I am living with a lovely woman who when depressed hits the bottle [vodka] , when she’s drunk sleeps for about two hours then gets up andis very violent to me .

I don’t want to leave her as i love her but i don’t now what to do.

Is there anything i can do

HELP

I bore the brunt of my Father’s controlling behaviour and his violence. I could tell when I came in the door, or when he arrived home what type of mood he was in, how likely he was to drink, and how he was going to play his sadistic violent games.

Alcohol certainly didn’t do the violence, but I’ve seen him come close to hitting other people when intoxicated, that he wouldn’t touch when he was sober. He is a middle classed man with strict ideas about public behaviours.

My experience is that my life has been affected by my both family member’s drinking and their violence. Interestingly, when dad tried prozac, he also became disinhibited and lashed out in a bizarre way at people. he just lost the plot entirely, and had to stop taking it immediately. He has a severe historical head injury.

I have read of other cultures where intoxiacted people are violent, with not only alcohol, but with other mind altering substances. I’ve read of village’s of people cowering in their homes, with the intoxicated person running amok and being afraid they would be the ones chosen to be attacked.