Abusive and Careless Drinking, an Enabling Wife, and Encouragement for Constructive Change and Successful Alcohol Rehabilitation

It took many years but Emily finally made up her mind that she had enough with her husband’s careless and excessive drinking. She was drained from seeing Barry come home after midnight from drinking rather than spending time with her and the children. She was also exhausted from the third DUI Barry recently received. Furthermore she was fed up from manufacturing explanations for Barry when he couldn’t make it to the office due to his problems with drinking. In a similar manner she was apprehensive about the fact that their relationship was going downhill due to Barry’s unhealthy drinking. And lastly she was fed up from the perilous financial mess into which he had placed his family due to his hazardous and careless drinking behavior.

When Careless and Excessive Drinking Motivates a Person to do Something Beneficial About a Person’s Drinking Problem

One Tuesday evening when Emily was reflecting on what she could do about her husband’s abusive and hazardous drinking, she got to the point that she honestly had to do something to cut into the harmful cycle of Barry’s excessive and hazardous drinking behavior.

So she looked in the local yellow pages under “alcohol rehabilitation” and discovered a number of treatment clinics that were all located less than 30 miles away from where she and her husband resided.

Since she didn’t know anything about these rehabilitation centers, she finally determined that she needed to call some of them and ask some important questions. When she called each rehabilitation facility she introduced herself and articulated that her spouse was engaging in unhealthy drinking behavior. She also mentioned that her husband had a comprehensive health insurance program at his place of employment and that residential or outpatient alcohol rehabilitation would be covered if a health care practitioner in the company health program prescribed the treatment.

At one rehab center, Emily was amazed that she was able to converse directly with a psychologist who suggested that she come to the treatment facility to go over her husband’s hazardous and careless drinking behavior in much more detail.

Emily Talks to a Healthcare Practitioner About Her Husband’s Harmful Drinking

When Emily arrived at the treatment facility, she filled out some required forms and then almost immediately got to see a healthcare professional.

After listening to Emily go over her husband’s abusive and hazardous drinking, the therapist in an encouraging but resolute way explained to Emily how she may have played a part in her spouse’s negative drinking through the years by making excuses for him instead of allowing him to experience the consequences of his abusive and careless drinking behavior.

Emily Discovers She Has Been Enabling Her Husband’s Irresponsible and Excessive Drinking

Stated somewhat more forcefully, the counselor told Emily that she may have been unintentionally enabling Barry’s hazardous and careless drinking behavior. The healthcare practitioner also highlighted the fact that while Emily would not be able to control her husband’s actions, with the encouragement and support of the rehabilitation team at the healthcare clinic she would not only be able to learn how to refrain from contributing to Barry’s abusive and excessive drinking but she could also learn how to motivate him to schedule an appointment at the treatment clinic so that he could discuss his unhealthy and abusive drinking behavior with a healthcare practitioner.

The good news was that after Emily mentioned this to her husband, and he saw that she meant business, Barry told her that he had been quite troubled by his abusive and careless drinking behavior and that he was quite pleased to hear that Emily wanted to do something helpful about his unhealthy drinking behavior. As a consequence, he made an appointment to see a healthcare professional at the local alcohol treatment clinic.

Barry Agrees to See a Healthcare Practitioner About His Excessive and Irresponsible Drinking

While simply calling a rehabilitation center does not mean that a person’s careless and abusive drinking behavior will become less problematic or that one’s warning signs of alcoholism or the alcohol abuse signs one exhibits will simply vanish, scheduling an appointment is obviously an essential step in the rehabilitation process. And because Barry was serious about getting treatment for his negative drinking, the probability for a successful recovery was greatly augmented.