[2313stephen]

My father is an alcoholic and has been for as long as I remember. My mother divorced him when I was 7years old because of his drinking. Hes always had good jobs with decent wages and managed to keep his drinking a secret from colleagues. He would drink vodka straight from the bottle and at times would be consuming a litre bottle of vodka per day. He would strongly deny his drinking even though it would be completely obvious he's drunk. He retired 3years ago and his drinking has escalated. His wife (my stepmother) left him a short while ago and he has now taken to staying in bed for days at a time drinking straight vodka. He has in the past been clean several times but the longest he has stayed off the booze is 6months. When he's sober he will freely admit how much he was drinking and all the lies he has told to try and cover up his drinking. Ive seen him go cold turkey and its not pleasant, he talks about alcohol as if it's a friend or lover and actually cries when he thinks about never consuming alcohol again. He was also prescribed antidepressants at one point which really helped him but after a couple of months he decided he didn't like the way the tablets made him feel and stopped taking them. Not long after that he was drinking again. I wonder if he has suffered some sort of breakdown because I can't get my head around him not taking calls, laying in bed drinking. What sort of life is that, no life atall. My Dad is causing so much concern and pressure to other family members but no one seems to know what to do. Please help.

[Megan2345]

I recommend reading the Alcoholics Annonymous Big Book. It can help you get a better understanding of what he's going through.

[2313stephen]

Thank you, I will do that as I feel completely clueless at the moment.