Thread: How do you help a depressed alcoholic who won't admit he has a problem?

My friend can drink and be drunk for 3 days and than go 2 weeks without a drink but he always goes back to drinking again. When he does drink he can't stop. He has a lot of anger problems from his childhood and we've tried to get him to get help. The problem is he won't admit he has a problem. Recently he admitted to it but refuses to do anything about it because he says no one needs to know his business than he goes back to he doesn't have a problem. One minute he cries like a baby and the next he's yelling at us to leave him alone. We've never seen him this bad before. We've tried talking to him and asking him to get help but he won't. He says he's an adult so leave him alone. No one will get involved because he won't admit there's anything wrong. We believe he truly wants help but we don't know what to do. He's not a danger to anyone but himself and he has enough sense to not drive. How do you help someone who won't admit there's anything wrong?

you cannot help someone that doesnt want to be helped. trying to do so will only make things worse. i suggest you treat him as you normally would. the majority of addicts simply grow out of these kind of things.