It’s been a long day at work, let’s go have a drink. Let’s go shopping, but first let’s go have a drink. These statements seem okay, but they can turn into a problem. 1 in 12 American adults are alcoholics. Many factors contribute to why alcoholics drink, for some drinking helps numb emotional pain or stress they might be experiencing. Emotional pain or stress can come from a death in the family, divorce, loss of a job, or anxiety disorders. There are many ways to help the alcoholic deal with the emotional pain without drinking. Excessive use of alcohol is a good signal of emotional pain and the first sign of addiction, especially when it comes out of the blue like in my case. After my dad passed away, my sister and I noticed my mother started to drink. At first we did not think anything of it until it started to affect her everyday life. Other indicators of alcohol addiction we noticed was she had given up her hobbies, pushed away her friends, couldn’t do anything with