Living with an Alcoholic

Living with an alcoholic is generally a rollercoaster of a ride. It’s hard for those around the drinker to understand that actually they can’t help themselves and usually family will find themselves affected deeply. It is a family disease, in as much as it affects the whole household. When things are good and the drinking is under control, then everyone is happy. But when alcohol takes over again, chaos and disorder reign.

Unpredictable Behaviour

It depends on who is the one with the problem as to how unpredictable behaviour will affect those around them, but the alcoholic can never be relied upon to behave in a proper fashion. Alcoholic parents obviously have a far reaching effect on children, causing chaos in the house. In a house where alcohol abuse is prevalent, there will be arguments and abuse, whether it’s physical or mental. The alcoholic will be drunk a lot of the time, very often aggressive or emotional. It’s a home filled with turmoil and confusion. Nobody knows from one day to the next what is going to happen.

Children

Children often blame themselves when they have alcoholic parents, thinking that it’s their fault that mum or dad drinks too much. They will often over-compensate for this by trying to help or plead with the drinker to stop. It can destroy childhoods and cause huge problems in later life, as they will grow up feeling unhappy and just spending most of their time wishing desperately that mum or dad was just a normal, loving parent instead of this crazy, drunken person who can be lovely one minute, filled with rage and violence the next. Alcoholic homes also have a very high incidence of physical and sexual abuse.

Partners

The husband or wife of an alcoholic will find life very difficult. Alcoholics are unreliable, often going missing through drunkenness, failing to turn up when they are supposed to, or turning up really drunk and defensive. Social occasions are a minefield, with the sober partner often having to apologise for behaviour, or even remove the person from a situation because they are out of control.

Domestic violence is a very common occurrence in relationships where alcohol is a problem, and arguments will happen often. Alcohol removes self control, and this leads to unacceptable behaviour and often aggression. Home life will be chaotic, with normal daily patterns such as eating dinner, keeping the house tidy and clean, having friends round or even paying bills completely disrupted and it’s completely normal for the partner of an alcoholic to find themselves supporting the drinker in every way. They will feel almost like they’re looking after a wayward child as the alcoholic cares little about what’s going on around them.

Lies and Deception

A real feature of alcoholism is deception. Lying about the quantity they have drunk, lying about where they have been, lying about giving up – these are all extremely common elements in an alcoholic relationship. It’s another extremely destructive pattern, as the person close to the alcoholic will often plead with them to stop, even try to help. It’s not going to work, the only person who can effect that decision is the alcoholic, and until that point it’s often usual for them to pretend they’re giving up or cutting down. But don’t be fooled, just when you think they have been sober for a couple of days, you’ll open a cupboard and find empties hidden away.

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Remorse

Finally there is remorse to deal with. The alcoholic inevitably has to sleep and will very often wake up feeling perfectly dreadful. This is aside from any physical symptoms from the alcohol abuse itself, they will often feel awful about what they have done the day before, swear to get clean, apologise profusely to those they have hurt around them, and quite possibly mean every word of it. And hope fills the house. But the booze will take hold again and before long things are back on that rollercoaster.

The Recovering Alcoholic

Living with the recovering alcoholic has its challenges too, so be aware of that. That person will never stop being an alcoholic, however long they are sober. And relapses are common. That’s not to say it’s hopeless, there are many, many alcoholics who have taken control successfully, but it’s a continual process to stay on top of the disease and any partner or family of a recovering alcoholic must also be aware of that.