My mom thinks she's not that bad...

by Sean
(USA)

For many years my mom was a very functional alcoholic. She always had a couple beers on the go. For my parents 25th anniversary someone even made her a bouquet with a beer bottle in the middle. And on the cake, my dad was holding a shovel, and she was holding a beer. It was cute and funny.

But over the years since then, it has gotten worse. She admits that she is self-medicating with booze. It is her way of dealing with stress, family problems, any kind of conflict etc.

Try and mention it and she gets so mad. Says things like don't cry at my funeral. Or she'll look right at you and crack open another beer. It is so frustrating, because she doesn't really think she has a problem--even though she says she knows she does. I know that doesn't make any sense...I guess she just doesn't think that it's a big problem.

Some days she doesn't drink.. will even go three or four without drinking, so she thinks that proves she isn't "really" an alcoholic.

I wish I knew how to convince her she needed help, and to keep at it.

Thanks for reading...