Wife Relapsed
My wife came out of six months alcohol rehab 1 week ago and started drinking again yesterday. She has a court appearance on Monday and I'm worried that if they see she's relapsed she could go to jail instead of receive the 6 months rehab as her sentense as was the original plan. My wife has an extreme reaction to alcohol and goes into a deep depression when she drinks. She also suffers from Bulimia which makes the problem worse as she drinks to help forget the throwing up but then gets into a complication and confused cycle.
I also have to say that she has received zero post-rehab treatment. She was simply discharged from the rehab centre one weeks ago with no follow up appointments, not even with her gp. The only appointment she got was her court hearing.
She is very anxious, depressed, confused, ashamed and angry. I am worried that if she misses her court hearing on Monday she will get sent to jail. Her mental and physical state is very weak and I'm extremely concerned about the jail possibility. Even if she is discharged from court I am worried that she will continue drinking and get worse. The social services in this country (UK) seem to be very disorganised and ineffective with terrible communication between the various services. As her husband I just watch as she's pushed around by incompetent staff who don't seem to genuinely care.
My wife is at a critical point I think. She was very afraid of relapsing before her discharge from the rehab centre and now, while I'm at work, she is again throwing up and drinking. So by the evening she is a crying, confused wreck.
Even if she's freed from court, then what? No service seems able to help her. It's unlikely she'll get the funding for further treatment. It's a terrible situation. Forums like this are very helpful I think, it's good to be able to express what's on my mind. I used to try and do this with staff and counsellers but those people seem to operate in a very fake, controlling, patronising style, I'm always spoken down to.
I am a recovering alcoholic myself, I haven't drunk for ten years now, I gave up on outside help along time ago. I never liked strangers pretending to know what's best for me. I think alcoholism can only, truly, be defeated by the alcoholic's willpower and intention to stop drinking by themselves. I hope my wife can do this by herself, she's smart and beautiful, but she's slowly destroying herself. It's a terrible situation.