Crucial Steps to Take When Alcoholics Refuse Adequate Treatment

Accepting personal issues is challenging, especially for those who abuse various substances. Addiction can blur the line between fantasy and reality. This is the main reason why those struggling with addiction refuse to accept they have an issue.

For them, they are not sick; they don’t need adequate help; they take each day as it comes, and go through it intoxicated.

One of the most common addictions in the UK is alcohol addiction. The data from the NHS outlines serious alcohol abuse issue amongst both adults and minors in the UK. According to them, over 20% of people aged 16 and over are drinking more than 14 units of alcohol weekly. When it comes to gender, men seem more likely to overdrink.

Between 2017 and 2018, almost 350,000 of total hospital admissions were alcohol-related. During the past ten years, alcohol-related deaths have increased by 16%. In 2017, almost 6,000 people suffered a death related to alcohol abuse.

The most obvious solution to giving up alcohol use would be getting admitted to an adequate rehab center. But, for the user, it’s unlikely to see their problem and try to fix it. If one of your close ones seems to struggle with this problem, below is a series of tips that will help you convince them to get adequate help.

#1. Admit to yourself your loved one has a problem

While they are unlikely to see they have an alcohol-related issue, it’s even more difficult for you to accept it.

Maybe one of the most difficult parts is accepting their issue is lasting for too long already, and their health might be irremediably damaged. Although this step will not help the sufferer in any shape or form, it will prepare you for the long road you have ahead. This will also help you offer them your undivided love and attention. This will come as a sensitive advantage for you both, in the process.

#2. Learn as much as you can about their problem

Before trying to convince them to get the necessary help to overcome their alcohol addiction problem, try to understand alcohol addiction from a medical standpoint.

Try to understand aspects such as withdrawal, how their addiction changes their behavior and sets of values, their health, and so on. Make sure to learn more about overdose signs and how to identify these. Understanding what the other person is going through is a major step to helping them get proper help. Plus, it will help you understand better their perspective and personal challenges.

#3. Try to understand their situation

Speaking of perspective differences and personal challenges, you should know there are different stages of addiction. Because of this reason, figuring out where your loved one is in terms of addiction stages will be complicated.

In the incipient stages, you might still be able to have a decent one-on-one conversation with them and make them realize their issue. As the addiction progresses, you will find it increasingly difficult to communicate with them in a healthy fashion.

Regardless, understanding better what their situation is will enable you to offer them proper help. You might try to have a conversation with a medical professional with a rehab specialization, to help you identify how advanced their issue is.

#4. Schedule a routine check-up appointment for them

One of the easiest ways to make them understand how alcohol abuse can impact their health is by making them see a medical professional for a routine check. Make sure to let the doctor know about their alcohol abuse problem prior to their appointment.

They will be able to identify different health concerns if you do so. Besides, they will be able to recommend further action and tests for your loved one. In some cases, a private meeting with a medical professional, able to paint a clearer picture for them of how damaging alcohol abuse is, is eye-opening for addicts.

#5. Find reliable rehab centers

Convincing them to get into rehab is the only possible way to help them overcome their alcohol use forever.

The rehab for alcoholics center in your area should have all the necessary professionals to help your relative or friend go through the detox and withdrawal phase with minimal physical and psychological downsides. Considering that addicts’ body is reliant on alcohol to function as they should, stopping alcohol administration abruptly might push them to the brim of despair.

In specialized treatment centers, patients have all the medical help necessary to pass through this rehab phase with minimal negative impacts. The medication and therapy solutions offered in these establishments are proven to work in preventing relapse episodes in the future, as well.

Alcohol addiction involves both physical and mental mechanisms. Successful rehab programs tackle these both, before letting their patients leave the premises.

#6. Cut off their funding

Many people who abuse different substances, including alcohol, find enablers and instigators in the people they love the most. If you can identify as an enabler, there are some ways you can stop falling into their mind games and cutting off their funding.

Now that you are aware of their addiction problem, you know how they will be using any lump sums you offer them.

There are several ways you can stop funding their issue without causing a meltdown for both of you. Try to avoid being confrontational when telling them the news. Do the opposite, instead. When they ask for money, offer them a reason why you’re unable to. This will prevent them from getting defensive and spiraling down the rabbit hole.

#7. Avoid guilt-tripping them

It’s easy to offer ultimatums and deadlines. But these people need your constant support. Guilt-tripping may be the worst decision you could ever make, in their case. If they fail, this approach won’t send them straight to the nearest rehab center. On the contrary. It will make them feel like failures and will drown their sorrow the only way they know: with alcohol.