Hello,

I am writing out of concern for my brother, and subsequently my own safety. With the economy the way it is these days, my brother and I are both living under the same roof again. It has come to my attention that he is definately showing the signs of alcoholism, and is becoming increasingly worse. I have tried talking to him rationally, I have tried giving him advice based on my own experiences with addiction, and I have tried letting him come to the realization on his own. None of these approaches has worked.

Tonight he became violent with me. He came home from the bar completely drunk, slurring words, stumbling up the stairs, and with a chip on his shoulder because someone at the bar made fun of his weight. I spoke with him for 10 minutes and talked him down to where he understood he made the right decision to not fight the guy. Ten minutes later he walks into my room accusing me of "stealing his weed". So I sit, dumbfounded, as he blindly throws accusation after accusation at me until I decide it's time to stand up and get him out of my room. I walk to his room, and he follows, and low and behold his weed is sitting within eyeshot from the door.

From this point on he gets downright aggressive. Through his incoherent ramblings I hear him saying I put it there to make him look stupid and so I could come back for more, he was making no sense. Then he attacks, for absolutely no reason, and grabs me and slams me against the wall. I was able to take him down to the ground and put some space in between us and in the ruckus my mother wakes up in time to restore order, since all of my words were falling on deaf, and angrily drunken ears.

I don't know how to handle him, or this situation anymore. He is constantly drunk, and he is a very aggressive, angry, belligerent drunk. On a daily basis he will usually drink anywhere between six to twelve beers. Most of the time he buys the highest alcohol content he can find. I'm worried for his own health, and worried that his drunken rages are going to either wind up with one of us severely hurt or arrested. I feel that the only choice I'm left with is to counter aggression with aggression and I am not a violent person, I do not like being put into that situation.

How can I get through to him? Should I just try to avoid him at all costs? I feel this tearing apart our relationship because the more I try to help him the more he hates me for it, and it seems like the more I try the more he drinks. I'm tired of having a quiet night interupted by his drunken antics, I can't keep doing this.