My moms drinking definitely got worse
when she started dating Jeff.
I think Jeff is definitely
an enabler to my mom with her drinking
because he drinks everyday
and she's not gonna sit there and not drink
when he's there drinking.
Do you remember that one time
that they ended up drinking and driving
and they got pulled over
and mom told Jeff, "Let's switch seats
"so I don't get in trouble for drinking and driving."?
They're protecting each other
and that doesn't help anything.
Tracy's children all agree
that five years ago when their mother
met her boyfriend Jeff,
her drinking escalated.
Now Jeff says he does not believe
that he enables Tracy's drinking.
In fact he claims that he has tried to teach her
how to control her liquor.
(dramatic music)
Tracy and I have been together for five years.
She has really changed my life.
Tracy's relationship with her children
has gotten worse since we have started dating,
because before she was never a drinker
and now she is drinking.
I do not think that Tracy is an alcoholic.
Tracy drinks pretty much every night,
one to three vodkas
and if she's had a bad day she drinks more.
She drinks three to five.
But on Sundays you know
she might get up in the morning
and have bloody Mary or two.
It's the way that she gets when she's drinking
that is a problem.
She's fighting with her kids,
she drinks until she passes out.
When she gets to certain point I'll say,
"Okay baby girl, you need to slow down."
She gets mad at me and just says no
and just drinks more.
Tracy has threatened suicide to her kids.
Will Tracy ever do it?
No she'll never do it.
Why does she say it?
Maybe she just thinks that
her kids will give her more attention.
I hope Dr. Phil can bring the family back together.
Well I hope so too.
And thanks for being here
'cause you didn't have to do this.
Right.
Do you really think she's not an alcoholic?
Do you really think that she's not drinking
at a dysfunctional level?
I don't think that she's an alcoholic
because I consider an alcoholic
that gets up in the morning
and needs alcohol at five o'clock in the morning.
She drinks only in the afternoons.
I have a text message from her saying
she didn't drink for a couple of days
and she got headaches and that it was from withdrawals,
from alcohol withdrawals.
That is an alcoholic.
To me someone has a problem with alcohol,
they have an alcohol addiction
if they are abusing it,
they're dependent on it,
they show withdrawal if it's taken away from them.
If any substance whatsoever interferes
with the healthy pursuit of healthy goals,
then that's change worthy behavior,
that's a problem.
I work with my mom,
and I've seen her stop at the gas station after work
and get a beer.
Gets one of those big cans.
Yeah but it's not like
she has to get up in the morning and start drinking.
I don't understand your logic here.
The woman is drinking to the point
that she has withdrawal if she doesn't drink.
She has cut the end of her finger off.
I mean...
We've done welfare checks on her multiple.
In one of her welfare checks last year,
she blew a .30 blood alcohol content.
That is in urgent medical emergency range,
and I'm curious, do you care about her?
Yes, I love her.
If you love her,
why would you not want to protect her from herself?
I do protect her to where I have her
slow down on drinking.
You say that she's drunk almost every night,
and then passes out, true?
True.
So you can drink every night
to the point that you pass out,
and that would fall in the normal category for you
as apposed to abnormal? Well not the
normal category but it's,
it's just, it's just in the afternoon
you know when she comes home and drinks.
You know it's not like she,
and everybody thinks she's an alcoholic.
It's not like she gets up in the morning
and starts drinking.
Okay let me just abuse you of something here.
Alcoholism is not defined by the time of day
that you drink.
(audience applause)
So I really disagree with the fact
that you don't need to wake up and start drinking,
which by the way, she does
a lot of times, right?
She gets up in the morning
and has bloody Mary's? No.
Well on Sundays.
Oh well, okay.
But then she'll wake up and have one
or maybe two or three.
Yeah like on the weekend,
like on a Saturday or a Sunday.