If an alcoholic is defiant about getting help, what can you do about it? Alcoholics do not react very well to advice, suggestions, or threats. One would imagine that under these circumstances an alcoholic is condemned to oblivion. You must recognize that the alcoholic is desperate to get more and more alcohol, and as a result may lie, cheat and steal in order to do so.

Put simply, an alcoholic is a person whose life is controlled by alcohol and they are sick. However if the alcoholic is sick why doesn’t he or she just go to the hospital? This is because in the early stages of alcoholism, the alcoholic does not look sick or in pain, or is apparently abnormal. Alcoholics do not get the picture that they will become a very sick person, and neither do the people around them.

By the time an alcoholic is in the late stage they are often illogical, deluded, and unable to see what has happened. The alcoholic is plainly not aware of what is going on in their body and is in a constant state of denial.Being an alcoholic is not a curse. The alcoholic is a sick and should be treated as such. Alcoholics are born with a inherited, genetic sensitivity to addiction because of their brain chemistry. Alcoholics need to ingest alcohol before the addiction takes hold. Alcoholism is a growing disease, and without treatment it only gets tougher to beat.

If an alcoholic is unwilling to seek help, how can you get them to receive treatment? The court system forces alcoholics to receive treatment all the time and rehab centers are overflowing with people who don’t want to be there. The real question is, will forcing an alcoholic into treatment assure recovery? The answer is no, because the alcoholic can only quit when they are ready to and when they realizethat they have a problem. No alcoholic is hopeless. If you are attempting to get an alcoholic to quit, you have to accept the fact that they are sick, controlled by an illness they cannot control, and neither can you. The alcoholic is addicted and an addict cannot easily stop on their own.

The first step in treating the alcoholic is the detoxification stage and the alcoholic must truly want to stop drinking or detoxification will not lead to continued abstinence. The biggest hurdle to overcome is for an alcoholic to accept that they have a drinking problem.

An alcoholic can only be helped (and is worth helping) only if they decide not to drink. Once an alcoholic is in treatment, it is likely that they will be asked to join Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meetings, usually daily. This however is no guarantee for continued abstinence as many people try and fail with AA. The right alcohol recovery program depends upon the severity of the condition and the nature of the alcoholic and most importantly how committed and motivated they are. A big component of getting the alcoholic into treatment, is defeating the hurdle they face of actually accepting treatment. Many of the hurdles are delusional, but to the alcoholic they are impassible. The hurdles are manufactured from fear, dishonor, embarrassment, and denial. The uncertainty of a future without alcohol is enough to trigger too much stress and they will refuse treatment. We may never understand what causes alcoholism, and (AA) is only one of many recognized methods for treating alcoholism.

More than 700,000 Americans receive alcoholism treatment of one kind or another on any given day. Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is the best known treatment option for a recovering alcoholic, but it is not the best. Another program which should be given some attention is Rational Recovery. Rational recovery is a far more effective method of addressing addictions and I personally believe that if the alcoholic really wants to quit drinking then Rational Recovery is the program they should be looking at

Overcoming denial and enabling is often the first step to successful recovery for the alcoholic. Treatment only works if the alcoholic is ready and forcing a treatment program on an alcoholic will be doomed to failure. If an alcoholic is going to get anything positive out of an alcohol treatment program, they must be willing and receptive

At the end of the day It’s up to the alcoholic to take action and to do something about their problem. Doing so will empower them and make them stronger individuals. If someone you love has is an alcoholic do what you can to make them aware of their problem by talking about it, but don’t lecture them or they will switch off. Try making them aware of the bad things that their alcoholism brings about, try to encourage them to think about better ways of finding enjoyment.