Is Alcohol Impacting Your Relationship?
Talk to a GP or your local community alcohol service who will be able to get help for you to reduce your drinking safely. Plus, the longer you go without alcohol in your system, the more likely you’ll experience continued improvements to your health. Over an extended period of time, drinking too much can lead to impotence in men and impaired fertility in women. All of these factors make it much more likely you’ll engage in activities that cause conflict within relationships.
When you increasingly choose to drink rather than doing previously enjoyed activities with your significant other or friends, you may need to examine your motives for these choices. If you’ve begun hiding how much and how frequently you drink from your partner, drinking has become a significant aspect of your relationship. If you feel the need to be dishonest about your drinking, you may want to ask yourself why.
Specifically, these results indicate that the presence of highly satisfied relationships in college may help to move one further along the continuum of change regarding unhealthy behaviors such as drinking alcohol excessively. The purpose of the present study was to examine the associations between relationship satisfaction, hazardous drinking, and level of readiness-to-change alcohol use and relationship issues in college dating relationships. Our third hypothesis that, among individuals with lower relationship satisfaction, hazardous drinkers would indicate lower readiness-to-change relationship issues than nonhazardous drinkers, was not supported. There are a number of limitations to the current study, which should be considered when interpreting these findings. First, the cross-sectional design of the current study precludes determination of causality among suboxone mixed with alcohol the study variables.
You can expect to answer questions about the number of times you drink alcohol in a week, if you’ve ever tried to quit drinking, how you deal with cravings, how you feel after drinking, and more. If the results indicate any issues, it might be time to ask yourself about the role alcohol plays in your life. Often, this journey begins with a better understanding of alcohol use disorder. Not necessarily, but it’s important to understand how alcohol can affect people and the way they relate to others. Doing so will help you reduce the risk of beer, wine, or liquor degrading the health of your relationship. Drinking alcohol doesn’t just affect your relationship with your partner — it can also have an impact on your children’s mental health, too.
A total of 219 undergraduate students from a large Southeastern public university participated in the current study. Demographic information regarding the university from which participants in the current study were drawn includes an enrollment size of approximately 27,000 students (77% undergraduate), of whom most are White (78%) and enrolled full time (89%). Overall, findings from the current study provide new insights into the interplay between alcohol use and college dating relationships, offer important implications for college student health, and suggest a promising area for future research.
If you feel like alcohol has been affecting your relationships, consider reaching out for help so that you can be your best self for the people around you. Research has shown that excessive alcohol use can lead to serious family consequences, including intimate partner violence and even divorce. Instead of trying to solve issues while under the influence, it’s OK to take a step back and address it at a later time, when you’re sober. A review of the literature found a significant relationship between alcohol and domestic violence — with one 2020 study in Australia citing alcohol as a factor in roughly 24% to 54% of family and domestic violence police reports. When drinking becomes the focal point of every activity, alcohol addiction is a concern.
Avoid Codependency
Hiding your drinking from a loved one is a common sign that your habits have become unhealthy. One example of this is if you claim to be partaking in certain activities, like working overtime or meeting friends, instead of sharing that you stopped at the bar on the way home. Being dishonest with your partner can fuel a sense of distrust, and lead to other unhealthy habits in your relationship. Building healthy relationships with people who don’t drink not only helps you steer clear of alcohol, but it also gives you an opportunity to expand your friendship base. Adopting an exercise program, joining a support group, or talking with a mental health professional are all excellent ways to stay sober. In dating and marriage, we share experiences, friends, and social events with our significant others.
#7. You Drink to Feel Happy
- Being able to say no to alcohol when you don’t want to drink, requires a few simple phrases you can say in a pinch.
- All of these factors make it much more likely you’ll engage in activities that cause conflict within relationships.
- A 12-step support group can often help people recover from a codependent relationship.
- Many people drink more to avoid these feelings, leading to an unhealthy cycle that affects both partners.
- They can help determine whether what you’re experiencing is alcohol use disorder and recommend further evaluation or treatment if necessary.
After obtaining consent, the measures were presented with standardized instructions. Participants were provided a list of local referrals for psychological services after completing all measures and were given credit as partial fulfillment of a social science course in return for their participation. All procedures were approved by the institutional review board at the university where the study was conducted. Being able to say no to alcohol when you don’t want to drink, requires a few simple phrases you can say in a pinch. One-liners like “I’m driving,” “No, thanks, I just finished one,” and “I’ve had my limit for tonight,” can help you avoid giving in to the pressure to drink when you’re trying to cut substance abuse group activities back. If you have concerns about your relationship with alcohol, you might be wondering how to modify your drinking without stopping completely.
For this reason, it can be difficult to understand if and when your drinking has become unhealthy, especially if alcohol has played a role in your relationship for a long time. This uncertainty is sometimes described as a phenomenon known as “gray area drinking“. Being able to identify the types of alcohol problems will help you have a better understanding of your relationship with drinking. Separate from alcoholism or alcohol dependence, alcohol use disorder is characterized by problem drinking that becomes severe, eventually leading to adverse social, occupational, or health consequences.
When paired with problems that can also arise from excessive alcohol use, drinking can sometimes negatively affect our relationships with the people closest to us. The bottom line is that it can cause more arguments, hurt intimacy, and make a person unable to fulfill their role at home. But drinking too much can also take a toll on your friendships, family relationships, and even how you interact with your colleagues at work. For most people, being addicted to alcohol (or any substance) means prioritizing it over the more important parts of life—even if you don’t mean to. You might spend extra money on booze, rather than shared activities with your partner or family. To the loved ones of someone with a drinking problem, it might always look like the alcohol comes first.
The present study examined the influence of relationship satisfaction on readiness-to-change alcohol use and the influence of hazardous drinking on readiness-to-change relationship issues in college student dating relationships. Participants were grouped on the basis of their scores on measures of alcohol use (hazardous drinkers vs. nonhazardous drinkers) and relationship satisfaction (high vs. low). Results indicated that alcohol use was negatively correlated with relationship satisfaction. Furthermore, hazardous drinkers with high relationship satisfaction indicated more readiness-to-change alcohol use than hazardous drinkers with low relationship satisfaction.
Addiction Treatment Programs
Alcohol can affect relationships in various ways, and this can look different for each person. But for many people, it can also be a source of conflict in their relationships. Individual and couples therapy can equip you with the perspective, tools, and resources you need to embrace a healthier relationship with yourself, your partner, and alcohol. A glass of wine with dinner, drinks with friends at the bar, and a “cheers” to kick off the weekend—alcohol is ingrained in our social rituals.
Heavy drinking affects the mind and body, and the one struggling is often the last to recognize the damage’s extent. They may lie to their partner or family about where they are, who they spend their time with and what they did during the day. As the addiction progresses, they may devise more elaborate excuses to hide their drinking problems.
Alcohol problems can quickly damage relationships, ween off alcohol though it’s often more challenging to determine whether you have one if you’re dealing with an addiction. Therefore, one of the best ways to prevent alcohol from altering your relationships is to recognize the beginning signs and stages of addiction. This doesn’t necessarily mean that we should avoid alcohol completely of course, but it is important to understand how alcohol can affect us and our relationships with those around us, and the benefits of cutting down or going alcohol-free.
This is because if someone has developed excessive drinking habits, their loved one may develop a sense of uncertainty about how to act around them, feel disconnected from them when they are intoxicated, or become privately concerned or frustrated about the situation. Relationships should bring a sense of comfort and security, and provide more happiness than distress. When an individual develops unhealthy drinking habits, their partner may feel their relationship becoming chaotic and even unsafe. Drinking habits can also impact jobs and finances, causing further stress and insecurity. It’s important to remember that alcohol use disorder is a medical condition, not a moral failing. The good news is, once you acknowledge that your drinking has become unhealthy, you can take steps to repair and heal from the role alcohol played in a relationship.