How To Stop An Alcoholic From Drinking

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How To Stop An Alcoholic From Drinking

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KEY TAKEAWAYS

To stop an alcoholic from drinking:

Celebrate wins
Reframe beliefs about alcohol
Avoid enabling [1]

Helping The Alcoholic Achieve Sobriety

To help an alcoholic to achieve sobriety:

Celebrate wins by providing external motivation to cement the drinker's behavioural changes (e.g. highlighting positive outcomes of sobriety, offering rewards for achieving sobriety milestones) [2]
Reframe beliefs about alcohol by changing meaning of previous experiences around alcohol
Avoid enabling or protecting the drinker from negative consequences
Maintain boundaries
Avoid prioritising the drinkers' needs above own needs [1]

Prevent An Alcoholic From Drinking By Identifying Triggers

Psychological Triggers

Prevent an alcoholic from drinking by identifying the following psychological triggers:

Worsening symptoms of mental illness or new mental illness
Signs or symptoms of trauma - exhaustion, anxiety, anger, dissociation, and flashbacks [3]
Repeated isolation/ loneliness

Using this knowledge tackles this underlying trigger by:

Initially tackling symptoms of mental illness before attempting to stop drinking
Knowing the alcoholic's triggers allows family members to intervene during signs of emotional relapse, before physical relapse can occur

Environmental Triggers

Prevent an alcoholic from drinking by identifying the following environmental triggers:

Times or places where the addict typically drinks
Individuals that the alcoholic typically drank with
Unemployment/excessive unstructured time

Using this knowledge tackles this underlying trigger by:

Encouraging the drinker to develop relevant coping mechanisms for triggers to avoid drinking
Helping the drinker to reduce stress without the family members taking responsibility for drinking behaviours
Creating a structured routine that results in the drinker taking focus away from drinking

Conditionings & Associations

Prevent an alcoholic from drinking by identifying the following conditionings and associations:

The drinker has positive associations with drinking environments - are more elated after drinking
Using alcohol as a coping mechanism - drinking more after a difficult day or due to boredom

Using this knowledge tackles this underlying trigger by:

Challenging positive associations by reminding the alcohol addict of negative consequences of alcohol (e.g. hangovers, loss of employment, legal issues, etc)
Substituting alcohol for more functional coping mechanisms

Reinforce Positives

Celebrate Wins

Celebrating wins helps to stop those with alcohol use disorders from drinking by:

An external recognition of success that the drinker can focus on, breaking down sobriety into manageable steps
Providing external motivation cements positive feelings from celebrating wins, endorsing a greater commitment to long-term change [2]

Recognise When Ready For Sobriety

Characteristics That Indicate An Alcoholic Is Ready For Sobriety	How To Recognise As Readiness For Sobriety	How Does This Stage Of Readiness For Sobriety Stop An Alcoholic From Drinking
Hepatic health issues	Increased hospital/doctor visits, jaundice, ascites or sclera, increased rate of health issues	Physical acknowledgement of negative consequences of alcoholism and realisation that drinking must stop
Legal consequences	Fines, points on licence, drink driving offences, drinking being paused due to this	Reaching a low point that temporarily shocks the alcoholic into stopping drinking
Setting boundaries	Removing themselves from enablers, codependency, or environments that lead to drinking	Voluntarily and consciously setting boundaries allows pre-contemplation to progress towards actively stopping drinking
Acknowledging alcohol dependency	Will momentarily admit to being an alcoholic/ having an alcohol dependency in conversations with family, friends, or medical professionals	Breaking down patterns of denial incrementally allows the alcoholic to be more open to treatment options
Being realistic	Being aware that relapse may occur and recovery presents challenges, but still being committed to sobriety	More likely to enter into long-term recovery if aware of the challenges and potential for relapse, and still believing recovery is possible if pre-framed around relapse challenges
Making plans for future sobriety	Increased frequency of mentioning and researching treatment options, considering residential rehab facilities/ treatment in the community (appropriate to circumstances)	Considering treatment fosters the alcoholic’s progress from pre-contemplation to actively seeking treatment, stopping drinking
Taking responsibility	Accepting that the alcoholic has caused harm to life and hurt others around the alcoholic	Self-forgiveness for actions in the past brings end to past shame and encourages starting recovery journey

Track Sober Time

Tracking clean time helps to stop an alcoholic drinking:

Gives the alcohol addict motivation after relapse to regain previous clean time
Highlights patterns of recurring triggers and causes of relapse, allowing appropriate coping mechanisms to be put in place
Providing positive reinforcement for addicts who have experienced negative reinforcement from life outside of alcohol - providing extrinsic motivation
Drinking can be tracked through apps - providing a variable schedule of reinforcement at incremental stages [4]

Encourage Accountability

Encouraging accountability helps to stop an alcohol addict from drinking by:

Acknowledging personal powerlessness over alcohol, as part of the 12 steps
Discourages the drinker from shifting blame and interrupts continuing patterns that underlie drinking
Identifying trigger thought patterns, that may escalate into relapse
Fostering adherence to pre-agreed treatment programmes [5]

Actions For Family Members To Stop An Alcoholic From Drinking

Reframe Own Beliefs Around Alcohol

Family members' pre-existing conceptions and beliefs around alcohol use disorder must be reframed to assist the drinker in their sobriety journey.

Family members looking at the alcohol addict through the lens of understanding addiction helps to stop the addict from drinking by:

Viewing alcohol addiction as a disease encourages family to think of alcohol misuse recovery as an ongoing process
Avoid using preconceived stereotypes about addiction to judge the drinker; instead putting a practical, realistic plan in place
Using family members new understanding of alcohol disorder to set realistic boundaries, that when enforced by the family members, encourages the alcoholic to continue on recovery pathway

Be Prepared For Relapse To Stop An Alcoholic From Drinking

During the process of recovery, relapse is likely to occur.

This does not mean that the drinker will never recover, or has lost motivation to recover.

To help an alcoholic stop drinking by being prepared:

Identify if this is a pattern of addiction that the drinker was previously unaware of? Consider if this a recurring issue that requires changing the meaning of core beliefs in therapy or counselling
Reminding the addict of previous progress by keeping a diary of previous successes
Take learnings from belief work to create a relapse prevention plan

When an alcoholic relapses, family members should avoid taking responsibility for their recovery as it is important that the drinker overcomes co-dependency on others and resolves underlying beliefs of drinking patterns alone.

Discourage Patterns Of Drinking By Eliminating Enabling

Family members can eliminate enabling by avoiding:

Financial support without expectation of repayment - alcoholic has to accept financial consequences of actions rather than lose access to alcohol as a coping mechanism
Rationalising negative consequences - forces the drinker to face the denial that perpetuates drinking patterns
Prioritising drinker's needs above their own - interrupts the schedule of addiction and shows the addict that their needs will not be prioritised [6]

CRAFT Method

The craft method helps to stop an alcohol addict from drinking by:

Helping the family members to take care of themselves, to provide the necessary support to stop the alcohol addict from drinking
Encouraging family members to positively reinforce attempts to seek help
Advising to approach the alcoholic non-confrontationally, even if they do not want to seek help [7]

Provide Recovery Capital

Overwhelming an alcohol dependent with resources helps to stop a drinker from drinking by:

Establishes alternative coping mechanisms before removing alcohol as a coping mechanism
The drinker becomes aware of the support that is available during future recovery attempts, helping to corroborate the belief that recovery is possible
Being able to take an active role in the recovery journey by choosing the resources that are most effective for their own recovery personally

Resources

Mutual aid groups - learning from others' experiences and successes fosters accountability and reduces isolation
Specialist recovery groups - (e.g. sober social clubs, art therapy workshops, sober gardening groups, etc) ability to connect with others through shared experience
Self-help worksheets - taking personal accountability for patterns of addiction
12-step programmes - breaking down alcohol use disorder into manageable recovery steps to follow with group accountability [8]
Engaging in therapy - working through underlying causes of drinking [9]
Online meetings and forums - accessible and available support at all times, able to try different forms of meetings without travel restrictions [10]

How To Stop An Alcoholic From Drinking Across Different Settings

Homelessness

Homelessness changes normal guidance on how to stop an alcohol addict from drinking:

Immediate needs must be resolved before attempting recovery (e.g. food, shelter, and medical needs) compared to regular living circumstances
Previous lack of access to care and suffering from comorbid conditions (e.g. mental health disorders, AIDS, polydrug use, physical trauma, etc) mean recovery is more complex than regular living circumstances
Blood-borne viruses (e.g. Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, and HIV) require medical attention before integrating into addiction programme
Support programmes are needed alongside addiction treatment due to previous stigma and lack of other support systems [11]

Surrounded By Enablers

Being surrounded by enablers changes normal guidance on how to stop an alcohol addict from drinking:

Initially focusing on changing relationships from enabling to productive help that enforces boundaries and allows taking responsibility
Social workers/ medical professionals informing both family members and drinker about unconscious behaviour or family member's mental health problems causing enabling
Social workers/ medical professionals informing the drinker about consequences of and severity of alcoholism, even if enabling has protected them from consequences [12]

Functioning v Dysfunctional Alcoholic

Being a functioning drinker changes normal guidance on how to stop an alcohol addict from drinking:

Removing pre-existing denial and rationalisations that are maintaining functional behaviours
Highlight that control over drinking is not sustainable and treatment is needed [13]

Extreme Denial

Being in extreme denial changes normal guidance on how to stop an alcohol addict from drinking:

Breaking patterns of denial through intervention before attempting treatment, as otherwise the drinker will either refuse treatment or be unsuccessful in treatment due to residual coping mechanisms
Drinkers in extreme denial are more likely to react negatively when challenged, family members having expectations of this are emotionally inoculated from being offended
Expect recovery timescales to be longer for drinkers in denial as the underlying belief system is strong and the drinker truly believes they do not have a drinking problem

Serial Relapsers

Being a serial relapser changes normal guidance on how to stop an alcohol addict from drinking:

Allows creating or updating a relapse prevention plan that is informed by previous relapse causes and triggers
Preventing a slip from progressing to a full relapse by having multiple points of contact
If a serial relapser's fear of withdrawals is causing continued drinking, providing reassurance that detox is comfortable physically

Social Isolation

Being socially isolated changes normal guidance on how to stop an alcohol addict from drinking:

Organising alternative support systems to substitute for social support before attempting recovery
Finding an alternative way to be held accountable for sobriety using alternative resources (e.g. online sober trackers, AA sponsors, online support groups and self-help worksheets)
Replicating what the drinker finds most useful about social support in an aftercare plan

Actively Experiencing Withdrawal Symptoms

Actively experiencing withdrawal symptoms changes normal guidance on how to stop an alcohol addict from drinking:

Immediately receiving treatment for withdrawal symptoms from a hospital, rehab clinic, or in the community as appropriate
Hospital treatment if patient is experiencing jaundice, ascites, or sclera

Reasons Behind Stopping An Alcoholic From Drinking

Header	Alcoholics Voluntarily Stopping Drinking Themselves	Alcoholics Stopping Drinking Because Of Family Influence
Accepted the negative impact of alcohol on life?	Yes	No
Desire to maintain family member relationships?	No	Yes
External pressures or sense of obligation to family?	No	Yes
Internal motivation to stop drinking?	Yes	No
Fully committed to treatment process?	Yes	No
Willing to understand underlying causes and triggers of alcoholism?	Yes	No
Long term outcomes	50% of alcoholics attending rehab voluntarily remained sober for 12 months [14]	30% of alcoholics who attended rehab because of family influence remained sober after 18 months [15]

When To Stop An Alcoholic From Drinking

When Stopping An Alcoholic From Drinking Is Most Appropriate

Stopping an alcohol addict from drinking is the most appropriate pathway when:

The drinker has a stable living situation free from enablers
Free from denial about drinking habits and actively wants to stop drinking
Has attempted to gradually cut down drinking (taking safety precautions when lowering intake unassisted)
Free from health problems (e.g. liver disease, ascites, or jaundice) that would affect detox
Able to arrange time off work and childcare as necessary

When Stopping An Alcoholic From Drinking Is Not Appropriate

Stopping an alcohol addict from drinking is not appropriate when:

The drinker is surrounded by enablers
The drinker will be returning to the same environment addiction developed in
The drinker is in active denial about drinking habits and their effects on others
The drinker is actively drinking
Experiencing health conditions (e.g. liver cancer, ascites, jaundice) that would affect detox
Work, childcare, or adult caring responsibilities that would impede treatment
Previously suffered or believed to be at risk of seizures, delirium tremens, status epilepticus, or Wernicke's Korsakoff syndrome [16]
Experiencing active withdrawal symptoms (e.g. hallucinations, seizures or delirium tremens)

Professional Intervention To Stop An Alcoholic From Drinking

Family Intervention

Indicators that intervention by family is the most appropriate method to help alcohol addicts stop drinking are:

Signs of functional alcoholism - still maintaining a job and other responsibilities
Early indicators of alcohol dependency (e.g. drink driving, increase in usual intake, secret drinking, warnings at work about drinking, etc) that the drinker ignores
Having previously promised to stop drinking and failed [17]

Intervention At The Point Of Crisis

Indicators that intervention at the point of crisis is the most appropriate method to help an alcohol addict stop drinking are:

Being later in the alcohol dependency timeline than those requiring family intervention - no longer able to maintain a job or other responsibilities
Being in complete denial about the negative consequences being as a result of alcohol dependency
Refusing to go to rehab

Rehab

Rehab with a therapeutic programme is the most appropriate option when:

The drinker has had multiple failed attempts to quit drinking - especially detox unassisted or in the community
Triggered by local environments or are being enabled by those around them
Have previously disengaged from a treatment programme or left treatment early

In The Community

Treatment in the community is the most appropriate option when:

The drinker has work, childcare, or adult caring responsibilities
The drinker has co-occurring chemotherapy, dialysis, or physical therapy commitments that cannot be completed alongside inpatient treatment
Free from being triggered by living environment or being enabled
Alcoholism is diagnosed as mild to moderate
It is the first time that the drinker is seeking treatment
The patient does not experience trigger situations between home and an outpatient treatment centre

References

[1] University of Pennsylvania Health. “Stairway to Recovery: Enabling Behaviours.” University of Pennsylvania Health, 2022. “Enabling behaviors are those behaviors that support our addicted loved one’s chemical use.”
[2] DiClemente, Carlo C., et al. “Motivation for Change and Alcoholism Treatment.” Alcohol Research & Health, vol. 23, no. 2, 2024, p. 86. “To move from the precontemplation stage, the patient must admit to having an alcohol problem and recognize the need to change his or her drinking behavior. In the contemplation stage, the patient decides to change his or her behavior after weighing the positive and negative aspects of change. In the preparation stage, the patient increases his or her commitment to change and plans to take action. In the action stage, the patient develops specific behavioral strategies to change his or her drinking behavior.”
[3] SAMHSA. “Understanding the Impact of Trauma.” National Library of Medicine, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (US), 2014. “Initial reactions to trauma can include exhaustion, confusion, sadness, anxiety, agitation, numbness, dissociation, confusion, physical arousal, and blunted affect. Most responses are normal in that they affect most survivors and are socially acceptable, psychologically effective, and self-limited.”
[4] Mubin, Omar, et al. “A Preliminary Evaluation of Mobile Phone Apps to Curb Alcohol Consumption.” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, vol. 19, no. 1, Dec. 2021, p. 135. “early results suggest that users are generally more satisfied with current apps that employ a self-control strategy, possibly because these apps usually only consist of a function to track sobriety days and users like to see this visible progress.”
[5] Donovan, Dennis M., et al. “12-Step Interventions and Mutual Support Programs for Substance Use Disorders: An Overview.” Social Work in Public Health, vol. 28, no. 3-4, 2015, pp. 313–32. “These steps specify that substance abusers must admit their powerlessness over alcohol and drugs, take a moral inventory of themselves, admit the nature of their wrongs, make a list of individuals whom they have harmed, and make amends to those people.”
[6] University of Pennsylvania Health. “Stairway to Recovery: Enabling Behaviours.” University of Pennsylvania Health, 2022. "Protecting their image with co-workers and friends…while we protect our own image."
[7] Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction. The Essentials of … Series Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction • Centre Canadien Sur Les Dépendances et l’Usage de Substances Community Reinforcement and Family Training What Is Community Reinforcement and Family Training? 2017. "CRAFT offers more hopeful messages, such as “work smarter, not harder,” and “although it is not your responsibility, you can have much influence over your loved one’s substance using behaviour.” The approach is non-confrontational and positive, which is more appealing to family members."
[8] Donovan, Dennis M., et al. “12-Step Interventions and Mutual Support Programs for Substance Use Disorders: An Overview.” Social Work in Public Health, vol. 28, no. 3-4, 2015, pp. 313–32. “The 12-Step philosophy refers to a particular view of the recovery process. It emphasizes the importance of accepting addiction as a disease that can be arrested but never eliminated, enhancing individual maturity and spiritual growth, minimizing self-centeredness, and providing help to other individuals who are addicted.”
[9] McHugh, R. Kathryn, et al. “Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Substance Use Disorders.” Psychiatric Clinics of North America, vol. 33, no. 3, Sept. 2010, pp. 511–25. “Although CBT for substance abuse is characterized by heterogeneous treatment elements—such as operant learning strategies, cognitive and motivational elements, and skills building interventions—across protocols several core elements emerge that focus on overcoming the powerfully reinforcing effects of psychoactive substances.”
[10] Krentzman, Amy R. “Helping Clients Engage with Remote Mutual Aid for Addiction Recovery during COVID-19 and Beyond.” Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly, vol. 39, no. 3, Apr. 2021, pp. 348–65. Accessed 22 July 2021. “The ability to connect with all-important abstinent-specific social support, free of COVID-19 infection risk. An abundance of remote meetings, at all hours of the day and night. The inspiration of seeing people in recovery from all over the world. Engagement in ‘remote recovery tourism’ by trying meetings based in China, Israel, Australia, England, Ireland, and elsewhere. Convenience of access: this is game-changing for individuals in rural communities who formerly had to drive tens of miles to attend meetings (Krentzman et al., 2019). The connection to special populations: people can attend meetings where they can find others like themselves (e.g., women, young people, individuals identifying as LGBTQIA+, Spanish speakers); this is especially important when such diversity is lacking in their home community. Ease of attendance, if there is equipment and internet connection. Absence of travel time and no cost for gas or bus fare. Affordability of recovery conferences where face-to-face participation would have been cost prohibitive.”
[11] Wright, Nat MJ, and Charlotte NE Tompkins. “How Can Health Services Effectively Meet the Health Needs of Homeless People?” British Journal of General Practice, vol. 56, no. 525, Apr. 2006, pp. 286–93. “Homelessness is associated with ill health, commonly mental ill health drug dependence syndrome or alcohol dependence syndrome. Opiate maintenance therapy can improve health of homeless drug users and assertive outreach programmes can help those with mental ill health. Supportive behavioural programmes aid recovery in homeless people with alcohol dependence syndrome. Informal interactive interventions can successfully promote sexual health.”
[12] Miller. S. M, and Millman R. B. "A Common Cause Of Alcoholism." Journal Of Substance Abuse Treatment, 1989. "The classic "enabler" is the caretaker of the alcoholic. Without the enabler, alcoholism would dwindle. The so-called innocent bystanders are not consciously intending to harm the alcoholic. Most of the time there is no conscious intention to help the alcoholic continue drinking and inflicting self-destruction."
[13] Dubey, Michelle. "15 Signs Of A High-Functioning Alcoholic." Nevada Lawyer, 2022. "A high-functioning alcoholic will seldom admit that they have a problem. Alcoholics do not want to lose their favourite drink, much less admit they might be out of control. When their concerned loved ones approach them about the amount they drink, they might downplay the amount they are consuming."
[14] Costello, Raymond M., et al. “Alcoholism Treatment Programming: Historical Trends and Modern Approaches.” Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, vol. 1, no. 4, Feb. 2008, pp. 311–18. Accessed 6 June 2020. “Expected to achieve a 50% success rate at 1-yr follow-up.”
[15] Fichter, Manfred M., et al. Family Climate and Expressed Emotion in the Course of Alcoholism. no. 2, June 1997, pp. 203–21. "Based on conservative criteria, the abstinence rate was 40% at 6-month followup and 30% at 18-month followup.”
[16] Trevisan, Louis A., et al. “Complications of Alcohol Withdrawal: Pathophysiological Insights.” Alcohol Health and Research World, vol. 22, no. 1, 2024, p. 61. “The prediction of complicated alcohol withdrawal is an important part of alcoholism treatment to ensure that appropriate therapies may be planned in advance. Risk factors for prolonged or complicated alcohol withdrawal include lifetime or current long duration of alcohol consumption, lifetime prior detoxifications, prior seizures, prior episodes of DT’s, and current intense craving for alcohol.”
[17] Myers, Robert J., and Squires, Daniel D. "The Community Reinforcement Approach." University of New Mexico Center on Alcoholism, Substance Abuse and Addictions, Jan 2003. "The choice to change is always up to the individual. In essence, the most powerful mechanism of change; whether accessed through CRA or another approach; is the set of natural consequences of positive behavior. This is true across a wide range of behaviors, across persons of different personalities and cognitive styles, and regardless of previous failed attempts to change. It is at the foundation of any change strategy such as CRA that is based on a thorough understanding of behavioral science and principles."

About the author

Harriet Garfoot

Harriet Garfoot BA, MA has an Undergraduate degree in Education Studies and English, and a Master's degree in English Literature, from Bishop Grosseteste University. Harriet writes on stress & mental health, and is a member of the Burney Society. Content reviewed by Laura Morris (Clinical Lead).

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Last Updated: August 21, 2025