Alcohol family problems are not uncommon when someone in the family is an alcoholic and is out of control.  The problem gets worse when others try to cover for them or, even worse, enable them to allow them to drink further.  If you or someone you love has a problem with addiction or alcohol in their family, then here are some things that you should do.

1) Get help for yourself - if you want to do something about the family problem then the best thing you can do is to help yourself by going to Al-Anon or Ala-teen.  These organizations can help you in several ways, and if you don’t have anywhere else to turn or you don’t know what to do about your problem, then I would strongly urge you to get to one of these meetings.  They can be found pretty much everywhere but you might have to make some calls in order to find them.  Once you get to one they can direct you to other meetings.  One way to find them is to contact local AA meetings and ask them.  They usually have meeting lists for everyone or can direct you to one.

You may be thinking that you do not want help for yourself, what you really need is for the alcoholic in the family to go get some help.  Yes that is almost always the case, but you will learn that there is no way to force that to happen.  However, you can learn a great deal in Al-anon about how to behave the correct way around the alcoholic so that you push them closer and closer to change.  It will not happen overnight but if everyone in the family can learn about how to stop enabling the alcoholic, then progress can be made.  Do what you can and take action yourself and go get some support at Al-anon.

2) Organize a formal intervention - this is not always a good idea and it could backfire and create resentment, so you should discuss the idea with many people before you try and put something together.  If you do go through with it, have a clear goal and outcome that you want to see happen.  It has to be very specific, and the best idea is to get a spot reserved at a local treatment center if the person agrees to get help.  Then the intervention can be boiled down to “We want you to get help, there is a spot available for you at this rehab center, will you go?”  This is much more effective than just a general pleading with them to change their ways.