I Am Living With An Alcoholic Husband

Is it a fact that you are living with an alcoholic husband? If you are reading this article, it is most likely that you can answer yes to the question or, you know someone who is.

In the beginning it is very hard to distinguish if he is becoming an alcoholic, or he simply enjoys a drink (or five) regularly. It can seem as if there is no transition between enjoying a social drink and becoming addicted to alcohol. Suddenly, it becomes apparent that his alcohol abuse addiction has already developed.

Living with an alcoholic husband becomes the difference between enjoying life and just surviving it. It is exhausting, leaving you with little energy to keep smiling and pretend that everything is fine, let alone to battle the verbal, emotional and physical abuse.

You may also be living in fear for your safety and sanity, underlined by the fear of losing everything including your home. If you have children, you are worried about the impact that living with an alcoholic parent has on them. And so you keep trying to make things work - from picking up the pieces after him to asking him to enter into rehab for alcohol abuse. He makes promises and is 'good' for a while, but then his alcohol abuse addiction calls to him and he is lost again. The cycle continues and you are left wondering what you should do. What you should'n do is just as important.

Here are 5 of the top 10 things which experts advise that you should not do because they have opposite effects to what you intend:

• Do not shield your husband from the 'consequences' of his selfish actions. Alcoholics are more than happy to let someone else take responsibilities on their behalf.

• Do not lie or make excuses to others on his behalf. Let him experience the consequences so he can become aware of the severity of his drinking.

• Do not join him for a drink. It only gives him an association that drinking is normal.

• Do not give ultimatums nor threaten him. Unless you fulfil on them your threats or ultimatums will lose power and will end up influencing the drinker.

• Do not try to have meaningful conversations about your relationship and/or his behavior when he is drunk. He will either say what he thinks you want to hear or he may get confronted and become aggressive.

As you live in the despair of feeling as though the situation is absolutely hopeless, there's still a tiny flicker of hope that things can change without your having to leave him. You hope that the alcohol abuse addiction can stop. Despite the torturous sufering of living with your alcoholic husband, you still love him and you still have hope.

It is totally possible for you to bring happiness back in your life while you are helping him to get rid of his alcoholic addiction. If you first help yourself you will then be able to help him much faster than you think.

Make your stressed-out life easier while you're living with an alcoholic. Learn more about the things you should and shouldn't do so you can be more effective in the situation. Find out what is it that has him trapped in his alcoholic addiction. Do you know the ONE CRITICAL thing an alcohol addict MUST DO in order to succeed? When you learn this one critical thing, you can begin to make real changes and stop living with an alcoholic husband without leaving him.