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.
i am new to this and have spent some time reading some of these discussions. I think i might have a problem with drinking.what does it really mean when people describe crossing over the line?. it is a physical change that actually happens in the body or psychological?
Crossing the line is a description of a point where someone loses the ability to control or stop drinking. I suppose you could say that it is another way of describing being powerless over alcohol.
Heavy drinkers who have a problem with alcohol will do one of three things: Some will moderate their drinking and become normal or social drinkers. Some will decide that alcohol does not suit them and they will quit drinking completely. Others will continue to drink heavily and a high percentage of this group will cross the line unknown to themselves at some stage of their drinking. They may then decide for any one of a variety of reasons that they must stop drinking. However, they will find that they either cannot stop at all or cannot stay stopped for a period of time. Some will make solemn promises never to drink again and their intentions could not be more honourable. Yet, many will be drunk within a few days or weeks. Others will not take a drink for a long period, maybe even years, but they too are likely to drink again.
So what is it that has happened to these people who cross the imaginary line? Well, at some point they develop a mental obsession for alcohol. It may be that they have found that over the years alcohol has helped them to cope with life, the good and the bad. Perhaps something happened in the past that made them feel bad, they took a few drinks and the bad feelings went away. The sub-conscious mind learns from these experiences and remembers them. Later on, when bad feelings arise once again perhaps due to something that someone has said or done, the mind remembers. A message goes to the brain that says: When I felt like this before, I took a few drinks and the bad feelings went away. So the person will find it natural to drink. This method of dealing with life can apply to good feelings as well as bad; my team lost so Ill drink to drown my sorrows or my team won so Ill drink to celebrate. Taking a few drinks becomes a natural way to deal with lifes ups and downs.
This approach to living may work for a while or may work for most people. However, about ten per cent of drinkers will develop a physical reaction to alcohol, something like an allergy. This group of people will not process alcohol in the normal way, and as a result they will develop a physical craving. Once they take one drink, the body reacts to the alcohol and the craving is set off. Because of this physical craving, they will quickly want another drink, and this drink in turn causes the craving to become even stronger. They are now caught in a vicious circle, with the craving feeding the obsession and the obsession feeding the craving. The result can be a long binge where quitting becomes impossible or it may be a case of drinking a certain amount every day for years, just keeping the alcohol level continuously topped up.
People who find themselves in that situation are often said to have crossed the line. They have lost the ability to control or to stop their drinking. Friends and family will be concerned and will often say things like: Pull yourself together. Have you no willpower? The trouble is that willpower is no longer sufficient once that line has been crossed. Very few will manage to stop drinking by using their own willpower and repeated failures will add to their lack of belief in themselves. Many such people will continue to drink until everything is lost and they succumb to death or insanity.
Over the centuries many things were tried in order to try and cure such alcoholics but with very little success. Some people thought that it was a medical problem and the doctors treated it with medicine. Others thought that it was a psychological problem and tried to treat the mind. It was only when it was understood that part of it was in the mind (the mental obsession) and part was in the body (the physical craving) that progress was made in treating hopeless alcoholics.
Ii was found that one alcoholic talking to another would succeed where all else failed. Out of this grew the fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous, which acts as a support group for the alcoholic. It was also discovered that for hopeless alcoholics to recover from alcoholism, a change had to take place in the way of thinking. The following story will illustrate the point:
At the end of the nineteen twenties and early thirties, a prominent New York businessman called Rowland H. who had very advanced and severe alcoholism and was unable to stay sober went to see the top psychiatrist of the day, Dr. Carl Jung. Rowland H. stayed with Dr. Jung for a whole year before returning home, confident that with all of the knowledge that he had gained, he could stay sober. Within two weeks of returning to New York, Rowland was drunk again; he returned to Dr Jungs clinic in desperation and asked: Have you ever seen anyone as bad as me get sober? Dr. Jung replied: Frankly Rowland, I have seen very few alcoholics as severe as you get sober but I have seen some. It took a psychic change. By that he meant a complete readjustment and change in attitudes, values, opinions and outlooks. They got it through some type of vital spiritual experience.
The purpose of the AA 12 Step programme is to bring about this psychic change or spiritual awakening that leads to recovery from alcoholism.
I never drank before that. I remember it was New years Eve and the the alchohol
felt so good.It spiraled into everyday drinking but I was always controlled.
am I an alchoholic? sometimes Im not sure.
I need advise.
Billy
http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/alcohol-abuse-or-alcoholism-are-you-crossing-the-line-187310.html
When I drank, I was trying to escape the pain inside. I had had a horrible childhood, and then I was in a painful marriage -- so I drank to ease the pain. When I drank, I could be someone I really wasn't -- I could be pretty, very sociable, flirtatious, etc. And then I got totally snockered!! Most of the time I drank at home.
If this sounds familiar to you -- you might have a drinking problem. Why not check out a few AA meetings? You don't have to speak, just listen. You can take what you like and leave the rest. Best of luck and God bless. Hugs, Lee
Runnergirl - When I was at the stage you sound like you're at - trying to figure out if I had a problem, I don't think anything or anyone could have convinced me to go to an AA meeting. I knew that I had to do something and had promised myself that I would. I found a therapist who specialized in addiction. After talking with her once a week for a couple of months, learning about alcoholism and being honest about how my drinking had progressed, I became ready to try a meeting.
That was not the path I was hoping for when I started with the therapist, but I'm so glad that's where it led me. Seek out someone (in AA, counseling, wherever) that knows about alcoholism and listen...you'll know deep down if it sounds like what you're dealing with.
One of the most compelling things I learned in those couple of months was that alcoholism is progressive - always gets worse, never better...and that it's generally easier (both physically and in terms of drinking related consequences) to quit in the earlier stages.
Good luck - and keep searching, asking questions here.