It’s possible that you may come across someone who drinks a bit too much. However, when it’s a drunk relative that you’re dealing with, things can get much more complicated. As such, it’s helpful to know what you can do to address their excessive drinking…
How-to Help a Drunk Relative: Useful Steps
Don’t drink with them
When you have a drunk relative, you don’t want to encourage their drinking. It can be tempting to do so, as you may believe you can keep an eye on them. However, this will only encourage their bad drinking habits. Rather, you should avoid drinking with them at all.
Remember that there are ways you decline a drink while still being polite. You may feel some peer pressure because it’s someone you know who’s asking you to drink. Keep in mind, though, that by not drinking with them, you can help them see that maybe their own habits are a little dangerous.
Accept how you feel
It’s also important to accept how a drunk relative may make you feel. It’s understandable to feel angry, sad, or embarrassed when your family member constantly drinks too much. This is especially true if they act belligerent or lose their temper when they drink. As such, you shouldn’t think that these feelings are wrong to have.
Rather, accepting these feelings is important for helping your relative out. You have to recognize that their drinking isn’t because of you or anyone else. Instead, take those feelings and use them as motivation to help them get sober.
Talk to them
You should take some time to sit down and talk to a drunk relative about how you feel. This is the time when you want to address how you feel, and also how others feel as well. Too many people try and avoid having these tough conversations. Yet, if you want to help your relative, it’s key to have them.
Be sure to have these talks in private, and when they are sober. Make it clear too that you don’t want to “force” them to do anything. This will help them realize you aren’t confronting them in a negative light, and encourage them to make those important changes to their drinking on their own.
