I have seen the detrimental effects that long term heavy drinking have caused my mother. She is deeply depressed, due to other factors but made worse by her drinking. She has many physical issues such as trembles, red eyes, terrible tummy troubles that have included a bleeding ulcer. She is deep denial that these things have been caused by her alcohol abuse. But the worst thing is that she has become childlike and very forgetful. She doesn't know what she has done half the time. She sends me repetitive texts and posts utter nonsense on facebook (like jumbled letters). She was trying to tell me someone rang her doorbell the other day. And all she could come up with was "that thing people do when they come to your door". I have seen horrible changes in her "mind" and personality. Fortunately she is not aggressive or confrontational. But it hurts to watch all the same.