Alcohol can affect the life of a drinker in the worst possible ways from every aspect but often the problem is people are not ready to accept that they are alcoholic and it is the time when they should try to take a break from it for their own good. Just like many other situations in life, when you are into alcohol, it often becomes difficult to realize the problem, unless you take a look at it as a third person.
This is the point where someone close can actually help. However, be clear that the task of making someone stop drinking alcohol is not easy. In fact, it is one of the most difficult tasks you might ever have to do. The good part of it is that, some more efforts from your part can give your loved ones a new life. Here is a guideline to help you make someone stop drinking. It will provide with information about how you should approach and what you should do to make the person quit the habit.
Do your homework
Before you can approach the person about his drinking habits, it is important to do your homework. You should have a clear idea about how much the person actually drinks and how it is affecting his health as well as his personal and professional lives. Often people miss out on these details even if they are living under the same roof and if in case you are not living together it might be even more difficult to be particular about these details. However, in order to actually help the person in quitting alcohol it is really important that you collect all these details accurately and make yourself conversant with them.
Approach the person face to face
Once you have a clear idea about the drinking habits of the person and how exactly it is affecting him and the people close to him, it is the time to approach him in person. Talking with the person over the phone on this matter or over electronic mediums is sure to go fruitless. This is a point where personal touch is necessary, and believe us, your words can never be the same effective when they are said from the other end of a phone call. So, take your time and make it a point to discuss the problem with him face to face. It is best if you can also ask the person to allocate some time for you to have a talk, because there is every chance that the person who is in the addiction will try to evade the talk. So, make sure that you get sufficient time to talk.
Discuss the problem
When you are trying to make someone stop drinking alcohol, it is really important to be patient. Be honest about informing him about his drinking problem and lend an ear to listen to his side of the story. Once you inform him about the problem, if you are close to him, he is most expected to give you an explanation. Either he will try to make you understand that he is not an alcohol addict and all he does is for simple fun and enjoyment or he will come straight to tell you what makes him drink so much. If the person already tells you the reason of his drinking habit, be sure the task is going to be at least a bit easier for you, but if the person fully denies that his drinking habit is not something that can make him an alcoholic, it is really difficult to make him realize.
At this point, your homework should come into aid. You should counteract the explanations of the person with the real information to make him realize his drinking habit has turned to worst. This is not really simple and you need to be very polite yet strong in your approach to convince the person and to make him realize. The key to make someone quit drinking is to make him realize that he has been in the grip of alcohol and it is affecting his physical and mental health as well as his relationships in the worst possible way, pushing him more in the path of an alcoholic.
If the person accepts his drinking problem, you should look forward to know what makes him drink. It might be a relationship issue, a health problem or a problem at the office. Once you know the real reason behind his drinking habit, you should try to make him understand that how drinking is not actually helping him to cope with it, rather it is making the things even worse for him. Drinking alcohol takes away the ability of a person to deal with critical life situations in the best possible ways and hence the problems of life start to become even more difficult to deal with. So, make him realize that there are much better and more productive ways than drinking to solve the issues and hence drinking is not helping him in anyway rather simply making the things even worst.
Forcing will not help
During the total discussion it is really important to be completely patient even if the person seems to say something abusive at the beginning. Keep in mind that he is going through a condition and is not in his best of mind and hence taking his rough words to your heart will help none of you. Be polite in your talks and try to make him realize his problem instead of forcing him to quit drinking. Know for sure, you can never make someone quit drinking alcohol unless he actually wants to come out of it. If the person is not willing to get rid of the addiction, even if you commit him to a recovery center there is always maximum chance of a relapse. So, do not force, rather make him realize that it is the time that he should quit the habit.
Make an alcohol quitting plan with him
Once you have successfully made the person realize that he has been in the grip of alcohol and now it is the time when he should quit it, know that the difficult half of the job has been done. Now, you have to work with him and provide him with every support that he might need for stopping the habit. The first step of support should be to chalk out a plan with him about how he can quit the habit. Make sure that all the goals you set in this plan are well discussed and agreed upon by the person.
First set the time limit, within which the person should quit the habit. Quitting alcohol all together might be actually difficult and there can also be serious withdrawal symptoms and hence quitting it slowly might be a better option in particular situations. However, if the person is an alcoholic, it is best to suggest him to quit the habit all at once, because alcoholics have a very bad record about slow quitting.
For people who are not completely alcoholic but are habituated with drinking regularly, it is best to first reduce the amount of alcohol they drink daily, and then to slowly skip it on particular days. Once they find that skipping alcohol is not difficult any more, things are sure to become much easier. Your objective should be to plan with him to make him realize that he can quit it and can bring the habit in his control, instead of giving the reins in the hands of his cravings.
Visit the doctor
If you are dealing with an alcoholic, visiting the doctor should be the first step of your plan. Alcoholics are sure to have serious alcohol withdrawal symptoms and the person is sure to need medical help for quitting the habit. So, fix an appointment with the doctor at the earliest and make it a point to go along with him during the visit. Never let him feel alone during the whole process as that can make him to get back to the habit.
Once the doctor has a clear idea about the condition of the person, he will suggest ways to make things easier for him. He might even suggest certain medications that can be helpful to control the cravings as well as the withdrawal symptoms. It is also important that the person who is about to quit drinking is well informed about the withdrawal symptoms of alcohol so that he can ask for medical help if things start to go out of control.
Be there for him
Once a person has realized his drinking problem and is trying his best to quit the habit, it is really important that you provide him with all the help and assistance he might need during this period. It is not really easy to quit alcohol after a certain point, and if you have helped someone to realize his drinking problem and has made him to walk in the path of quitting it, it is important that you are there to give him full support all the way till he regains his full control over the habit.
Teach him meditation
The path of coming out of alcohol addiction is not easy and meditation can be actually effective in helping him dealing with the situation in a better way. Meditation helps one to become more aware about his body and mind, which is sure to give him more control over his cravings. In addition to that, meditation also helps in calming the nerves and relaxing the mind, which can be very effective to deal with the withdrawal symptoms of alcohol.
