I need help getting one of my characters off an Alcohol addiction. I don't know much about how to go about getting him sober and making it sound realistic. He has motivation and has only been addicted for 6 years on and off if that tells you more.
Ana

What is his motivation to quit? Is someone pressuring him? Has he realized that what he's doing is wrong and he's finally made up his mind to quit? (Although, you said he's been on and off for the past six years, so it sounds like he's tried before). It sounds like you have a really good inner struggle plot started here. I would think that how he quits mostly depends on why he quits (and the world/time period that he's in, since most fantasy worlds don't have A&A support groups or rehab centers). Like, if he's quitting for a person, a child or a love interest, what if he carried something of that person's, like a ring, or a locket with a miniature or lock of hair, so that whenever he's tempted he'll remember them and renew his resolve. Just some very long thoughts.

His motivations are his newfound faith in God and his new wife who is expecting their first child. She also will not let him come home drunk.

Moderator's Note: Fixed spelling errors and fixed run-on sentence.

hmmm. He'd prolly have to go through some pretty bad withdrawal symptoms. For a while your body gets really used to alcohol, and then when it doesn't get it, you get really sick, have hallucinations, etc...

NOT kewl.

That's really good motivation, especially that his wife won't let him come home drunk. Hhhmmm, you could get some really good conflict out of this. Not only is there his personal conflict, but the conflict between himself and his wife. But as to a remedy, I'd say it sounds like his only choice is to become completely determined to beat his addiction and go through long months (maybe years) resisting temptation.

Historical blurp here.
Important thing to remember if your story is set in a medieval-type setting:
In most places in the middle ages, water was not the safest thing to drink due to lack of purification capabilities. Most people drank Ale (alcoholic drink made from fermented barley), beer (think that was made from fermented wheat...not sure), or something similar on a daily basis. This is similar to the modern day European casual consumption of alcohol (not that European water isn't safe). This fact brings up two points when dealing with an alcoholic character.

A) If alcoholic drink is the only thing aside from maybe milk and tea that you've had for most of you're life, alcoholism would be less of a risk because of your high tolerance of it. Not EVERYONE in the middle ages was a drunk, just as (clearly) not everyone in Europe is. It is possible to consume alcohol regularly without developing an addiction, so a look into the character's past and how his alcoholism began might be prudent.

B) If your character lives in a medieval world and is trying to overcome an addiction to alcohol, you need to come up with some alternatives for him. One might be tea, which could take ale's place as the common beverage in that the boiling of the water would neutralize most germs (but not pollution, which did exist back then, or natural contaminants like dirt(few rivers have ever been perfectly crystal clear), milk, (but they'd better have lots of sheep around since they were the main source of milk in the average medieval village), or something else altogether like rain water. It's your world so make it the way you like but understand the implications for changing things. If most people in you're world are drinking water, might want to think about how they can do this without being frequently ill and dying off.

Tangent here on the character's motive for quitting. Belief in God is not always enough to overcome addictions, speaking from experience here. I came into addiction after I had been a Christian for several years (brought up in the church, accepted Christ at young age, you know the type), and my faith at the time was not enought to motivate me to quit. Of course, that's different from someone who is newly come to the Faith with a pre-existing addiction. But one thing that my dad the preacher has said time after time: People won't be motivated to quit until the pain caused by the addiction is greater than the pain that they're using the addiction to hide from. The new wife putting her foot down is a good example of this and I applaud your use of it.

Your story sounds very interesting and I hope it goes well for you. Sorry that I can't help you more, but hope this helps.

In Christ,
Jordan

People assume this, but you have to remember that as recently as the 70s people on camping trips drank from the streams without feeling concern.

Furthermore, you may be surprised to know that-if my science book is right-the air and water before the industrial revolution was significantly cleaner than it is today. Besides this, the actual disease spread during the day were mostly spread through poor hygienic practices, not water spread illness. And, to my knowledge, Anthrax is not known to exist at the time.

Besides all this, in a fantasy world, illness can operate on an entirely different basis. Perhaps the gene pool isn't degenerate enough to be susceptible to illness.

Actually, though, I like the idea of this character learning to live on goats milk. It's good for you: can't go wrong with that!

Thanks for setting me straight. I looked through my books again and realized that my memory had pulled a trick on me, oh well. Ale was common as a communal pastime, rural people would get together at someone's house, designated the "Ale House", to drink as a way of socializing. And this of course led to such things as drunken fights and the like. However, it has been mentioned that ale provided nutrients that the villagers' nutrient-deprived diets could not. So, there are still questions to work with. How would a man removing himself from a key part of village life (drinking) be treated by the other villagers? Do the villagers in your world have better diets than those in medieval Europe so that Ale is no longer a nutritional supplement?

In Christ,
Jordan

Thanks for all the info, guys! I will definitely take those points into consideration!...
Elisabeth AKA Ana

Moderator's Note: Fixed spelling and punctuation errors.