What now?
I have been dating a guy for about 4 months now who has, in my opinion, a very severe alcohol addiction. It is affecting his personal life, work life and our relationship.
I realised the issue after about 1 month of knowing him although I downplayed it not realising the severity. Over time, I found out from his friends that he is a "medically diagnosed alcoholic" (no idea if this is the correct term) and that just before I met him he tried to sober up by visiting a councillor daily and taking prescribed valium. This lasted a week.
Now, we have just moved in together in the hope that I could control him more and not give him the option to run down the street to by alcohol. Unfortunately, this seems to have backfired. He now drinks daily at work in the bathrooms. I know he has drank at work before, but now I am guessing he does this daily as the ease of having an after-work drink has been taken away.
I completely understand that for him to become sober that it needs to be his choice. This is my dilemma. I know he has once before attempted to help himself by seeing a councillor. Last week, for the first time, he text me when he was at work being honest, asking for my support and he admitted he wants help. I said i will be here for him but this needs to be his choice and his reply to me was "you have no idea how much i want to change." I have never felt so relieved as this was a step forward. Unfortunately he then told me he was drunk at work and didn't want to come home as he was embarrassed. He said he spoke to his boss (whilst drunk) and his boss would go to AA with him. He came home in a state where I had to carry him thru the house.
The following morning, he didn't want to talk about it. I have tried everything. Being emotional, supportive, threatening, making a joke about it etc.
I know I can't make him want to change but he has admitted he wants help. Yes, he was drunk when he said it so it probably wasn't as serious as I had hoped. But now he knows I know about the issue and will help.
Is there any hope he will want help on his own accord or anything else I can say or do?