The first step is looking for patterns in their drinking habits. Do they drink everyday? Every weekend. Only on Sundays? Do they drink because the kids were screaming all day? Their job is particularly stressful that day?

As we all know, an occasional social drink and drinking to forget a stressful situation are two separate entities. Someone who is clearly drinking to relieve stress is to be considered a potential alcoholic. If you spouse is consistently having to have a few drinks after work just to relax, most likely they are having alcohol dependency problems.

Many recovering alcoholics state that they always tended to blame someone else for all of their problems; their boss was difficult, their spouse nagged all the time, money was scarce. Instead of admitting to any responsibility, they drank their problems away. Has your spouse been blaming everyone around them for their perceived problems?

Alcoholics tend to ignore their family and the problems associated with handling the day to day tasks of raising a family. Do you feel that you are needing to take up the slack to make the bills, fix your home, or take care of the children? Take a close look at where your spouse is failing for you and your family and see if it can be traced back to alcohol usage.

There are many surveys out there to study, articles and books to read, and programs to watch that state if you answer theses questions as yes, then alcoholism is present. Unfortunately, every situation is different. Not only do you need to look at how much is being drank, but also what other behaviour is causing problems in your family life. There is no easy answer but there is a lot of help for the spouse and family if they take the time to look for it.

The important thing to remember while trying to stay sober is that YOU ARE NOT ALONE! There are many others just like you and together, you can help each other. All you have to do is go to the stopDrinkingAdvice.org blog for the very best advice and you will soon begin to feel much better and not so isolated.

Discover how to Stop Drinking Alcohol At http://www.stopdrinkingadvice.org/guide written by Ed Philips and Get Free Advice to help you Quit Alcohol Today.