When Should You Finally Give Up on an Alcoholic?

Question by Bunny*Run: When should you finally give up on an alcoholic?
My older brother was a smart guy. Brilliant, actually. He has two advanced degrees and speaks four languages. When he got two DUIs during college and then grad school, we were concerned but didn’t think alcohol and drugs would take over his entire life. That was ten years ago. Today, he cannot hold a job and literally cannot function without alcohol in his system. He went through detox last year and went into cardiac arrest. He has been in and out of rehab, and in and out of hospitals. Which is where he ended up late last night, beaten severely with a baseball bat. I could go on forever detailing the ways in which he has destroyed my family’s lives. But my question is this: is there ever a point at which you should wash your hands of a relative who doesn’t want to save himself?

Best answer:

Answer by scorpius59
I gave my ex 3 yrs. My lawyer said it should have been 6 mos.! So many people come from a family that had at least a “problem drinker”, and I finally decided that I wasn’t put on this earth to take care of drunk men.

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