For every alcoholic whose life is being seriously affected by alcohol, it is estimated that there are at least four others, usually family members, who are being damaged as the illness gets worse. Husbands of alcoholic women find the situation so intolerable and so intractable that they usually opt for separation or divorce as a method of coping with behaviour with which their best efforts have failed.

The wives of alcoholic men, on the other hand, tend to hang on and by complex mental processes manage to deny their partners’ illness. This results in a tragic situation where the partner actually enters an unwritten, unspoken conspiracy with the alcoholic, who is also full of denial, to allow the illness to continue to progress to later and more damaging stages.

Let us look at some of the behaviour of alcoholics by the time they are in the middle stage of alcoholism where outsiders can clearly see that there is a problem in the family and their behaviour is obviously harmful in some way to the children, either physical,  mental or emotional.

  1. Arguments and fights between the father, mother and children become more frequent.
  2. The alcoholic often breaks promises.
  3. The alcoholic has begun to tell lies to cover up the increased drinking.
  4. As a direct consequence of the increased drinking, more money is being diverted to alcohol, leaving less for other family needs.
  5. The alcoholic often embarrasses the spouse or the children by drunken behaviour.
  6. Legal problems may have arisen, especially from driving under the influence.
  7. Increase drinking and loss of control take over.
  8. Drinking earlier in the day and hiding supplies become common.
  9. Frequent mood swings occur, ranging from depression to elation.
  10. The alcoholic comes to hate himself/herself and be full of self-pity, guilt and remorse.

At this point defence mechanisms come into play to protect the alcoholic from the knowledge of his or her illness and from these unbearable feelings of self-loathing and guilt.

The one and only thing that can be trusted at this stage is alcohol.

No matter how bad things get, they can be obliterated from consciousness by alcohol and by drinking for oblivion. To protect the drinking, the alcoholic begins increasingly to use the defences of rationalisation, projection and repression.
Rationalisation occurs when the alcoholic begins to find excuses to justify continued drinking. These mental gymnastics result in blaming other people and situations for the drinking. “If only you’d get off my back, I wouldn’t need to drink.”   “I need a drink to relax.”  “If you had my life, you’d also need to drink to cope.”

Does this sound familiar?   If so, you need to get help for yourself and your partner. Alcoholism is a family disease and affects each and every member of the family.

We recommend the family of the alcoholic make contact with Alanon, and if they are ready the alcoholic member of the family can make contact with their most convenient AA group.

You might like to help your liver with the following suggested products.

LivaTone Plus is a more powerful formula that can support liver function when there are more chronic liver problems. LivaTone Plus combines the proven doses of St Mary’s Thistle with the benefits of Turmeric and Selenium. It also contains all the B vitamins and the amino acid Taurine as well as the antioxidant vitamins C and E. LivaTone Plus is designed to support the step one and two detoxification pathways in the liver.

L-Glutamine, which can be found in our Ultimate Gut Health Powder, can help support efficient brain function along with Tyrosine Mood Food as Tyrosine is necessary for the manufacture of dopamine and noradrenaline, which are required for concentration, alertness, memory and a happy stable mood.

Magnesium is known as The Great Relaxer and may assist in the reduction of stress, nervous tension, anxiety and sleeplessness.

Glicemic Balance Capsules aid in the metabolism of carbohydrates and supports insulin function and is helpful in curbing sugar and carbohydrate cravings when you are detoxing from alcohol.

The above statements have not been evaluated by the FDA and are not intended to diagnose, treat or cure any disease.