YOU ARE NOT ALONE - A companion online community discussion board for The Mental Illness Happy Hour podcast with Paul Gilmartin

My wife's brother is an alcoholic whose bridges have all been burned. He's lost jobs, money, homes, and child custody over his drinking problem. I've written him off, but my wife cares for him very much and wants to help him. HOW can you get somebody like him to wake up and do something about their life? What can you tell somebody who is resistant to treatment? I realize that people like this sometimes have a life changing moment, or near miss, or "rock bottom" that changes everything, but that's only when they actually LIVE through those moments to realize it. I really don't want my wife to get that phone call that her only remaining family member has just died due to some alcohol-related incident. What can she do to wake him up and get his shit together? He's running out of time.

Your wife would benefit from Al-Anon http://www.al-anon.org/. Trying to help an alcoholic can feel like "pushing on a rope" - so her first duty is to herself. There is a weird but wonderful synchronicity where the family members of alcoholics taking care of themselves actually prompts the alcoholic to take care of himself.

Good luck to you, Chort, and your wife, all the best, we here are all cheering for you both, and for your greatest today and tomorrow!

Thank you. Yes, pushing on a rope.

Hi Chort, any update from your wife's brother? Quitting from alcohol took me a lot of determination. My family became my inspiration. A friend helped me hit realization when they did an intervention which you can find on alcohol rehab facilities and programs. I was in Indiana during those time and I my family is away from me. I feel so hopeless, my family is angry at me. My friend gave me a chance to rebuild my life, I'm very lucky to have him. Same goes to your wife's brother.. you can be his savior.