Expert: Rebos - 6/29/2006

Question
my father is giving up alcohol and i am scared it will make him moody. i understand that i have to be there for him at a difficult time like this and i know he is doing it for me but it is a lot of stress and worry to be placed on a 14 year old girl. please could you tell me how he will react to giving up alcohol and the stages he will go through so i can be prepared!

Answer
Good morning Siobhan:

Thank you for your question. I will do my best to give you an answer; however there are a few questions that I must know before I can be specific in my response to you.

Why does your father want to give up drinking? Is his drinking causing him problems? Is your father a healthy man or is he somewhat sickly? Does he intend to stop drinking by going into a 12 Step Program (like Alcoholics Anonymous) or is he going to a counselor, or therapy? Do you have a mother that can attend AlAnon? Do you have siblings that are older or younger than you? Does you school have a program called Alateen? Is your father an angry man when he drinks? Do you have a school counselor that you can talk to?

These are an example of kinds of information that I should have in order to give you an intelligent answer to your question. Thank you Rebos