Amber HollingsworthRecovery Conversation Simulator, Amber's Recovery Practice Lab · Interactive learning tool trained on Amber methodoloy

YOU Keep Pushing Them Deeper Into Denial #addictionhelp #functionalalcoholic #addictionrecovery

2 May 2026 · 1 min

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1:01

Amber Hollingsworth explains why confronting a functional addict often backfires: direct challenges trigger defensiveness and deeper denial. She offers the Denial Breakthrough Challenge, a program teaching families what to say and avoid when helping someone with addiction without sparking arguments.

Chapters

The reason that your conversations haven't worked is probably not because what you said was wrong. It's probably more because you didn't know what you're actually dealing with, or you don't understand that when you confront it that way, you're really just causing someone to defend their actions. It actually keeps people stuck in denial even more. Speaking of that, every month or two, we have something called the Denial Breakthrough Challenge. So if you feel like your loved one has an addiction, but they're sort of still functioning and you can't get them to see it's a problem, the Denial Breakthrough Challenge is definitely for you because we talk about how do you address these issues? What do you say and what do you not say to get someone to see that it's a problem? Which I think is particularly important and it's different when someone is still really functional. If someone is going to work and they're paying their bills or they're a highly successful athlete or something like that, and you're trying to tell them they have a problem directly, they're just going to look at you like crazy. If you have a loved one in that situation and you want to know what to do without starting an argument, getting in a fight, And check out our Denial Breakthrough Challenge.