Can an alcoholic change?

Question

My husband is an alcoholic i wouldnt ask for anything else but for him to quit, that would be my best gift for a life time. Please tell me what helps? I know that prayer is good, do yuo think that the Lord Jesus Christ can change him for good? I want to be able to know that he is capable of staying home alone when hes on vacation and I have to work and not worry about him being messed up when I come home, its terrible guys please help it would be the best gift ever, thats all i ask for. God Bless!!!

Answer 1

He has to want to change for himself. You can't make him stop drinking because he will just end up either hiding it or going back to it worst.

Answer 2

This is actually a battle I went thru personally. Started out just a social drinker and it eventually became an every night thing. Someone who answered earlier mentioned that they have to want to quit. And that was me, I wanted to, but felt there was no reason for me to. After a few years, I got married and I still didn't quit. Until "Tough Love" from my wife. She made me decide between alcohol and our marriage. That was enough for me. We've been married a little over 3 yrs. now and have a 4 month old son who is my world! Before he came along, there were occasions I would let go and have a few. Nowadays, I think I've had 2 beers since he's been born. And those 2 were just for friends celebrating something special. Most people say that once you quit, if you get a taste again it's over. That's not true at all...unless they want it to be true.
As I was saying though, "Tough Love." Let him know what's on the line. It would be hard for you also, but it might pay off. Then again, it may not. If he doesn't quit, you gotta think and come to terms with everything. Would you really want to stay around and watch him kill himself?
Oh, and keep up with the praying. You can never go wrong there!
Good luck, God Bless, and Merry Christmas.

Answer 3

Yes he can change. It's like any addiction, the person has to remove themselves from the occassions of sin. For someone who has an addiction to pornography, gambling etc, they must steer clear of those places or opportunities. What is the saying about an alcoholic? one drink is too many and a hundred is not enough.

My cousin is an alcoholic, it is a very real illness, both physical as well. She constantly falls back into it and has been in therapy a number of times. This is her struggle in life.

Your husband is going to have to completely go cold turkey, no drink whatsoever, not even when he thinks he can handle just one small one. This is the problem, they can NEVER have a drink AGAIN. It does not matter if they improve or feel stronger, that's the finish. My cousin does this ALL the time. She will come clean, and it's always there, but she said you start getting to a point where you think you can handle one drink. Problem with alcoholism, it is worse than smoking. Smoking does not alter a person's personality, it does not cause a person to abuse others or get involved in traffic accidents. Yet the ads against smoking are many,but the ads against alcohol are few.

He also needs to pray for himself as well. Keep praying for him and don't give up on him, this is your husband and you must stick by him "for better for worse". It's a hard call.

He has to make an effort, not just for himself, but also on your behalf too. He has to realise it doesn't just affect him, it affects you and the marriage and he too has an obligation to steer clear of what he knows could destroy himself and the marriage.

It's something he will have to deal for life, it will always be there and it's not something he can play with or decide he's healed and go drink. you can't heal from this, it's there all the time and he will have to steer clear from the "demon drink" (as they call it).

Answer 4

Yes, indeed, an alcoholic can change, and I know because I am one and I quit drinking over 8 years ago.

However, I also drank for 25 years before things got so bad that I gave up trying to figure out how to solve the problem on my own and joined AA, where the God of my understanding changed me (and this happened even though I am not religious!).

Until that day, nothing and no one could have convinced me that I needed help. You see, I thought that alcohol was helping me deal with the problems I had in my life, and I was not able to even think about giving it up until I realized that it was actually CAUSING the problems! This was probably obvious to everyone else but me . . . but I was the one who needed to see it, not them.

All of this to say that your husband will change when he's able to see what's going on, and your best bet is not to stand in the way of his learning process. Al-Anon can help you with this and also help you to detach from worrying about him all the time. Certainly you can pray as well, in fact I recommend it.

Good luck. You have my prayers tonight.

Answer 5

Well I have known a few and I have to tell you - they will change when they are ready to admit they have a problem and want to change. Nothing can force it. My friends husband is one and she finally realized nothing she would say or do would make a difference, he had to decide for himself when things got bad. Make sure you don't enable him to continue this addiction, it is obviously making you feel bad and you can't let it continue. Prayer is good but it only works if the person you are praying for is saying the same prayer... to help himself. I really wish you the best. Be strong and take care of yourself!

Answer 6

The website below should help you get all the facts on your husband's addiction/disease. Yes, alcoholism can be classified as a disease.

1) An alcoholic can change his habits.
2) What helps is seeing the need for change, only then can the healing begin.
3) Prayer is indeed help, but he who helps himself is helped best.

I hope everything works out for the best.

Answer 7

In my opinon, it will only work if this is what he truly wants. I had a friend who was addicted to drugs and I tried so hard to help her that I almost lost myself, one day I realized, she doesn't want my help. You will have no life trying to change him so talk to him and see if he wants to stop drinking, if he really does he will get into a program and stick with it, he won't go a few times and say he's cured. That is what my friend did more than once. Addiction is a strong thing and it takes a strong will to overcome it. He has to really want it for himself and no one else for it to happen. May God watch over you and guide you both in the right direction. Babysitting him will only make it worse, I am sorry to say that if he does not want to quit, he won't he will only start to try and hide his addiction which will make things worse.
I hope things work out.

Answer 8

Try AA Sites..Alcoholic Anonymous. A friend is an alcoholic before but he manage to stop alcohol totaly so I guess your husband can do that as well.. Good luck and God Bless!!

Answer 9

Yes, an alcoholic can change. The catch is that HE must want to change for HIMSELF. You cannot make him do it for you or anyone else.

There are many ways to conquer alcoholism. My husband used his strong self-control to break the actual habit, then went to AA meetings to break the emotional side of it.

I have a good friend who went to AA from the beginning to quit. She could not walk away from the alcohol by herself and needed the support of a group to do it.

Neither one of them could have done it until they were ready to take the steps to quit for themselves-not anyone else.

Answer 10

You can't make him change. Something "eye opening" has to happen for him. It could be the Holy Spirit, or a near death experience, or death of a loved one. I know a man who stopped drinking after his brother died in a drunk driving accident. He's been sober 20 years now.

Answer 11

praying to Jesus Christ can help but he has to want to quit.I have been sober for 10 years but it is hard,I just take 1 day at a time.I hope you get your wish it really is better being sober.God Bless