what kind of treatment worked for you??
 

My husband has been drinking for 27-28 years. Has been arrested 4 times, wrecked a few cars, lost jobs, broken a bone and has taken off many times on us for drinking binges all due to his drinking problem. He has been through the AA treatment 2 times (court ordered) and spent 24 hours in detox at a hospital. He is now ready for treatment. If he is not able to do it this time we are both sure that in a year he will be dead or in prison. He is the most wonderful person in the world, best husband and dad..
Here is the question: Treatment is so important what is the best hope for him? Is an out patient treatment or in patient treatment better?? We went to the VA hospital here and told them how bad the problem is and that we need help. After listening to us they said for him to come back once a week for 1 hour sections for 6 weeks. We are afraid that its not enough. Any advise?? We are both scared. Its so hard to know what to do.. HELP Mary

Welcome to SR, Mary.

I can't answer your question about the best treatment, although I know a lot of people find tremendous support through AA.

There is support for you too in Al-anon and on our Friends and Family board here at SR. Why not pop down and join us?

If this part is true, it really doesn't matter what method he chooses. For some people AA is a good fit, it offers a lot of support from other alcoholics. Other's perfer more "scientific" based methods like SMART smartrecovery.org which uses a lot of CBT (cognative behavioral theapy) methods. Some just finally get sick of the madness and just quit on their own. The bottom line is he is the one who has to do the work, other's can only show him the way. He is the person who puts the bottle up to his mouth and he is the only one who can stop doing that. Nobody puts a gun to his head and makes him drink. He may also want to consider individual counciling with a psychologist or councilor who specializes in substance abuse. The bottom line though is HE HAS TO DO IT. You can be supportive, others can try to help, but he is the only one who can MAKE THE CHOICE not to drink, and it is a choice. Best to you, take care.

If he is as ready as you describe, I agree with Tyler, anything is going to work...willingness is the key ingredient. If you have access to full time rehab, that's always a wonderful option, as is 90 meetings in 90 days in AA...now that he 's doing it for himself not court appointed, it will probably really click with him.

Why don't you make a deal...he goes' to 90 aa meetings in 90 days and you go to 90 al-anon meetings?? That's a space where you can also heal too.

Good luck!!!
Cathy31
x

Listen, no one can actually tell you what is the best treatment for you. What they can do is assess your situation by your self-report and make a suggestion as according to the seriousness of the report. A generic plan by what you have described would be; Start with a 3-5 day medically monitored detox, after the detox, go to a 28 day, three month or nine month in-patient rehabilitation center, upon completion begin to go to Alcoholic Anonymous for support and continuing care. Willingness will play a large part in the success of the treatment that you choose to participate in. I hope I have been helpful