When your spouse is struggling with alcohol addiction, finding a way out and protecting your marriage can be extremely difficult. You need to consider your own feelings and also seek professional help for your spouse in making the best decisions for both of you.
Protecting Your Marriage From Alcohol Addiction
If you are married to an alcoholic person, you are more likely to face several complicated and painful situations. What’s worse, things often boil down to deciding whether to continue that relationship or just pack up and go.
Unfortunately, almost half of these cases (around 48%) get divorced. This statistic seems more obvious because the spouses of addicts are more likely to personally experience the direct effects of their partner’s alcoholism.
As the spouse of an alcohol addict, from their frequent lies to emotional distancing and from professional implications to financial problems, you’ve seen it all. We are sure that by now you have realized that alcohol addiction is a serious illness and that it can alter the brain of those affected. And just willpower is not enough to defeat them.
However, what is your responsibility if your spouse doesn’t seek professional help or doesn’t conquer their alcohol addiction at every step? And here’s a simple question: how far should you go to tolerate this?
To be honest, there are no easy answers to these questions. Fortunately, however, there are certain things that you can consider in order to understand how to deal with this complex situation and how to work to save your marriage.
Do your homework on alcohol addiction and how it works
Although the public awareness of alcohol addiction is increasing day by day, very few people understand that alcoholism is a serious health condition. You need to first realize that lifelong medical care, management, and some healthy lifestyle changes may be required.
You can assume that alcohol addiction is the same as other serious health problems such as asthma, diabetes, or heart disease. Remember, there is no one set cure for addiction. However, it can be treated and managed effectively so that patients can lead substance-free, healthy, and happy lives.
As mentioned earlier, alcohol addiction can alter the brain and affect patients’ decision-making ability. It takes professional medical care and appropriate medication to overcome it. You can rely on a reputable alcohol treatment center for this requirement. Since you can’t just tell asthma sufferers to breathe heavily to fight this disease, there is no point in telling an alcohol addict to stop drinking. To successfully overcome alcohol addiction, you need the right combination of medications, therapies, lifestyle changes, and some great coping mechanisms.
Note that relapses are quite common in patients trying to recover from alcohol addiction. And stability takes time!
Realize your role
Think about why you are still married to him despite the addiction. What drives you to be in this relationship? It can be love, social pressures, children, financial stability, or anything else.
Weeding out such factors can be of great help. It will clear up certain things, such as: For example, whether or not you are ready to part ways, and whether you are financially and mentally stable to make it yourself. When you are clear about these things, you can make the right decisions.
If your spouse’s addiction is abusive, prioritize the safety of yourself and your children, whether or not you want to be in the relationship.
last words
Alcohol addiction is very complicated. Talking to professionals with proper knowledge of addiction and its effects on marriage can go a long way. You can also consider joining a support group that includes friends and family to feel supported or doing inpatient rehab.
Remember to take good care of yourself during this process. If you really want your marriage to work, you must be strong both mentally and physically.
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