Son Who Needs Treatment for Alcoholism

Hello Pam,

Thank you for your question. Your son should be able to qualify for state insurance to cover alcohol treatment. If he is physically addicted to alcohol, he is in a life threatening situation. You cannot stop drinking without medical assistance when you are physically addicted to alcohol. Detox can be dangerous and life threatening without proper treatment. Because of this, the government will provide coverage for this medical treatment. However, he will have to take the initiative and apply for it.  If he goes to a hospital emergency room while uninsured, they may have a social worker who will help him apply.

I know you love your son and want him to get help. However, until he wants to get help, he will continue to drink. The best you can do is to not enable him. Enabling means doing anything that will help him continue to drink. Sometimes, family believe they are helping the alcoholic when they are actually enabling them. This means not paying bills for him, not giving him money and not doing things for him that he can do for himself.

What you can do is attend Al-Anon which will give you the support and help you need to cope with your son's behavior and will teach you about enabling. You can also refuse any further assistance to him until he completes a treatment program. A treatment program is more than detox. It is also going to inpatient treatment, possibly a halfway house and Alcoholic Anonymous meetings.

Good luck and I hope your son makes the right choice and gets the help he needs.