Excessive and Abusive Drinking, an Enabling Wife, and Inspiration for Productive Change, Successful Alcoholism Counseling, and an Augmented Self Image and Happiness

It took more than a few years but Emily finally made up her mind that she had enough with her husband’s negative drinking. She was exhausted from seeing Barry come home after 1:00 AM from drinking rather than spending time with her and their three daughters. She was also weary from the DUI Barry recently received. Additionally she was fed up from generating excuses for her spouse when he couldn’t make it to the office due to his problems with drinking. Not only this but she was worried and depressed about the fact that their relationship was getting worse due to Barry’s abusive and excessive drinking. And finally she was sick and tired of the insecure financial situation into which he had put his family due to his careless drinking behavior. In short, Emily felt that her mental health was worsening due to Barry’s drinking problems.

When Hazardous and Excessive Drinking Motivates a Person to do Something Constructive About an Individual’s Problem Drinking

One Friday afternoon when Emily was reflecting on what she could do about her husband’s excessive and unhealthy drinking, she got to the point that she honestly had to do something helpful to cut into the negative cycle of Barry’s abusive and careless drinking behavior.

So she looked on the Internet under “alcohol rehab” and located scores of rehab clinics that were all located less than fifty miles away from where Barry and she lived. Due to the fact that she didn’t know too much about these rehab facilities, she at long last made up her mind to call some of them and ask some pertinent questions. When she called each rehab facility she introduced herself and stated that Barry, her spouse, was involved in hazardous and careless drinking behavior. She also articulated that her spouse had a fine health insurance program at his place of employment and that outpatient or inpatient alcoholism treatment would be covered if a health care practitioner in the company health network initiated the rehab.

At one treatment facility, Emily was surprised that she was able to communicate directly with a doctor who asked her to come to the rehab center to talk about her husband’s unhealthy drinking behavior in more detail.

Emily Talks to a Therapist About Her Husband’s Abusive and Excessive Drinking

When Emily arrived at the treatment facility, she filled out some required paperwork and then after just a few minutes got to see a healthcare professional. After listening to Emily describe her husband’s excessive and hazardous drinking, the doctor in a supportive but firm way explained to Emily how she may have adding to her husband’s hazardous and careless drinking through the months and the years by rationalizing his drinking rather than allowing him to experience the consequences of his careless drinking behavior.

Emily Discovers She Has Been Enabling Her Husband’s Irresponsible and Excessive Drinking

Stated somewhat more forcefully, the counselor told Emily that she may have been inadvertently enabling Barry’s hazardous and abusive drinking behavior. The doctor also underlined the fact that although Emily would not be able to control Barry’s behavior, with the support and encouragement of the treatment team at the rehabilitation clinic she would not only be able to learn how to abstain from contributing to Barry’s hazardous and abusive drinking but she would also be able to learn how to encourage him to make an appointment at the treatment center so that he could talk about his hazardous and abusive drinking behavior with a physician.

The good news was that after Emily discussed this with Barry, and he saw that she meant business, Barry told her that he had been quite disturbed by his unhealthy and excessive drinking behavior and that he was quite thankful to know that Emily wanted to do something productive about his abusive and hazardous drinking behavior. As a consequence, he made an appointment to see a psychologist at the local alcohol rehabilitation facility. Needless to say this boosted Emily’s self esteem.

Barry Agrees to See a Healthcare Practitioner About His Hazardous and Careless Drinking

While simply calling a treatment program does not guarantee that an individual’s abusive and careless drinking behavior will become a non-issue or that one’s warning signs of alcoholism or the alcohol abuse signs one manifests will simply disappear, making an appointment is obviously an essential step in the treatment process. And because Barry was serious about getting treatment for his excessive and careless drinking, the probability for a successful recovery was significantly increased.