I applaud this way of thinking for problem drinkers, however I am most certainly an alcoholic and I have tried this kind of thinking in the past without much effect. Something I will quote from the text on the link is:

"If you believe you are an alcoholic, you will see alcohol as a threat, youll see bars and drinkers and supermarket shelves and bottles and advertising all as a big threat. Youll see yourself as damaged, weak, limited, trapped. How will that affect the way you think about your abilities in other areas of your life?"

I haven't seen alcohol as a threat for many years. I don't see myself as damaged, weak, limited or trapped. I am neutral toward alcohol. As long I do not ingest it I can carry on my merry way, see it advertised, be amongst people drinking it and not be disturbed by it. The way I see it I am a recovered (not cured) alcoholic, I am fine with that, it's a good thing really as it deters me from getting complacent so I strive to get better in mind and body each and every day.

Alcoholic can call themselves anything they like, including a non-drinker but the fact remains that they are still alcoholics. They have undergone a physical change in the way that the body handles alcohol and that sets them apart from people who can drink normally. Once I grasped that fact, I knew that I could not drink safely and I understood the consequences of drinking again.

No doubt the approach suggested in the video would work for some people but I am pretty sure that it would not have worked for me. No matter how many times I chanted the I am not a drinker mantra I know that I would be in a constant battle with the urge to drink. What I needed was to be reminded of the reality that I am an alcoholic and cannot drink safely. After that, I could work on a way to remove the urge/obsession. Now, I dont have to call myself a non-drinker or an alcoholic except when I choose to do so as the problem has been removed.

Telling yourself that you are not a drinker anymore and giving time for the habit to be broken, as the video suggests, is good thinking and if it works for a percentage of alcoholics that is well and good. What is to become of the sizable percentage for whom alcoholism has become so entrenched that no amount of self-help is going to solve the problem? Are these people doomed to a life of struggle and constant relapse or should they be encouraged to explore other options?

The blogger in the video is undoubtedly genuine in his beliefs but I believe that he is sadly mistaken. The following paragraph underlines his mistaken beliefs and lack of understanding : If you believe you are an alcoholic, you will see alcohol as a threat, youll see bars and drinkers and supermarket shelves and bottles and advertising all as a big threat. Youll see yourself as damaged, weak, limited, trapped. How will that affect the way you think about your abilities in other areas of your life? That paragraph demonstrates that our blogger friend has either a total lack of understanding of or has deliberately chosen to misinterpret a different approach to the problem.

I believe (and know) that I am an alcoholic but I do not see alcohol as a threat. The Big Book (Alcoholics Anonymous - pages 84 and 85) lists various promises about how peoples attitude to alcohol will change as the result of the first ten steps of the AA programme of recovery. The first one is: And we have ceased fighting anything or anyone - even alcohol. It goes on: For by this time sanity will have returned. We will seldom be interested in liquor. If tempted, we will recoil from it as from a hot flame (similar to the poison analogy of the blogger). We react sanely and normally, and we will find that this has happened automatically. We will see that our new attitude towards liquor has been given us without any thought or effort on our part. It just comes! That is the miracle of it. We are not fighting it, neither are we avoiding temptation. We feel as though we had been placed in a position of neutrality - safe and protected. We have not even sworn off. Instead, the problem has been removed. It does not exist for us. We are neither cocky nor are we afraid. That is our experience. That is how we react so long as we keep in a fit spiritual condition.

Therefore, I do not see alcohol as a threat. There is more alcohol in the house now than when I was drinking. I will go to the supermarket before Christmas and buy many bottles of wine and spirits as well as some beer that will be either given as gifts or consumed in the house by family members and guests. I go to bars quite often if I have business there. At one time, on entering a bar room my gaze would be drawn to the bottles on the wall like iron to a magnet. Now, I dont see those bottles at all - they are not a threat.

The blogger goes on: Youll see yourself as damaged, weak, limited, trapped. Nothing could be further from the truth. I see myself as someone who has recovered from a fatal condition and for that I am eternally grateful. When I was drinking and trying unsuccessfully to quit, I was weak and trapped. Now I have an inner strength that I never believed would be possible. I have been released from the bondage of alcoholism and I am a free man. I am limited only by the effort that I am prepared to put into life. Great things are happening and the future is full of hope.

I am sure that our Alcohol Mastery blogger means well and I applaud anyone who finds success from using his methods or indeed any other method. However, it is painful for me when people insist that just treating alcohol as poison is the answer for every alcoholic. From my own experience I know that for many alcoholics, more is required. Failure is often fatal so I would encourage people to be careful about how they approach the problem. If this blog is helpful to someone who is struggling with alcoholism, by all means use that approach and if not, keep the mind open to other methods.

I can relate to that video. I was a smoker, addicted to nicotine. When someone asks me for a cigarette I don't say that I am an addicted to nicotine. I simply say "I don't smoke." I answer same with alcohol, when offered a drink, "I don't drink" I went through therapy etc to fix those problems that were a result of my past excessive drinking.

Today I am person, who does not imbibe, just like millions of others, who do not drink alcohol.

PJ,

Thanks for your detailed response. I guess we will just have to agree to disagree about the alcohol addict as somehow having undergone a change or having been born with those genes that render them the incurable "alcoholic". For me that is not true with nicotine, not true with heroine, not true with caffeine, not true with cocaine, not true with amphetamines, and not true with alcohol.

One thing I must ask though. You seem to recognize alcohol as a poisonous substance yet you plan to stock your house with it for the holidays and even give it as presents. Does that mean you only recognize alcohol as a poison for you? I don't have it at my house any more and if guests want it, they need to bring their own. And while I never preach sobriety, I do tell people that I believe alcohol ingested in any amount is harmful to humans. Anyway, that is my personal take on it at this point.

I'll quote Willy Shakespeare again and say "What's in a name?" :)

Whatever works is worth following through, on am individual level. For me, describing myself as an Alcoholic (albeit a recovering one or dry one) allowed me to explore the context of what happened to me and how I am today.. it's worked so I understand the value and I'm not as scared of the connotations today.

I also appreciate the value of someone calling themself a non-drinker, or whatever else works for them...Labelling and the pros and cons is an interesting debate I'll let someone else have :)

I spent a little time counselling others about Alcohol...it helped me to appreciate that others have their own problems, their own relationship to booze and their own perspective that they are entitled to...forcing my own is not always helpful :)

Equally, I don't need to denigrate someone else for having a different perspective or experience to me. If they don't have to or choose to do what I do, doesn't make them 'less than' in any way...less of an alcoholic...less determined...less honest...less screwed up - ha! A peculiar kind of onemanship...I have been guilty of it but I don't need to be :)

BuckStag,

I dont know about the genetic theories of alcoholism so I cannot comment a lot on that. However, the physical change that occurs in the body of an alcoholic which results in an inability to break down alcohol completely, resulting in a craving for more once a drink is taken - that is not my opinion but scientific fact. Alcoholism disrupts the ability of the body to produce enzymes that are used to break down the substance. There are scientific opinions which suggest that people of a certain genetic background may be more disposed to having or developing this enzyme deficiency.

I drink tea several times every day and have done so for many years. Yet, I never crave another cup of tea or end up drinking 10 cups in a row. Likewise, I eat steak on Sunday but never ever have a craving for more. With alcohol, if I took one drink I would immediately crave another one and was often ordering the second even before I had a chance to pay for the first. The effect that alcohol has on the body is vastly different to that of other substances. This is also the reason why an alcoholic cannot moderate or control his or her drinking.

There are many substances that are toxic to the human body but that does not mean that those substances cannot be taken in moderation. Alcohol can be healthy and beneficial in many ways to people who do not abuse it. Therefore, I am not against drinking and I would personally continue to drink if I could drink normally, something that I accept I cannot do. Like I stated before, I do not fear alcohol and see no reason why other people cannot enjoy it in moderation.

If your take on alcohol enables you to remain sober then that is something that is right for you. The problem arises when other people come to believe that a similar approach would work for them, only to end up relapsing.

Thanks for sharing this Buck. I like his style and way of communicating. As Paulokes and old Will Shakespeare said, "what's in a name?" To me, I am a chocoholic as I can't just have one piece of chocolate. Is chocolate inherently dangerous to me? Not at the levels I ingest but I do know I can't just have one. Same with alcohol. Therefore if I have no problem calling myself a chocoholic (with cravings from time to time) why should I have a "problem" calling myself an alcoholic? The answer for me personally is that I don't. I found the term liberating when I finally came to terms with it instead of limiting and defining me as "less than" Whatever you have to use to stay sober in your own head that doesn't harm others and gets you on a path to a better human being is good by me. If it's "non-drinker" than so be it! I am not there yet...

So don't call yourself alcoholic.
The wonderful thing about freedom of speech; is freedom of speech.
I don't call myself alcoholic outside the rooms of AA. I've never told my kids Im an alcoholic; I tell them I don't drink. They are too young to share more than that with at this stage. I don't tell clients I'm alcoholic; but if I'm at a function wtih any of them I certainly disclose without fear; that I don't drink.
The reality I've found is that most people - like 90% plus just don't' care.
Its severely self centered to assume others give a hoot whether we are drinking; or abstaining. But that's part of what makes me *alcoholic" of course in my own opinion and experience. Your mileage may vary.

I watched the whole video from start to finish and I listen to him with an open mind.

I can see where alot of this stems from but I had underlying problems which made crave alcohol a thousand times more so in my case, I had to think f myself as an alcoholic before I was willing to seek help for those problems. Living my life by the 12 steps instead of my ego continues to bring me daily blessings. When one thing goes wrong, something alot better seems to take it's place. I had that happen to me again today.

It's all about self concept like fair and pj talked about but whatever keeps you sober is all good.

~~~Peace~~~

I am not my problem ... If I am .How can I ever get better ...Butt the suffering does exist if I use it as a identity (attachment)and define myself by it! (grist for the mill:)))) I got sober in AA but most of my core ideas have developed from sitting with my conflicts and turning the corner into a wider understanding of wha.t Im not and why I define myself as . it....... That grasshopper is a keeper lol words are just words... But that still could be for my highest good if I pursue the meanings and context I apply in myself to it:)

My Mothers dementia has progressed now after many years suffering from it to the point we have to put her in a assisted living facility ...it breaks my heart:( She defines herself as Crazy No matter how many times anyone tells her she suffers from dementia :((( shes 89 and strong as a bull....My new daily practice real soon will be to visit her each day....

Here are some nice little Ram Dass vids and stories I got sober with in his books . We all went to Unity Church in West Palm Beach and sarr him in 1989 . Alcoholism is only a piece of who you really are I remember him saying during the question and answer part after his talk...What a gold nuggett that was for Me that night:) to ponder butt not dwell on but I did dwell lol

So I definitely here what context you and the speaker are alluding too. When At a meeting and before I share I say Im Billy Im Alcoholic and likes been said What a Freedom that has become to not have to relive that active type of sufferin for almost 30 years....so much else to still pursue:))

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQPnxS6tZ7o&list=PL79E5351D190F341C

http://youtu.be/Zy43R30f4O8

Well ok then

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