A sleepwalker,alcoholic,gambler,smoker,sex problems, family dysfunctions. Help is needed, which to start with?

Question

Its very difficult to deal with the mulitude of different addictions, Too bad the true person never shows till after they declared and committed thier life and love to you, only to find that many obstructions in the way too late. I will say all was hidden so well and undected. Not sure what released all this at once, but help is needed and just need to know which addiction or dysfunction to begin with? Sleep clinic? Therapist for Family Dsyfunction and Sexual problems? AA?GA? and where do I go for support through all this?

Answer 1

If the person you are concerned about is drunk, all the work you put into them will be for naught, as they lose all their inhibitions. If you were to try and cure the gambling problem, and only then alcohol, you usually find that they will relapse when drunk.

So I would recommend you try alcoholics anonymous, or the like, to start with and then work from there.

Answer 2

A therapist for all these problems.

Although alcohol compounds all these problems and needs to be addressed from the start, AA is a bad idea. AA would call all these other things "character defects" and place all the blame on alcohol. There is a loud, very vocal anti-medication, anti-therapy faction in AA. There are many who go to AA who believe themselves well because they don't drink and the AA community puts up with it, no, encourages it.

You could try finding an ACT (Assertive Community Treatment) program ( http://www.nami.org/template.cfm?section=act-ta_center ), they work with people who have substance abuse and mental health issues. Your local NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Health) should be able to help. To find your local NAMI office, go to:
http://www.nami.org/Template.cfm?Section=Your_Local_NAMI&Template=/CustomSource/AffiliateFinder.cfm

Answer 3

Start with Al-Anon. These are all people who are family members of alcoholics. Find a meeting here: http://www.al-anon.alateen.org/

If this person doesn't want help, there isn't anything you can do. If they do want help, then get them into detox then rehab. Need to get them off the booze. An addiction is an addiction. They'll handle the gambling, too. It all stems from the drinking.