4 Tips on How to Stop Someone from Drinking

Legacy Healing Center Blog

Find out how to stop someone from drinking with these tips from Legacy Healing Center.

Have you been trying to help someone stop drinking and you don’t feel like your assistance is working? It is important to remember that the only person who can stop someone with an alcohol addiction from drinking is that individual.

There is goods news, however. By using certain communication techniques and helping that person recognize that their habits are having a detrimental effect, you might be able to positively influence their decision to get help.

In the battle of figuring out how to stop someone from drinking, these tips and techniques may assist in getting the friend or loved one in your life the assistance that they need:

1. Start with open communication – Someone struggling with alcohol addiction may not even recognize that there is a problem, or that people are aware of their drinking problem if no one speaks up and has an honest conversation.

This initial conversation should not be from a place of accusation or judgment but rather a loving confrontation where you share you are concerned for their well being and that you believe they might need help to control their drinking.

2. Steer clear of demands and ultimatums – A sure-fire way to shut down any conversation and not reach your end goal is to offer someone with a drinking problem an ultimatum. Instead, offer treatment options and advice when you speak.

Make sure you do enough research before your conversation so that you are aware of the type of alcohol detox and rehabilitation programs in your area and what the protocol is for getting someone into a program. Then you can relay this information to your friend or family member in a concerned, loving manner.

3. Do not ridicule or shame someone – When you are trying to figure out how to help someone from drinking, you have to remember how critical your approach and your words are. If we pass shame, ridicule or judgment on someone, especially someone with a drinking problem, their first reaction may be to go and drink to numb their emotions or pain.

If you haven’t experienced addiction first hand, explain that while you don’t know exactly what they are going through, you do know that it is negatively affecting their life and that you would like to see them get help so they can thrive.

4. Don’t be an enabler – Sometimes our love for someone can cause us to enable them even when we know they are being bound by a dangerous addiction. To help someone stop drinking, it is crucial that you do not make excuses for them, continually help them get out of trouble that alcohol may have caused, or stay silent when they find themselves in bad situations because of drinking.

All of these actions fall under enabling and they will allow the drinking to continue in the life of your loved one.

Instead of enabling, speak to a trained interventionist or addiction specialist about practicing tough love and holding an intervention, which may be the catalyst needed to get your friend or loved one into a treatment program.

While these are a few tips on how to help an alcoholic, understand that your unwavering support is the key to helping that person know you are by their side on this journey into recovery. You can learn more about how to help someone stop drinking, in addition to detox and treatment programs by reaching out to Legacy Healing Center.

Our alcohol addiction specialists look forward to helping someone take the first step and get on the road to recovery. Call us today at 888-597-3547.