I think my best friend has a drinking problem. How can I help him?

Question

I've noticed for a while now that he drinks an extreme amount of beers a day. The weird part is that he doesn't behave like a drunk but when I started suspecting I counted how much he drinks (I see him almost every day), and wow I was used to always seeing a beer in his hand but once I counted it's like at least 14 a day maybe more. Now he doesn't chug them but he does constantly drink and now that I look back he has shown signs of alcoholism; he got hospitalized once after his eyes turned yellow following a medication, I've seen him drink in the morning, and sometimes he's left the movie theater to "go to the bathroom" and comes back 20 minutes later smelling like alcohol. How can I help him?

Answer 1

Favorite Answer

You can't help him. There's nothing wrong with saying something to him such that you're concerned about his health etc., but he already knows he has a drinking problem and he's the only one who can fix it (at this point he may need the help of a doctor to quit).

Answer 2

The average person can't help an alcoholic, this problem can only be dealt with by a professional therapist that knows how to deal with a person that has drinking problems.

My father ruined his marriage because he had a drinking problem, and my mother couldn't help him no matter how hard she tried. They ended up getting a divorce and he remarried another alcoholic.

It's a real bad problem, and it can destroy relationships.