The skills greatly improved my marriage, but how do I handle my husband’s binge drinking?
My husband has responded incredibly well to the skills. He’s much more affectionate, loving, attentive, and constantly tells me how happy he is in our marriage. Our relationship genuinely feels much stronger.
The biggest struggle is his drinking. He’s very social and has many friends. They go out together often for golf, fishing, bowling, etc., and drinking is a huge part of their time together. The issue is he tends to binge drink, and it noticeably affects his energy, mood, motivation, and follow-through. He’ll have plans or responsibilities (he creates) for the weekend, but after drinking heavily he becomes exhausted, withdrawn, or unmotivated. He also goes through periods he calls “depression.” He owns his own business and says stress contributes to it and thinks drinking helps.
I’ve tried SFPs like “you’re a responsible drinker” and “you make good decisions,” but I’m not seeing any change yet. I know his drinking is on his paper, and I don’t want to be controlling or mothering. I’ve stopped commenting on it entirely since learning the skills.
Has anyone seen improvement in a situation like this using the skills? What helped?