How can I treat a patient addicted to alcohol?

Question

Hi doctor,

My question is regarding my friend. She is an alcoholic. She drinks every single day and mostly when she is alone. She is drunk most of the time, in office, at home. She started drinking approximately two years back. She loves a guy from a different religion and is not allowed to marry him. The guy has stated the same problem regarding marriage. She blames God for this and considers it her destiny to drink and lose contact with her senses and outer world. She thinks she is the worst person is the world. She never wears any makeup, chews her nails, in short, she does not want to look good for anyone. I am the only person who knows about it and I begged her to see a psychiatrist but she is not agreeing. How do I help her? What can be done to make her feel good about herself?

Answer 1

Hello,

Welcome to icliniq.com.

First, you need to listen to your friend, her pain, her feelings. Most of the people just want someone to listen. They do not do it to know the solution of the problem but just to pour out the stress and internal conflict from their mind. After two to three sessions of listening you can slowly start making her understand when her mind is light after ventilating things and is more receptive. You need to tell her that alcohol is not the solution of her problems. Alcohol would lead to addiction disorder and it would be harmful to her physical and mental health both. Running away from any problem does not solve it. You can then convince her to get psychatric consultation, if she finds it hard to go to some one and facing them, online chat consultation is the solution. If she needs my help, I would be happy to help her.