Things You Should Never Say To Someone Recovering From Alcoholism
Being addicted to alcohol is a serious disease that can take years to overcome for some people. While alcohol treatment programs are an effective way to overcome the battle with addiction, staying sober can be a lifelong battle for some. If you know someone who is an alcoholic and has recently come out of recovery, from a center like Arizona Consulting And Counseling Services, it is important that you remember that this is not something that will be completely better for some time. You do have to be careful what you say to a recovering alcoholic as there are questions and statements that could be endangering to their recovery process. Here are a few things you should never say to a person recovering from alcohol addiction.
You Must Feel So Bad About All of This
Even though delivered with the best of intentions, this is not something you should ever say to a person in recovery from any addiction. Statements like this encourage self-pity, and self-pity can draw a person back to their drug or drink of choice. A recovering alcoholic will need words of empowerment from the people whom they care about. Years of bad choices and self-loathing will make it easy for them to start feeling sorry for all they have done because of the addiction. Part of recovery is learning to get beyond shameful pity.
You Were More Fun When You Were Drinking
No matter how much you feel this to be true, this is a statement that you should never share with a recovering alcoholic. They have worked hard in alcohol treatment to become a better person. Telling them that you liked them better when they were drinking is almost like saying they are no good without alcohol in their life.
You Can Beat This with Willpower
Addiction recovery is about so much more than just willing oneself to get beyond the problem. If it were always that simple, your loved one would most likely be better already. If an alcoholic is constantly reminded that they have to have willpower, which has been planted in their mind as a problem for years, it can trigger doubt in their train of thought. Focus more on talking about conscious efforts they are taking to not drink.
One of the problems with the mindset of the loved ones of a person who is suffering with alcoholism is that they have a hard time seeing alcoholism as the disease that it actually is. When you think about how you would talk to someone suffering with a debilitating disease, such as cancer, it is easy to see what you should and should not say. It is a good idea to be a part of your loved one's alcohol treatment program in order to gain a better understanding of the recovery process.
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