Drinking Problem

[AssaultRifle]

No, not me :)

A friend of mine has a serious drinking problem. Now, I know that I drink... but I don't wake up at 7 AM just to have a few shots of whiskey, which he does. It is starting to affect his relationship with his friends and his girlfriend (although they were doomed from the start), and also his relationship with his older sister. I don't want to get cheesey with him about it, and I don't want to piss him off by calling him an alcoholic. What is a good way to approach this situation?

Thanks in advance.

[Matt]

I duno. Try and make the conversation light and happy. Make a joke about it at first so he's more up to listening then get serious and tell he HAS to cut back or this this and this well happen.

[Screech]

Alcoholism is not going to go away- but talking to him about it might make him become defensive and angry. I have a similar problem with someone close to me, and I don't talk to them about it. I just don't talk to her about anything serious if I suspect she has been drinking.

My advice is to invite him to hang out with you sober for a while, and see if he can easily manage it. If he cannot, maybe an intervention is in order. But you can't make him change unless he is willing to come to terms with his problem.

[Blaze Zero-Three]

Your friend is going to need some help from someone.

If you decide to speak to your friend, here are some guidelines that you and your advisor should consider in planning how and what you could do to help:

Make sure the timing is right. Talk to your friend when he or she is sober of straight -- before school is a good time.

Never accuse your friend of being an alcoholic, but do express your concern. Try not to blame your friend for the problem; if you do, he or she might be turned off right away.

Talk about your feelings. Tell your friend you're worried, and how it feels for you to see him or her drunk.

Tell your friend what you've seen him or her do when drinking. Give specific examples. Tell your friend you want to help.

Speak in a caring and understanding tone of voice, not with pity but with friendship.

Be prepared for denial and anger. Your friend may say there is nothing wrong and may get mad at you. Many people with alcohol problems react this way. When confronted, many users will defend their use, blame others for the problem, or give excuses for why they drink.

Find out where help is available. You could offer to go with your friend to get help, but be prepared to follow through.

You need to tell your friend that you are worried about him or her, and that someone who can help needs to be told. Your friend might get really mad at you, but if you say nothing, things may get worse and your friend may be in more danger.

Your friend's problem is probably hard on you, too. The situation may have left you feeling lonely and afraid. Maybe you've thought, "What if I get my friend in trouble? What if I lose my friend over this? What if I don't do anything and something awful happens?" It's hard to keep all of these questions and feelings to yourself. It's important that you talk about them. You can share these feelings with the person that you go to for help about your friend's problem. There are also support groups for people like you who are trying to help a friend, such as AL-Anon or Alateen, where you can learn more about people's alcohol and other drug use problems. Your school may have a substance abuse prevention counselor as well.

Assuming you live in New York, 800-252-2557 (NY only) is a toll-free line to call for help.

[Vagrant]

The only way to really help is an intervention. But before you make an intervention, you need to make sure he truly is an alcoholic.

Doing it by yourself will only make him defensive and mad at you.

[the Gooch]

i know what to do here my uncle used to be an alchoholic,

For one you have to stay close to him for sometime, give him daily calls and see what he is doing. You need to tell him that he has a problem(nicely). Encourage him to try AA and try to get him help, do not force him. You can only do so much, don't get involved too much, to get out of alchoholism THAT person needs to do the work not YOU. So just let him know that your there for him, but HE needs to admit he has a problem FIRST. this works, my uncle has been sober for five years.

[Espo Mk. II]

tell him about all the things drinking does to you, kills brain cells, breaks up relationships, costs a lot of money, there is going to be a need and after a while, there will be no turning back. oh and excessive alcohol consumption will lead to cancer of the rectum.

[Tanktunker]

Put rat poison in his whiskey.
<.<
>.>
Oh you DON'T want to kill him, well don't even talk to him about it, just try to divert him from alchohol, like, if he wants to go to a bar, offer to do something else, try to get his other friends to do that too, that way it's not an intervention he can resist.
If after a month or 2 he still drinks too much, refer to my original tip, or replace all the liquor in his house with soapy water.

[the Gooch]

Put rat poison in his whiskey.
<.<
>.>
Oh you DON'T want to kill him, well don't even talk to him about it, just try to divert him from alchohol, like, if he wants to go to a bar, offer to do something else, try to get his other friends to do that too, that way it's not an intervention he can resist.
If after a month or 2 he still drinks too much, refer to my original tip, or replace all the liquor in his house with soapy water.

not a funny joke, don't do that

[Tanktunker]

The rat poison thing?
Obviously you have to put that in his drinks, so that he may ingest lethal poison on a daily basis and in large quantites.

[redwater40]

The rat poison thing?
Obviously you have to put that in his drinks, so that he may ingest lethal poison on a daily basis and in large quantites.definetly. alcoholism is a serious
condition that requires drinking rat poison mixed with alcohol to get rid of the problem. you can also get him to go to an AA meeting, dont watch the south park episode of when randy marsh is an alcoholic. whats the officer problem?