Expert: Jurriaan Plesman, Nutritional Psychotherapist - 8/28/2009

Question
My husband is an excessive drinker.  I don't know if he is an alcoholic but I would think he is close.  He drinks every night until he's falling down drunk.  He also will sometimes drink during the day but in small amounts and hide it.  He is a monster when he drinks.  Extremely angry.  Talks about leaving me all the time and just recently did  for two days and came back.  I can't do anything right and all his anger is directed at me - for everything.  Does the alcohol cause mood swings?  The other question is when he is not drinking, he is still angry - never, ever happy.  Could he have a Bipolar condition?  I know nothing of this condition and have always thought it was just the alcohol.  I'm just trying to get a grip on things.  I have been living with this for 12 years now and I think I am coming at the end of my rope but my marriage is important to me and I just don't want to let it end if there is a way to save it.  Thank you.

Answer
HI Amy,

From the information given I would guess your husband is an alcoholic. This is a serious disease and not much can be done, unless your husband wants to change. Alcoholism is primarily a biochemical disorder that can be treated by a combination of nutritional therapy and psychotherapy. The treatment has been described in my book: Getting off the Hook, which is freely available on the internet. Alcoholism can cause people to be very angry, because of a sudden drop in one's blood sugar levels, starving the brain of biological energy. The disease has been explained at:

Why Alcoholics Drink? at
http://www.hypoglycemia.asn.au/articles/WAD.html

Alcoholism (Addiction) is a Treatable Disease at:
http://curezone.com/upload/PDF/Articles/jurplesman/alcoholism_treatable.pdf

If your husband is motivated he should be able to treat himself by going firstly on a hypoglycemic diet. (See web site).
He should also study:

Summary of Self-help Psycotherapy at:
http://www.hypoglycemia.asn.au/articles/self-help_personal_growth.html#PSYCHOTHE...

in its entirety from beginning to end. It includes a program showing you how to overcome a negative self-image, and assertiveness training program, communication course and values clarification course.
You may require the help of a CBT counsellor to successfully complete this program, but many people can help themselves by reading the articles.

I believe that without treatment your husband will not get better and may even become more disturbed as time goes goes on. Most alcoholics are suffering from depression. Look up "depression" ate our web site.
_______________________________________________
Jurriaan Plesman, Nutritional Psychotherapist
Hon. Editor of
The Hypoglycemic Health Association of Australia.
www.hypoglycemia.asn.au
Author of "Getting off the Hook"
Freely available at Google Book Search
Skype: jurplesman