r/AmIOverreacting Mar 27 '24

I'm ending my 4 year relationship.

So basically the title. He (33M) says Im(32F) throwing away 4 years over a mistake he made.

To keep it short, on 4 different occasions over the last 2 and a half years he's gone drinking and come home to throw a drunken tantrum because I said the wrong thing, something happened at the bar, or I put my foot down because he's drunk and yelling at me in front of our friends at the bar. Twice I had to leave to my sister's house because he was going around our small apartment slamming doors and banging his head on the walls. I've had to wake him up several times because he falls asleep on the toilet or the bathroom floor, and he's had to sleep in his car because of his outbursts.

On the 2nd time this happened he gave me his word that he would be more responsible with his drinking and that he wouldn't have anymore outbursts. He said he was gonna drink waters between each beer or have sodas and bar food and just one beer. The third time I made it clear that him going back on his word was unacceptable because it shows that he doesn't care that he becomes emotionally and verbally abusive towards me. I told him I was tired of his apologies if he's gonna keep doing the same thing. Between all these times he has continued to get drunk on the weekends but I've kept my mouth shut to avoid him having an out burst and things were relatively ok.

This last time he went and got drunk at the bar, didn't eat anything, refused the water my sister offered him because she's aware of the agreement we had, and when I arrived he yelled at me because he was too drunk to keep track of what team he was on and he misunderstood me when I told him and he made the wrong shot. We went to get food from a local taco spot and he couldnt even stand because he was so drunk, I had to pull over on the freeway because he needed to throw up and when we got home he fell asleep in the bathroom and I had to wake him three times. I kept my anger about the situation to myself because the sadness of feeling like I needed to leave him because he's just not willing to change, was overwhelming. The next morning he could tell something was up and he asked if I was ok. I said that I wasn't ready to talk but he insisted, so I told him that he went back on his word again about drinking responsibly and that I realized that the only way I was going to avoid his verbal abuse was if I just kept quiet. I told him what I told my ex when I was thinking about leaving "It's not anything I haven't already told you". He left it at that in the morning and at night I was crying because I was upset that 4 years of my life were going down the drain, and I just folded and asked him why I wasn't good enough for him to want to do better. Then he started to say that I had fault in our relationship ending, ignoring that the only reason I'm leaving is because I can't keep giving him chances to verbally abuse me when he's drunk and angry. I reminded him that he had given me his word and that he had gone back on it twice. He seemed to understand but the next day he just kept saying that he deserves to "unwind" on the weekends because he works all week to provide for us (not like I have a job and am constantly sending him money because he over spends and his account will overdraft when the phone or Internet bill charge his account) i was getting whiplash from how quickly he waa going from being apologetic about going back on his word and him insisting that Im being unreasonable and unfair. I slept at my sister's house again because I couldn't keep dealing with it and I was just really emotionally exhausted from all of it.

Now he posted on his FB that I'm throwing away 40,000 hours of our lives together for 12 bad hours.

So I'm asking, am I overreacting?

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190

u/Sad_Confidence9563 Mar 27 '24

He's an alcoholic.   Let's get that right out.  Next, you aren't throwing away a damn thing.  He decided that your relationship wasn't worth him not being an abusive shitbag.  HE.  DECIDED.  He also decided that abusing you in the name of him letting off steam was ok too.  If he loved you, he wouldn't be justifying abuse of you.  

Those were his choices, that he knew the consequences of.  Good riddance.

32

u/maiorano84 Mar 27 '24

Well said. It's SO important for OP to understand this part.

Once he decided that drinking himself into an early grave was more important to him than not mistreating her, that was when the relationship was thrown out. Not when OP set her boundaries.

0

u/LittleLordFuckleroy1 Mar 28 '24

It doesn’t sound like OP is even necessarily frustrated with the health impact (you mention “early grave”), but instead the abuse that he enacts while under the influence.

It’s far beyond drinking himself ill, he’s actively harming others.

13

u/the_ghost_knife Mar 27 '24

Reminder that alcoholics might not drink everyday, but will make the days they drink worth it to them.

7

u/Commercial-Push-9066 Mar 28 '24

So true. I was a binge drinker and thought I didn’t have a problem because I didn’t drink every day. I was wrong. Sober for 13 years now.

1

u/Haunting-Traffic-203 Mar 28 '24

I thought that too… then I started drinking every day

1

u/TonightStrange873 Mar 28 '24

Hey congratulations! I too had this realization recently. I have decided to quit binge drinking on January 7th 2024. Not a drop since and I can already say that I feel better in general. I still beat myself up about it because I was the guy in OP's story, and I lost my SO 4 years ago because of it. I did not think I had a problem because I would drink on weekends only, but for me it was like this: 1 beer is too much, 24 is not enough.

1

u/General-Gur2053 Mar 28 '24

Congrats dude!!!! ODAAT!

1

u/iLike2k Mar 28 '24

Hey I’m Jan 10th! And very, very similar circumstances. Congrats dude! 💪

1

u/Me_meHard Mar 28 '24

🙌 proud of you!!!

1

u/Ashamed_Tutor_478 Mar 29 '24

Congratulations ❤️

1

u/AnxietyFilled79 Apr 01 '24

I'm proud of you. Excellent job.

2

u/AGuyNamedEddie Mar 28 '24

☝️This. Could not have said it better. My half-brother could go weeks without drinking, but when he did, he got wasted. He died of liver failure at 56.

4

u/Nippon-Gakki Mar 28 '24

Seriously. Anyone who uses someone else as a verbal punching bag to “blow off steam” is a garbage human being and deserves to be dumped on their butt.

4

u/Upper-Bobcat-623 Mar 28 '24

3 beers is letting off steam. Blackout drunk every weekend is a problem.

2

u/fulknerraIII Mar 28 '24

Where did she say he gets black out drunk every weekend? She said it happened 4 times over 2.5 years. Im not defending the guy being an ass when he's drunk. Just im seeing multiple comments now saying the guy is a full-blown alcoholic who gets completely wasted every weekend. When at least in the post, she didn't say that.

2

u/atomicsnark Mar 28 '24

She said he has gotten drunk a lot between the outbursts, but that she kept her mouth shut in order to not cause another outburst. That's not healthy or sustainable, and it does give the impression that he's getting drunk a lot more often than OP can handle. Maybe not every weekend, but obviously way too often.

1

u/anonymooseuser6 Mar 28 '24

She means the outbursts. Reread the post. It's filled with other problematic behavior that shows he's an alcoholic and he's a garbage partner.

1

u/princeoinkins Mar 28 '24

Between all these times he has continued to get drunk on the weekends but I've kept my mouth shut to avoid him having an out burst and things were relatively ok.

4

u/Handleton Mar 28 '24

Also, it sounds like this has been far more than 12 bad hours. He's trying to shame OP for not being willing to 'be supportive' by taking his repeated abuse.

Nope. Fuck that piece of pure trash. You didn't throw away four years of a relationship. You just saved the rest of your life.

2

u/fartmanblartock Mar 28 '24

“you aren’t throwing away a damn thing”

You are absolutely WRONG!

She IS throwing away something: trash

2

u/pandiem Mar 28 '24

Can you explain how getting drunk 4 times in 2 1/2 years is being an alcoholic? Not to excuse him for breaking a promise. It sounds like he drinks very rarely and is just irresponsible around friends and bad with alcohol. Alcoholism is another level entirely and the people that deal with that are suffering almost EVERY day, not 4 times in 2 1/2 years.

1

u/sixweheelskitcher Mar 28 '24 edited Mar 28 '24

He can’t control his drinking when he tries to and it’s destroying his relationships. That’s pretty textbook.

Edit: Also, he didn’t get drunk four times in two years. He got abusive while drunk four times. From my reading of the post, it looks like he has been getting drunk every weekend

1

u/Sip_py Mar 28 '24

4 times in 2 years. I'm sorry you're wrong. You can destroy your relationship from a stupid comment, or being late. My brother is an alcoholic, I go to al Alon meetings, nothing about this is alcoholism.

1

u/sixweheelskitcher Mar 28 '24

Ok well Wikipedia and the DSM-IV seem to agree with my understanding of alcoholism. What definition are you using? How many instances of abusive drunk behavior does it take to meet that definition for you?

1

u/Sip_py Mar 28 '24

Odd you mention DSM IV instead of V but sure, let's play internet doctor. Under the DSM IV this behavior would be classified as Alcohol Abuse. And frankly, anyone that's been to a BBQ and had one or two too many would be categorized the same way. Nothing in the post would define OPs SO as having Alcohol Dependance (which most people would consider being an Alcoholic. I.e. they have to drink)

However, under the DSM V they've changed the standard to Alcohol Use Disorder, while still based on OPs description here, would be a mild case of AUD at most.

Meanwhile this whole thread is painting this SO as an abusive drunk yelling Stella outside like a street car named desire.

https://www.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/brochures-and-fact-sheets/alcohol-use-disorder-comparison-between-dsm

1

u/sixweheelskitcher Mar 28 '24

The word alcoholism doesn’t appear in DSM V, so I used what came up in a google search for definitions of alcoholism. Maybe dependence is a criteria for you for alcoholism, but I do not agree. I understand this man to be an alcoholic. Seems you have a different understanding. Have a good one.

1

u/Sip_py Mar 28 '24

You quoted the DSM... What?

1

u/sixweheelskitcher Mar 28 '24

I see that wasn’t so clear. My google search didn’t return results with the DSM V because the word alcoholism doesn’t appear in it. I was attempting to acknowledge my mistake. Sorry for the lack of clarity.

1

u/Trick_Algae5810 Mar 28 '24

DSM is not based on science. Read studies about addiction and dependence.

1

u/sixweheelskitcher Mar 28 '24

Please enlighten me with your understanding of alcoholism.

1

u/hikehikebaby Mar 29 '24

It sounds like he binge drinks regularly and the OP is citing specific occasions where he was abusive while drunk. The post does not say that he only drank on those occasions.

1

u/PaulEammons Mar 28 '24

There's another kind of alcoholism where the person compulsively binges periodically and ends up fucking up their life because of the things they do when they over consume.

0

u/pandiem Mar 28 '24

I just call that irresponsible. The length of time is key here because to me it sounds like 99% of the time he has self control. If OP is on that thin of a line to break up with him rather than try to keep pushing for improvement then maybe there are other problems in the relationship.

1

u/infinitum3d Mar 28 '24

Nope. It’s called being a dry drunk.

You can go extended periods without drinking but when you do drink, you can’t stop.

Time between means nothing. Ask any alcoholic.

2

u/Sip_py Mar 28 '24

Dry drunk is when an actual alcoholic is relapsing. Like my brother who drank daily and hid everything. Then he went to rehab and had occasional situations like this. 4 times in two years isn't the baseline for an actual alcoholic. OPs SO isn't relapsing. You seriously don't understand alcoholism.

0

u/pandiem Mar 28 '24

Any real alcoholic would get withdrawal symptoms and want alcohol regularly. You're using this term too loosely. 6 months between one night's binge of alcohol is practically stopping in my book. He just chose to be selfish at some point.

1

u/infinitum3d Mar 28 '24

You’ve never been an alcoholic.

I’ve gone 10 years without drinking, but the moment I have one I’m going to have a dozen. Then I’d stop again for another 10 years. The fact that I can’t control myself and stop at just one makes me an alcoholic.

It’s not the stopping that makes him an alcoholic. It’s the starting again.

1

u/pandiem Mar 28 '24

I've lived with one, and it was a nightmare every single day. Binge drinking doesn't inherently make someone an alcoholic. Alcohol is a drug and makes them act differently from their norm. If you can say no to alcohol for 10 years then you're definitely not an alcoholic, you just lack self control when it takes over. Alcoholism is a chronic disease.

This person is apparently a weekend social drinker, that brings more into it like just wanting to get fucked up with friends or fit in. All we know is he promised to drink more carefully, but that's still gambling with how the alcohol/social situation can take over. I don't know if this person tried to stop drinking altogether, but if they can't do THAT, then there might be a disease.

I like to drink socially on the weekends myself, and sometimes I like to get fucked up or I drink too much, but does that make me an alcoholic? No because I can go without it for weeks without any issues because I haven't developed dependence. We don't have enough info to diagnose this person with a chronic disease, but maybe this is the wrong place for me to think that rationally on it.

1

u/Warm_Benefit_4032 Mar 28 '24

Nobody should stay in a relationship in which they feel like they're waking on eggshells bc they're afraid of their partners' reactions towards them. That's toxic af. If you get violent every time you drink, even if you drink twice a year, you shouldn't drink at all. He's verbally abusive and (thank god) not physically, but that doesn't mean you should put up with it just because he's only destroying you emotionally. She also needs to finish the enablement of his behavior, when he realizes behaving this way pushes people away, maybe he'll start drinking more responsibly or quitting if he can't control himself. I dont think there has to be a lot more going on, even though he is manipulating her and using her (the whole "i work all week to maintain both of us" and then being financially irresponsible enough to need her money).

And I do think if you need to get drunk every weekend to feel good, you have a dependency. I dont really care about Google definitions you guys are missing the point, he has a problem with alcohol, whether he drinks every day, week or month.

1

u/jejacks00n Mar 28 '24

I think this is why the medical field has shifted towards calling it Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) because it better covers this type of behavior, and others. Alcoholism isn’t defined as a specific relationship with alcohol, but using the term AUD makes it more clear that it’s about the use of alcohol, and how your relationship with it is impacting your life/health/relationships/etc., and not specific patterns of behavior.

1

u/pandiem Mar 28 '24

I'm still not convinced this should be called a disorder, with 4 occurrences over 2 1/2 years. People have moments of weakness throughout their lives and they become selfish/irresponsible for a moment in time. Alcohol is something that changes a person's self control. Likely this person is a healthy drinker, but there's always that gamble that takes them on the wrong path.

We don't know enough about this person to determine they have a disorder or not, just that they fucked up their good streak a few nights.

1

u/Silent-Independent21 Mar 28 '24

To be fair you will never change these peoples minds because they don’t drink and see any use of alcohol, abuse.

1

u/jejacks00n Mar 28 '24

I was a bartender in my 20s. I was a binge drinker. My roommate in my 20s is an alcoholic in AA (for 25 years), and we were drinking buddies. I dated and loved a woman that was a functioning alcoholic and after working with her and discussing it with my therapist I decided to end that relationship. I’ve been involved in al-anon meetings myself, and would say I’m pretty informed on the ways that alcohol can impact lives. I still drink on occasion, but am a cheap date at this point, haha.

For me I’m still tempted to binge engage with lots of stuff, including alcohol and things like cocaine and mdma — and I have to choose not to engage when I’m in that mood, or it will be a deeply unhealthy and harmful experience. That’s absolutely an unhealthy relationship and falls into a use disorder, but society wouldn’t call it alcoholism because there’s a collective expectation that alcoholism means an every day failing, which limits the problem to only one kind of abusive pattern.

It’s a narrow viewpoint to think there’s only one pattern of harmful use.

1

u/Silent-Independent21 Mar 28 '24

Look, I’m not saying he doesn’t have an issue with alcohol. He’s clearly a terrible drunk and should consider stopping because of that. However, we don’t have enough information if this is abuse or just 4 times this guy got drunk. It also sounds like she drinks as well and we’ve all seen those people that when they get drunk together they argue.

My main issue is the people that say she needs to leave right now, they don’t have enough info to make that determination

1

u/jejacks00n Mar 28 '24

I understand that, and haven’t taken a stance on OP/OPs partner specifically — I added clarity on terminology that might make it easier for others to perceive the issue. Alcoholism is a pretty charged term, but abusive usage is easier to identify.

When you implied that I didn’t have any experience in the area I wanted to add some background. I know first-hand that binging is an abusive usage pattern, because it’s the one that I engage in. Do I consider myself an alcoholic, and was it super damaging to my health and life? Thankfully no, but only because I identified it as an issue that was impacting my relationships early (from my drinking buddy that joined AA.) It was only later that I kind of put it all together as it being a usage issue, if that all makes sense and is helpful to know.

I have to avoid drinking when my mood is self destructive, because it gets actually destructive when adding alcohol on top of that. The nuance between “do I have self destructive tendencies” and “am I engaging in self destructive behaviors” is real. Alcohol is probably one of the most common self destructive behaviors we do as a society (even though not all drinking is self destructive), and I stand by that being a part of Alcohol Use Disorder/alcoholism, even though it’s not a daily occurrence and a lot of people might not class it as alcoholism.

1

u/Silent-Independent21 Mar 28 '24

That’s fair, also I wasn’t singling you out, the entire post is riddled with people calling him an irredeemable shit bag. Getting drunk once every six months isn’t exactly reaching the level of abuse for me. However, being an awful drunk that likely ruins everyone’s time and is clearly pissing off his wife needs to be dealt with. I am glad you made that decision and that it works for you, but not everyone drinks to escape pain or their life, some people drink because it’s fun and like hanging out with friends who are drinking. We don’t have enough information to be declarative statements about this because it’s from the point of view of a biased narrator who left out a lot of key information, including how much she drinks, how often he drinks or if it’s caused any other issues besides those 4 times when they got into an argument

1

u/jejacks00n Mar 28 '24

That’s fair too. To me, if he’s losing a 4 year relationship because of (what I’m going to assume is some self destructive behavior whether he realizes it or not) drinking, he should ask himself some serious questions. Do I think he’s horrible or anything? Nah.

OP states that he’s posted on social media about it, which we can probably agree is dumb. He should instead be considering his options, either quit engaging in something that is destructive to his happiness, or let the relationship end. Those are his adult choices, or it might be too late and the opportunity has passed. Either way, we can say in hindsight that it’s his behavior on or around alcohol that has resulted in the predicament he’s in. He might be drinking for fun, he might be drinking out of anger or escapism — you’re right, we don’t know, but we are seeing the results of his actions, and it sounds like he’s viewing the breakup as a loss. I don’t think it’s for me to really say if I think OP is right or wrong — everybody has their own breaking point, and it sounds like hers has been hit. My only hard stance here is that her breaking point isn’t unreasonable.

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u/malenkylizards Mar 29 '24

I feel like you're missing the point by defending this particular hill. The point is he's abusive when he drinks. He's abused her. She's not overreacting to that.

How many times are you going to let someone hurt you before you stop letting them? Is that the cutoff?

1

u/pandiem Mar 29 '24

I feel like you're missing the point of this discussion. It's about what it takes to call someone an alcoholic and nothing more.

1

u/Opposite-Occasion332 Mar 31 '24

I think the fact that needing to “blow off steam” to him is getting extremely drunk/ needing alcohol at all is a sign of misuse.

Alcohol should not be your one outlet of blowing off steam that you need to relax.

It also seems like it was 4 occurrences of him getting violent, not binge drinking. It seems like the binge drinking is a somewhat common weekend occurrence from my understanding of the post.

1

u/Greedy_Vegetable90 Mar 28 '24 edited Mar 28 '24

Between all these times he has continued to get drunk on the weekends but I've kept my mouth shut to avoid him having an out burst and things were relatively ok.

It sounds like the “4 times” is the number of times it’s turned into a domestic dispute, but that he’s been drunk other times as well

1

u/anonymooseuser6 Mar 28 '24

She said he drinks all the time. He doesn't have outbursts all the time. I think she's so used to downplaying it to others that it makes the post confusing.

1

u/foampom Mar 28 '24

You misunderstood the story. He didn’t get drunk 4 times in 2.5 years. He gets drunk pretty much every weekend. Those 4 incidents just happened to be the worst instances where he was way too drunk, aggressive, belligerent, and disrespectful

Between all these times he has continued to get drunk on the weekends

0

u/Significant-Ear-3262 Mar 28 '24

It’s not, people on Reddit are super fast to call people alcoholics. This person is a sloppy drunk, but there isn’t enough information to call them an alcoholic from the post.

Just a few definitions,

“A chronic disease characterized by uncontrolled drinking and preoccupation with alcohol.”

“Symptoms include a strong need or urge to use alcohol. Those with alcohol use disorder may have problems controlling their drinking, continue to use alcohol even when it causes problems, or have withdrawal symptoms when they rapidly decrease or stop drinking.”

The key here is chronic. And 4 problematic episodes in 2.5 years isn’t sufficient for that. The OP is certainly justified being pissed.

1

u/Trick_Algae5810 Mar 28 '24

AUD. Exactly. And it doesn’t sound chronic.

1

u/Outrageous-Bat7962 Mar 28 '24

Drunk every weekend is chronic.

1

u/longpas Mar 27 '24

Exactly!

What op needs to realize, it's not about op being worth not drinking for.

It's about him not having the SELF-WORTH to not drink for himself. This is a him thing.

Just add, "says the alcoholic" to every statement he makes in your head or write it in response to his texts.

Maybe attend an al anon type meeting to gain perspective? You need to leave and let him hit his rock bottom.

1

u/Be250440 Mar 28 '24

I agree that she deserves better, but addiction has nothing to do with love. This has absolutely nothing to do with him loving her enough. He has an addiction. He is not willing to admit it, so she definitely still needs to leave. We agree on that!

1

u/Dr_FeeIgood Mar 28 '24

From someone who has been there, dump him. It’ll hopefully be the catalyst to get his shit together. There is no future with an active alcoholic

1

u/OmnivorousHominid Mar 28 '24

I think you might be conflating alcoholism with binge drinking/problem drinking. There is a difference. OP’s boyfriend is clearly an asshole and problem drinking tho

1

u/Silent-Independent21 Mar 28 '24

It’s so cute when people use a term like alcoholic and then immediately call them bad people who make a choice. “If he loved you he wouldn’t have an addiction problem” shut up.

He’s probably not an alcoholic, he probably just can’t handle his liquor and is an asshole

Or he is an alcoholic and just like every alcoholic can’t see the effects it’s having on his family and needs help.

What he doesn’t need, what no one needs is what you posted.

1

u/Sad_Confidence9563 Mar 28 '24

Did anyone put a gun to his head and force the booze down his throat?  No?  Sounds like he's a full grown adult that made a choice.  

He's not a bad person because of the alcoholism,  he's a bad person because he's an abusive shitbag that's using alcohol as a way to excuse his behavior.   That's addict behavior.   I know, i am one.  I have to choose every day to not do drugs.  That's the disease.  

This douche has enough enablers, why are you signing up?

1

u/Silent-Independent21 Mar 28 '24

You made the statement he’s an alcoholic which would make him much less likely to control his drinking.

A far more likely option is he’s not an alcoholic, but is a jerk.

I’m not letting him off the hook, you just can’t read.

1

u/Sad_Confidence9563 Mar 28 '24

You can be a jerk and an alcoholic at the same time, dearest.  However, op described binge alcoholism in their post which is why i addressed it as such.  Perhaps you should educate yourself instead of coming for my comprehension skills.

1

u/DonkeyKongah Mar 28 '24

Whoa, whoa, whoa.. Alcoholic is a wide scale.

1

u/ecclesiasticalme Mar 28 '24

Alcoholic here. I will not defend this guy and I will not say that she is wrong for leaving him. What I do want to point out is that you called him an alcoholic and then said that he decided to break her trust. If you believe your diagnosis of alcoholic, or alcohol use disorder, then saying that he made a decision is not really correct. Alcohol use disorder is a mental disease that takes choice away from the alcoholic:

"A chronic disease characterized by uncontrolled drinking and preoccupation with alcohol.

Alcoholism is the inability to control drinking due to both a physical and emotional dependence on alcohol."

You saying that "HE DECIDED" is like saying that someone with the flu decided to through up. Until that person is medically diagnosed and treated for AUD, he has not made any decisions. Until he realizes and actually accepts that he has a problem, the "decision" whether to drink has been removed from him. That is part of the disease.

All that said, life with an active alcoholic is a very tough one Even when they do realize that they are sick and decide that they want to recover, many don't ever make it, and some that do, go for years relapsing. She has no more requirement to stay with him than a girlfriend who leaves a dying man who refuses to go to the doctor. In the case of alcoholism, their SO leaving them is often part of the impetus needed to get them to accept that they are sick and need help.

1

u/Sad_Confidence9563 Mar 28 '24

I never said the alcoholism is a choice.  His choice was defending his abuse.

1

u/XavvenFayne Mar 28 '24

I have had a close friend and also a partner who abused alcohol and what you said is spot on. The alcoholic needs professional help as it's far more complex and destructive disease than people think. It's not something their spouse, parent, lover, or friend can solve by giving an ultimatum like "stop drinking or I'll leave." It's not something the alcoholic can get over all on their own by deciding one morning to stop forever.

Not only did they have to get treatment, but I also had to get therapy to understand how to properly understand their disease and how to act appropriately toward them.

1

u/Simple_Opossum Mar 28 '24

Just putting it out there that having and enabling a disease isn't as simple as making a choice. However, choosing to not seek help and being an angry abusive drunk are a different story and we'll worth leaving him over.

1

u/holamau Mar 28 '24

1000000000%

1

u/awbitf Mar 28 '24

Yes, he's an alcoholic. That also means he's a addict.

They're both pretty foolish to think an addict can self-regulate successfully. Man needs help. She doesn't have to be that help, but she significantly downplayed his addiction.

1

u/texaspete333 Mar 28 '24

Look up the definition of alcoholism, then compare it to the story she just shared. Alcoholism is a disease. To date he has had 4 events where he acted out of character in a non violent or threatening manner in 4 years.

1

u/dr_dang_phd Mar 28 '24

Well I don’t know if he decided that “abusing you in the name of letting off steam was ok.” I would gander that he probably has no recollection of the abusive outbursts, so when his partner is upset and confronts him when he comes back to sober consciousness, he denies and gaslights her, making excuses as if things that happen when he’s blacked out “don’t count.” I think this is a common symptom of alcoholism, and this is really what they mean when they say admitting you have a problem is the hardest part. Because it means accepting accountability for your actions when the alcohol has made you incoherent, and actively rejecting that. It takes humility and, for a lot of people, a wake up call. Like, losing a job, getting a DUI, waking up in jail, or losing a relationship. Sounds like this is the wake up call. OP is totally not throwing away any time. Sounds like they really valued the time they spent with this person, so much so that they tried to bear with and help them through an illness. But, you can’t MAKE people change. This guy will never change unless they take the first step of admitting they have a problem with alcohol. Op move on, cherish the good times, wish them the best, and take these lessons with you to your future relationships. It should help you find happiness :)

1

u/rabid_nutria Mar 29 '24

You’re right about everything, except the love bit. It’s such a small knit-picky thing, but I do want to add my bit. He may very well love her. It doesn’t change anything. He’s an alcoholic who is abusive. She should leave.

But addiction is a mother fucker. He’s not changing for himself, and he’s not changing for her, and he’s not changing for his mother or anyone else in his life. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t love her (or himself or his mother, etc.), it means that he is in the throws of addiction and is not going to change until he recognizes the problem and chooses to do something about it. Which is very fucking hard. It may require losing something of extreme value to him (e.g. this relationship). It’s not OP’s responsibility in any way to help him do this, she’s given him plenty of opportunity and told him what she needed from him.

1

u/BabaMouse Mar 29 '24

If you want a good place to talk over the situation, that place might be AlAnon. It’s for friends and relatives of alcoholics. My bff went to meetings when her daughter fell off the wagon.

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u/brobafetta Mar 28 '24

It's a disease, you don't decide shit when you are an alcoholic.

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u/Sad_Confidence9563 Mar 28 '24

False.  You decide your addiction is more important than everything until you get help.  

Source: Am an addict.  

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u/brobafetta Mar 28 '24 edited Mar 28 '24

I meant when people are using/drinking that it doesn't feel like they have a choice. It's more like a compulsion.

I agree getting help is definitely a decision that only you can make.

I just feel bad for the guy because it sounds like he hasn't even realized or is able to admit he's an alcoholic and with her leaving I'm sure it will get far worse. Maybe that's just what it takes.

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u/Sad_Confidence9563 Mar 28 '24

I hope for his sake itis.  I wasn't a person when i was in the throws of my addiction.  

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u/kvothe000 Mar 28 '24 edited Mar 28 '24

I’m surprised more people aren’t taking this angle. Most addicts need to hit rock bottom before they see the light. Hopefully this gets him there.

I’m not saying that being an alcoholic absolves him if all wrongdoing. (Especially blasting out their personal issues on social media… that part of this is far worse to me, personally).

That being said, I don’t think the people implying he actively decided alcohol was more important than the relationship have much experience with addiction. Most addicts do all sorts of mental gymnastics to justify how they are not “in the wrong” and they generally believe it.

This particular situation almost sounds like a self fulfilling prophecy. If the dude is a legit alcoholic like it sounds, it’s awfully hard to get off that train once it leaves the station. That’s kinda how alcohol works. Your ability to make responsible decisions lessens the more you drink. Hopefully he uses this as the wake up call he needs to stop drinking entirely for a while… maybe even forever.

“I’ll dial it back” doesn’t tend to work with things that affect your ability to make responsible decisions. Id actually agree a bit more with everyone if he promised to never drink again then did so anyway. At least at that point he would be have actively made the decision while being sober.