Alcoholism Support Group
Alcoholism is the continued consumption of alcoholic beverages, even when it is negatively affecting your health, work, relationships and life. If you think alcohol is causing you to lose control, it's time to seek help. Our group is a safe place to vent, check in, get back up if you fall, and reach sobriety.
All alcoholics have personality problems. They drink to
escape from life, to counteract feelings of loneliness or
inferiority, or because of some emotional conflict within
them, so that they cannot adjust themselves to life.
Alcoholics cannot stop drinking unless they find a way to
solve their personality problems.
...from 24 Hours a Day
Do you agree? What was/is your personality problem?
escape from life, to counteract feelings of loneliness or
inferiority, or because of some emotional conflict within
them, so that they cannot adjust themselves to life.
Alcoholics cannot stop drinking unless they find a way to
solve their personality problems.
...from 24 Hours a Day
Do you agree? What was/is your personality problem?
MY life is calmer and happier since I don't drink...PERIOD thats all I need to know.
So there is a cure and you have it? Please share...
Thanx,
Dennis
Alcoholism is twofold, is it not? Mental and physical. I began drinking at an age I should have been learning to cope with life's challenges. I learned that alcohol made me feel better. Combine that with the physical craving that causes me to lose control once I start drinking and I was a goner from the get go.
There were REASONS I started drinking as a child. If someone asked me how much or how often I drank between the ages of 6 and 8, it would be like asking how much and how often I ate chicken. It just WAS. I have no idea these things.
As I got older and my drinking became more abusive, there were still REASONS (not excuses) for me to drink, albeit not good reasons, but I didn't know any better. There was no adult in my life teaching me correct coping mechanisms, quite the opposite in fact as my father was an alcoholic.
I was 18 when I realized I was different than my friends when it came to alcohol. With that realization came the end of reasons and the beginning of excuses because then I was able to see that my behavior was wrong. I was able to see and understand the eventual consequences. I knew that to strive for betterment would require that I control or discontinue my alcohol consumption. I did not, therefore I needed an excuse to continue. "Poor me" caused me to drink for a lot of years. I also liked it for various reasons.
There is also the question of inability to cope. If the only solution one is knowing and capable of is to drink, how horrible to blame oneself for doing it. My father died 12 years ago and sober I was unable to think or function. I was depressed and didn't know what else to do. There was no one to "save" me from myself. I had to keep working and functioning - I didn't know another method than to drink to ease the pain. I got through the day because I knew I would get reprieve at night. I eventually pulled out of that funk, but continued to drink. Once again, what at one time was reason became excuse.
I am 34 now and only beginning to understand how to manage my emotions and cope with hardship. I have been introduced to a solution which will CURE the mental aspect of my illness, but just as there is no CURE for an amputated leg, there is no cure for the physical impairment that leads to a physical craving after consuming that first drink.
Absent of all reason to drink, my alcoholism became - I drink because I am an alcoholic, or as Amish says because I "like it". Once you know the solution and want the solution, continuing to drink is a choice, imo.
Sorry that was quite the ramble. Just my thoughts.
Good topic!
Alcoholism is threefold -- physical, mental and spiritual. (certainly that is the AA view) It was also the view of Carl Jung ... another post for another thread.
I heard something good at a meeting not too long ago, to paraphrase, "You will never here someone walk into a meeting and say that they have always felt well adjusted, socially adequate, happy in jobs and school and relationships but they just can't stop drinking."
It doesn't happen often because we are people who spend 24 hours a day thinking about ourselves -- and wen you are that narcissistic and ego-driven you just can't see the world without distortion.
Personally, I believe that we alcoholics end up addicted to alcohol because we love the BS we tell ourselves when we are loaded. I liked the effect of alcohol because I actually could convince myself I was "special"
That didn't evaporate when I put the drink down and that's one hell of a personality problem!
:-p
I see no lack of hope here.....just an admission that me and alcohol do not get along, and once I realized this (and admitted it) I was able to move forward with my life.
Then let me ask a question. Is alcohol really fit for human consumption? Should people be eating poptarts or Big Macs, if any or at all. There are things that are manufactured that people just shouldn't eat or drink. If the thinking is that alcohol causes a disease then should humans drink it? How about tobacco? It causes lung cancer, should people smoke? Is it good for you?