical professionals. AUD encompasses the conditions often referred to as alcohol abuse, alcohol dependence, alcohol addiction, and alcoholism. AUD is considered a brain disorder, because alcohol abuse causes changes to the brain that worsen AUD and cause the disorder Top 5 Questions to Ask Yourself When Choosing Sober House to progress, causing a cycle of dependence that is difficult to break alone. Your parent may have promised to stop drinking time and time again, but they never do. It’s important for you to understand that alcoholism is an addiction and that your parent must commit to professional treatment in order to truly change.
