Content
Functional alcoholics are often intelligent, hardworking and well-educated. Their professional status or personal success can make it hard to approach them about having a “problem” with alcohol. Nearly 20% of alcoholics are highly functional and well-educated with good incomes.
Witnessing a loved one’s drinking and the ramifications of their alcohol abuse can feel overwhelming and commingle with feelings of shame, fear, anger, or self-blame. Although an intervention can take many forms, many of these meetings open with each participant stating how the alcoholic’s behavior functional alcoholic husband has harmed or disappointed them. The alcoholic is then presented with a plan of care, including a proposal of consequences if they decide to refuse. For instance, the alcoholic may be denied visitation rights or may be faced with a marital separation if he decides not to seek help.
Getting Help For My Alcoholic Spouse
A spouse of an addict can choose to do nothing; it’s a common option but often a bad idea. For any of these conditions, it is important to talk to a counselor, interventionist, or therapist about your worries and to practice consistently healthy habits when you can create a baseline for your health. Families may have a more difficult time setting boundaries and holding them accountable too. Families are frequently more fearful of confrontation because of guilt, shame, and past experiences.
An alcoholic is unlikely to admit they have a dependency or issues resulting from it. They may go far out of their way to hide behaviors or avoid conversations. Over time this can teach those connected to the alcohol user not to ask as they will get no answer. Admitting a problem is the first step to changing it, and positive recognition from a functional alcoholic when they do is a huge first step. If your husband does make the decision to pursue treatment for high-functioning alcoholism, it is an important step, but there is still hard work ahead for both of you.
Living With an Alcoholic Spouse? You’ve Got 4 Options.
It can lead to liver disease, pancreatitis, some forms of cancer, brain damage, serious memory loss, and high blood pressure. It also makes someone more likely to die in a car wreck or from murder or suicide. And any alcohol abuse raises the odds of domestic violence, child abuse and neglect, and fetal alcohol syndrome.
Spouses may catch alcoholics drinking in secret or see the emotional side effects of alcoholism. Alcoholic husbands and wives may be emotionally distant or abusive. Emotional abuse includes threats, insults and controlling behavior, according to the Office on Women’s Health website. A high-functioning alcoholic often does such a good job of hiding their issues that other people don’t know the issues exist. Functional alcoholics may not even realize they’re actively concealing symptoms of their disorder. It is realistic, however, to realize you may reach a breaking point in your marriage to a high-functioning alcoholic.
Living with a Functioning Alcoholic Husband – What Are My Options?
Drinking doesn’t just affect the individual; it affects the entire family unit. While a person who is high-functioning alcohol can still fulfill their obligations in many areas of life, that does not mean that their drinking does not take a toll on their health, relationships, career, and well-being. Daily drinking can have serious consequences for a person’s health, both in the short- and long-term. Many of the effects of drinking every day can be reversed through early intervention. The intervention typically occurs after significant planning has taken place.
The most important thing to understand when a spouse has a drinking problem is that it is absolutely not your fault. Alcoholism is a disease that can be treated with appropriate professional help from an addiction treatment program. The partner of an alcoholic husband tends to grow ashamed and embarrassed by the state of their life and relationship, leading to them avoiding family and friends, as well as social situations. Alcoholism is a disease that slowly develops over time, not all at once. While everyone may experience this progression differently, there are four common stages people go through when becoming a functional alcoholic. There are many support groups for people who are married to functioning alcoholics.
What is the DSM 5 criteria for Alcohol Use Disorder?
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration notes that families that are affected by alcohol problems have high levels of confusion and stress. This can make children who grow up in such environments more susceptible to substance use and other mental health problems. Sometimes the best thing you can do for yourself and your spouse is to take a step back and allow them to experience the consequences of their actions. It could be the wake-up call they need to realize the destruction that alcohol is causing in their life.
- To learn more about how to get help for your loved one, contact us today to discuss our treatment programs.
- As a comprehensive behavioral health facility, Casa Palmera understands that drug and alcohol addiction and trauma are not only physically exhausting, but also cause a breakdown in mental and spiritual sense.
- You just want someone to truly understand why you stay, despite everyone and everything telling you that you shouldn’t, that you’re a fool.
- However, they will not exhibit outward symptoms of intoxication.
- These groups give people affected by someone else’s alcoholism a safe environment to talk about the impact that the person has on their life.
It also might mean admitting that they don’t have it all together, and their exterior (and interior) world is crumbling. “For starters, the media, our workplaces, and many social circles normalize drinking to excess,” says Ruby Mehta, a clinical social worker and director of clinical operations at Tempest. What might look like denial may actually be a lot more complicated and multilayered for people with high-functioning AUD.