Is it time to walk away from my alcoholic dad?
DEAR DEIDRE: I WORRY about my alcoholic dad but he’s making my life a misery, and I think it might be time to walk away.
He’s had several stints in rehab but he still isn’t sober. I can’t cope with his lies anymore.
I’m a 19-year-old girl. My dad is 56.
He started drinking heavily after my mum left him, when I was 14.
Since then, his life has fallen apart, he’s lost his job and most of his friends.
I’m the only one left who checks up on him.
He keeps promising to stop. It never happens.
I love him, but I’m sick of trying to help.
Is it wrong to give up on him? I want to live my own life now.
MORE FROM DEAR DEIDRE
DEIDRE SAYS: You can’t help someone who doesn’t want to be helped. He needs to realise he has a problem.
Contact Al-Anon (al-anonuk.org.uk), who support people who have loved ones with an addition.
You can also get in touch with Nacoa, the National Association for Children of Alcoholics (nacoa.org.uk, tel: 0800 358 3456).
My support pack Dealing With A Problem Drinker, may help.
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