Alcohol abuse can cause a lot of problems. It’s just not problems with the health of the addict. The addiction can also cause several family or marital troubles. The relationships of the person with alcohol abuse can suffer because of their destructive drinking habits. Also, financial issues may arise because of the constant and heavy drinking. In this article, let’s examine the many problems that alcohol abuse can cause.
Alcohol Abuse and Family Problems
When there’s someone in the family who has a drinking problem, it can ruin the relationships within that family. The alcoholic may spend too much on alcohol that it blows the family budget. Because of this, arguments and fights can ensue.
If the individual with alcohol abuse is a parent, he or she may be too preoccupied with the bad habit that the children will be ignored and won’t be taken care of. It will greatly impair the happiness and health of their loved ones.
According to statistics, about 70% of couples who get into violent disputes abuse alcohol. Either one or both of them could have problems with their drinking habits. Sometimes, the family tries to cope with having an alcoholic by becoming codependent with them.
Codependence is when the family tries to help the alcoholic but ends up supporting the addiction instead. They don’t know that what they’re doing is harmful to the individual. For example, if the alcoholic seems miserable without the substance, the family may end up giving in because they can’t resist seeing the person in pain. It is not helpful for the alcoholic.
Related article: How to Help Your Loved One with Alcohol Addiction
How Alcohol Abuse Affects Others
Alcohol abuse can affect other people including the person’s family, friends, employers, and others who interact with the alcoholic. Here are some of the ways that alcohol abuse can affect the people surrounding the person who has a drinking problem.
- Neglecting Important Responsibilities – Alcohol is a substance that can impair your cognitive functions. It also affects your physical capabilities. Because of this, you are more likely to neglect the responsibilities that you have at home, school, or work.
- Needing Recovery Time for Hangovers – There are many short-term side effects that you will experience after consuming alcohol. Hangovers are the most common of them. While hangovers are a temporary side effect of alcohol consumption, it can disrupt your schedule significantly. When you need time to recover from it, you tend to oversleep, have a poor diet, and lack physical activities.
- Facing Legal Problems – When your drinking habits are out of control, you are more likely to encounter legal problems. You can get into fights when you’re drunk. You may also display violent behaviours in public. Driving under the influence is also something that can happen when you misjudge your capacity to do things while drunk. It can lead to accidents, injuries, and even death.
- Inability to Stop the Habit – Alcohol is addictive. After some time, you may become physically dependent on it. While you may think that you still have control over your drinking habits, you tend to end up drinking more than what you intended to. Drinking becomes the priority in your life, not your partner, children, or work.
Having some or all of these problems can disrupt the time that you ought to dedicate to your partner or family. At first, you may think that you’re drinking to deal with your stressors such as issues within the family or work. However, as you continue to drink frequently and heavily, you can develop alcohol dependence. Eventually, this will become an addiction.
When you’ve become addicted to alcohol psychologically, the habit will just consume all aspects of your life. The addiction will affect your family and friends, co-workers and employers, and others that you frequently interact with and who depend on you.
Related article: How to Talk to Your Children about Drug and Alcohol Abuse?
Alcohol Abuse Problems with Money
Drinking alcohol is an expensive habit. Even if you only set aside a particular budget for drinking, when you have alcohol abuse, you can easily ignore your financial limits and spend it on alcohol. With this kind of behaviour happening on a regular basis so you can feed your addiction, you’re surely headed to financial trouble.
It’s not only money spent on alcohol that going to cause problems. When you’ve been drinking, your inhibitions are low and your judgment is poor. Today, you can easily access stores through the internet. When you’re intoxicated, things may seem very attractive and you don’t care much about the prices. You are more likely to make unnecessary purchases when you’ve been drinking.
Your productivity at work is also going to suffer because of alcohol abuse. Not only will it affect your earnings, but your potential to earn more will also be affected. Your performance at work will be poor. You may arrive late or be absent because of your constant hangover. And even if you are at work, you still don’t have the capacity to do the best work and so you underperform. The long-term effect of alcohol abuse is that you may find yourself ending your career earlier than planned because of health problems.
Related article: Is Depression Related to Alcohol Abuse?
Final Thoughts
Alcohol abuse can cause so many problems. It includes marital conflict, domestic violence, and unplanned pregnancy. You’ll also find yourself in a very unstable state financially. While you may think that drinking can ease the stress you’re experiencing, it’s actually going to make it worse. When you’re facing all these problems, it’s going to be much more stressful. If you don’t get help, you will be trapped in a cycle of drinking to deal with problems. The problems get worse and your drinking will, too.
If you think that your drinking habits are getting out of hand, it’s time to get help. Don’t think that it’s too late and there’s no hope for you to get better. There’s always a way to start anew. It starts with recognizing that your drinking habits have become a problem.
Addiction Rehab Toronto can provide you with the care that you need to recover from alcohol abuse. Call us today. Our friendly staff can walk you through the various programs for treatment.
Related article: Best Alcohol Addiction Treatments
