How Do You Get an Alcoholic That Is Suspected of Being in the Early Stages of Alcoholic Dementia to See a Dr.?

Question by sjp77: How do you get an alcoholic that is suspected of being in the early stages of alcoholic dementia to see a dr.?
My mother has been an alcoholic for over 10 years. After much pleading from the family, she decided to stop drinking and start attending AA meetings. There is a noticeable difference in her general character, and has seemingly become more and more illiterate especially over the past year. We have asked her to please go to the doctor, but refuses saying there’s nothing wrong with her. How can we get her to see that we are only trying to help her by going to see the doctor?

Best answer:

Answer by Sean Roberts
Your mother is suffering from Korsakoff syndrome, which is brain damage caused by years of heavy drinking. Alcohol prevents the body from utilizing thiamine (vitamin b-1) properly. This leads to neuron death. This shows up behaviorally as impaired judgment, impaired memory, and a host of other problems.

One of the first symptoms of alcoholism is denial. “I only drink beer”, “I only drink at night”, “I can stop anytime I want to”. The excuses go on and on. The same psychology which causes this denial is continuing with your mother now. “There’s nothing wrong with me”. The psychology of denial plus the impaired judgment lead your mother to think that she’s fine.

You’re probably not going to be able to convince your mother to go to a doctor on her own. I know that this is not what you want to hear.

I’ve put a link to korsakoff-syndrome below to better help you understand what is happening to your mother.

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