If you or someone you love has an alcohol problem, this is the first step in recovery.

How do you know you have an alcohol problem?

1. Have you ever tried to cut down on your drinking?

2. Have you ever felt annoyed when someone talked to you about your drinking?

3. Have you ever felt bad or guilty about your drinking?

4.Have you ever used alcohol in the morning to settle yourself down?

Two or more affirmative answers indicate probable alcoholism.

Alcoholism is a chronic, progressive, relapsing brain disease. Five percent of Americans die of alcoholism.

Alcoholism is nothing to be shamed of because it is genetic. Forty percent of alcoholism is caused by genetic factors and sixty percent by factors we don't understand. If we take identical twins and split them at birth and raise one in Wyoming and one in Ethiopia, if one twin becomes an alcoholic, there is a 40% chance that the other twin will become an alcoholic. Alcoholism runs in families. If you have an alcohol problem it is very likely that other members of your family are addicted.

Alcoholism is lethal: Ninety five percent of untreated alcoholics die of alcoholism.

Can I quit drinking on my own?

Four percent of alcoholics stay sober for the next year if they try to quit on their own.

Fifty percent of alcoholics stay sober for the next year of if they go through treatment.

Seventy percent of alcoholics stay sober for the next year if they go through treatment and regularly attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings.

Ninety percent of alcoholics stay sober for the next year if they go through treatment, regularly attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, and go to aftercare once a week.

What kind of treatment do I need?

There seems to be no difference in outpatient and inpatient treatment in regard to patient outcome, but there is a thirty percent dropout rate in outpatient treatment compared to a ten percent dropout rate in inpatient treatment. Don't short change yourself. Get the treatment you need to stay clean and sober.

How do I get my loved one into treatment if they don't believe they have a problem?

This is very common because the alcoholic uses defense mechanisms to protect him or herself from the painful truth. No one likes to think they are sick and so they minimize, rationalize and deny the problem. This not only happens in the alcoholic but in everyone intimately involved with the alcoholic. That is why this is a family disease.

These are the steps you need to take to help someone you love:

1. You need to treat yourself first. Go to Al-anon and to an addictions counselor and get support. Alcoholism is an illness that you can't conquer on your own. You need help. You have probably been helping the alcoholic or addict drink or use drugs by covering up for them--this has got to stop. Once you get support, then you can act.

2. Hire an addictions professional to help you carry out an intervention. Don't try and do this yourself, it's too complicated and risky.

3. With the counselor's help, gather together an intervention team. This is a group of people who have been adversely affected by the person's drinking or drug use (family, friends, employer, coworkers, clergy, doctor, etc.) Talk about the problem and how it has adversely affected you. Agree that the drinking is a serious problem and treatment is necessary. Gather people who are willing and able to intervene. Remember, this will save the alcoholic's life. Don't choose people who are weak or who have an alcohol problem. Chose people who are strong enough to tell the alcoholic the truth.

4. Have each person write the alcoholic a letter detailing exact situations where the alcoholic's drinking hurt them. Then state that they want the alcoholic to go to treatment and then list what they are going to do if the alcoholic refuses. They could say they are not going to protect the alcoholic from the consequences of their drinking anymore. The employer may discharge the alcoholic, the spouse may move out, the children may not let the alcoholic be alone with the grandchildren, etc. These consequences need to be specific and the person willing to carry though.

5. Choose a good treatment center and make sure they have a bed open.

6. Practice the intervention with one of the members of the intervention team playing the patient. Make sure that the professional runs the meeting and everyone tries to be gentle and loving. Expect the alcoholic to be defensive, that's how the illness works. Everyone tells the alcoholic how much they care and why they want him or her to go to treatment.

7. Pack the patients bag and have transportation to the treatment center ready.

8. Pick a time when the alcoholic will be sober, usually in the morning, and take them to a neutral facility so you can meet privately. Don't use the alcoholic's home.

9. Carry out the intervention being honest and loving.

10. The intervention is over when the person agrees to go to treatment or the professional believes that the meeting has served its purpose. Most interventions take about an hour and ends in the person going to treatment, but sometimes the best you can do is plant the seeds of the truth that hopefully will grow later. No intervention is wasted if the truth comes out.

Treatment Resources:

Chemical Dependency Counseling: A Practical Guide: Third Edition is everything you need to know about alcoholism and addiction treatment.

To help someone who doesn’t seem to want help: Love First

The Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Patient Workbook All of the exercises a person needs to develop recovery program.

The Gambling Addiction Patient Workbook All of the exercises a person needs to develop a gambling recovery program.

Alcoholics Anonymous: The big book of recovery from alcohol abuse.

Narcotics Anonymous: The big book of recovery from drug abuse.

Find an AA meeting close to you.

Click here to visit the best treatment center in the world!

Call 1-800-992-1921 for a free assessment

Facility Locator: Search for a treatment facility near you

Alcoholism Treatment Centers

The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous says that only God can relieve the illness of addiction: To begin a new journey to God, go to www.godtalkstoyou.com.

Spiritual Tools

Three special tools may help you along the spiritual journey to recovery:

God Talks To You: teaches you how to hear God's voice.

Listen to God Talks music for free: Click the play all tracks button, sit back and let the words and music sink into your soul. Come back often and play the songs over and over again. You won't be sorry. God will teach you many things you need to know. More free music and a CD

A Communication From God: A meditation tape that will give you long communications from God. The tape takes you through two exercises where God speaks to you directly.

An international expert answers your questions on addiction for free.

For more free music and a CD go here:

Begin a new journey to God www.godtalkstoyou.com.

Talk to a member of Alcoholics Anonymous.

Search for books on addiction:

Call 1-800-992-1921 for a free chemical dependency assessment.

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