Alcoholism - Part I
What is alcoholism?



There is much to say about alcoholism. Some mistake heavy drinking and problem drinking for alcoholism. Some mistake alcoholism for heavy and problem drinking (usually the alcoholic).

First, I think it would benefit any reader of this piece to explain what alcoholism is.

It is a two-fold illness; one aspect affects the mind, the other is a physical defect.

First, I will cover the physical defection, more commonly known as the physical allergy to alcohol.

An allergy, in this sense, is defined simply as an abnormal reaction. In the body of the alcoholic, alcohol is broken down into different chemicals, the same as a non-alcoholic. The difference lies in the stage of alcohol's breakdown from acetone to its base components. The liver and pancreas of the alcoholic produce insufficient amounts of the enzyme required to complete the breakdown at the rate a non-alcoholic will (about 1 oz of alcohol per hour). This leads to the build-up of acetone, which creates the sensation of craving; a sensation quite incredibly powerful. In fact, once progressed to a certain point, this sensation is more powerful than the mind's ability to utilize will power and its ability to use rationale. No matter the consequence faced, the alcoholic, once ingesting enough to trigger this allergy, is unable to stop drinking until passing out. In the non-alcoholic, they too experience this sensation of craving, but its duration is so short lived as the craving producing acetone is removed, that their will power and rationale can easily return to proper function and choose to stop drinking.

Very important about the physical allergy: Alcohol damages the liver and pancreas over time; the two organs responsible for breaking the substance down. This leads to an ever progressing allergy, that over time, produces stronger and stronger cravings to a greater physical detriment of the alcoholic.

That covers the basics of the physical defect aspect of alcoholism, now, on to the mental obsession.

The mind of the alcoholic also is sickened. Whether by birth or environment, science is still unsure as to the root of the mental obsession, but its symptoms have been defined. The mind of the alcoholic, disregarding the reality of one's inability to control their drinking, disregarding past experience, will work to convince the alcoholic that the sensation of ease and comfort alcohol creates is worth whatever consequences drinking may bring. Some of the methods this mental illness utilize to create and enforce this illusion is justification, rationalization, depressed thinking, fears, resentments, and pride.

In the case of justification, the alcoholic mind, often in celebration of accomplishments (or the mere survival of hard times), decides to reward the alcoholic with a drink or two. Once the drink is ingested, the allergy is triggered and the drinking cannot be stopped by the alcoholic.

In the case of rationalization the alcoholic mind will barrage itself with thoughts of the better days of drinking, often accompanied by the thought that since it has been awhile since one's last drink, they are safe to take another one. Again, the allergy is triggered and the drinking cannot be stopped by the alcoholic.

In the case of depressed thinking, thoughts of past, present, and future sorrows and failures works to erode the willpower of the alcoholic. Putting the alcoholic into a state of feeling as if there's no purpose to stay sober (and often, to even live), rationalization then kicks in with thoughts of the ease and comfort alcohol brings. One or two drinks...and the alcoholic is off and running again.

In the case of fears, alcohol has become such an incredibly strong association to courage that the mind will play on this association to the point that the confidence brought on by a couple drinks is deemed more important than not drinking. One or two drinks, and again, the alcoholic is off and running.

In the case of resentments, alcohol has become associated with the numbing of emotional woes. The mind will pick out and replay unresolved issues of the past and present to create intense emotional fluctuations in the alcoholic. With the only known solution to these problems being ignoring them, and lacking the ability to do this by willpower, the alcoholic must drink at this point to maintain their legal sanity, but enter into the alcoholic insanity. One or two drinks to ease the mind, and the alcoholic is off and running yet again.

(Alcoholic insanity, by the way, is the complete failure of the mind's defense system against self-harm. It is what cautions us against placing our hands in a fire. We know it hurts, we know it burns, so we don't do it ever again unless by accident.)

In the case of pride, the alcoholic mind refuses to acknowledge that it is sickened, or refuses to acknowledge the extent and severity of the sickness. It will almost always refuse to acknowledge the physical allergy. With a delusional understanding of one's own condition, rationalization kicks it and says that it is okay to drink as in the past...that it's a matter luck, poor diet, and so on.

Whatever the manifestation of the mental illness of alcoholism is, it seems that the greatest obsession of every alcoholic mind is that it is not alcoholic. The alcoholic's drinking career is characterized, more than anything else, by innumerable attempts to drink non-alcoholically, and innumerable failures to do so. The mind repeatedly convinces the alcoholic to drink, and the body ensures that the alcoholic cannot safely do so.

This, folks, is the end of Part I. Part II will be coming soon. (Tomorrow or the Next Day)

Good post, must have taken sometime. I never knew half of this stuff, especially about the physical aspects to do with craving

Im an alcaholic..........i drink everyday.............i was wondering if you believe in AA.......ive gave it my 100 percent and its just not my thing......not because im lazy.........i dunno it seems like it works for some but not for others.

same, i thot all that "alcoholism is a disease" thing was bs. I thot it was just an addiction like any other drug. Looks like im wrong. I mean their are ppl who are still addictted as any drug, but they arent necesarrily alcoholics

point of discussion [to add some spin]: what are your thoughts on drinking to get drunk [and how its usually used to define an alcoholic]...


isn't that the point of drinking? intoxication. so the quasi-grayness lies in drunk. theres legally drunk but lets be realistic, some people act drunk way before they legally are [or technically]. others can go above and beyond, and still appear somewhat normal if a little buzzed...


however i know of a many of boderline alcoholics, that say they'll just have one beer and then its two and by the end of the nite not only did they finish all the beer they had, they took drinks out of your bottle..

__________________
the road of excess leads to the palace of madness

im pretty sure theres a medical benefit of drinking like one glass of red wine a day. Ive heard it on the news, never raelly paid attention. My grandma visited and had like 4 or 5 a day and said it was for health reasons. Id hear her stumble downstairs for a midnite glass of wine haha. and its only red wine

If drinking is interfering with your work, you're probably a heavy drinker. If work is interfering with your drinking, you're probably an alcoholic.

I have been drinking, slow and steady, since the age of 14.
But i have been able to balance my shit, such as work and school pretty well. I am an honors student, and drink about a 40 every day (Party days dont count).

I use a SHIT load of Nootropics, and do Cardio, to keep myself in check Physically and academically.

But let me tell you SIR, AA is the biggest hunk of shit that you will encounter.

AA is an ineffective religious group. Fuck them!

It doesn't matter your drug of choice, people fail at life because of LAZINESS, Its the weak people who CHOSE to be lazy, to not take responsibility of growing up, it is they who fuck up in life. Its just that those weak people commonly correlate with drug use.

Correlation doesn't equal causation. Your preference can be speed, weed, or alcohol, It doesn't matter, failures happen in life not as direct consequence of drugs, but as consequences of personal choice

That would be the manifestation of a triggered physical allergy. The mind initiates the thought that one or two drinks is harmless (and one or two truly is harmless to a non-alcoholic, hence the obsession being characterized by countless attempts to prove oneself capable of drinking only one or two). Once the allergy is triggered, it manifests by complete, or in those with the less progressed allergy, partial loss of control in the amount one ingests. During the early phases of alcoholism, stopping is possible as the sensation of craving is not yet strong enough to overpower rationale and volition. As the liver and pancreas become more and more damaged due to excessive consumption, the alcoholic becomes more allergic and the craving becomes more powerful.

The answer to this question depends on whether you mean the Alcoholics Anonymous fellowship, or the directions to achieve and maintain a spiritual defense against the mental obsession outlined in the book Alcoholics Anonymous.

In 1935, through a combination of personalities (Of which were Bill W., Ebby Thatcher, and Dr. William D. Silkworth), the disease of alcoholism was first identified, along with a method of treatment. Jung, the famed psychologist, was one of the few who hadn't entirely discounted spiritual remedies to ailments of the mind and personality. He had observed that throughout history, occasionally, alcoholics would lose everything worthwhile in life, and in complete despair and hopelessness, go through something called the vital spiritual experience.

Ebby Thatcher became one such alcoholic. He found a spiritual group based on Christian tenets called the Oxford Group. They had a plan of action for their members meant to produce a spiritual experience. Ebby took the action necessary, had the experience, and for some time remained sober. He was an old drinking buddy of the AA fellowship's co-founder Bill W.

In his attempt to 'carry the message' to Bill W., Bill was unable to swallow Christianity. He couldn't swallow all the tenets of the Oxford Group. He did see a certain amount of credibility in some of their tenets, however. In his struggle with the idea of God, Ebby told Bill that he needn't use another's conception of a God, but could choose to view God in any light he wished. This helped Bill overcome his strong prejudice against religion, as he realized he need not convert or believe anything nonsensical or ritualistic. Through taking the other actions Ebby had, Bill W. also had the vital spiritual experience and was able to live the rest of his life without drinking again. Millions of others have done the same.

In the book, Alcoholics Anonymous, the reader is given cut and dry instructions on how to duplicate this spiritual experience. When Bill, and his first prospect, a man shortened as Dr. Bob, began to work towards spreading this news, the program of action carried a successful rate of treatment exceeding 50% without relapse, 25% continued on drinking for awhile before they were able to stop, and many others showed improvement.

So yes, I do believe in the effectiveness of Alcoholics Anonymous as the program outlined in the book. Today, however, the fellowship of Alcoholics Anonymous has become much of a joke, promoting various ideas brought in through therapists, detox centers, religions, and crackpot alcoholics. Today's rate of remission from alcoholism is calculated as less than 5% of those who seek treatment. AA, the book, works. AA, the fellowship, is a support group, but is not what produces the spiritual defense against the mental obsession.

And, for the record, I am an alcoholic. I drank in line with my will for some years, and I drank against my will for another year until I found out why, and what could be done about it.

If you think you might be an alcoholic, or just have an interest in it, there are plenty of research papers and articles on both alcoholism and Alcoholics Anonymous. There is also the book Alcoholics Anonymous available at most libraries in the nation, and failing that, you can stop by an AA service group office and get a copy there.

The following is the second appendix of the book Alcoholics Anonymous:

"The terms “spiritual experience” and “spiritual awakening” are used many times in this book which, upon careful reading, shows that the personality change sufficient to bring about recovery from alcoholism has manifested itself among us in many different forms.

Yet it is true that our first printing gave many readers the impression that these personality changes, or religious experiences, must be in the nature of sudden and spectacular upheavals. Happily for everyone, this conclusion is erroneous.

In the first few chapters a number of sudden revolutionary changes are described. Though it was not our intention to create such an impression, many alcoholics have nevertheless concluded that in order to recover they must acquire an immediate and overwhelming “God-consciousness” followed at once by a vast change in feeling and outlook.

Among our rapidly growing membership of thousands of alcoholics such transformations, though frequent, are by no means the rule. Most of our experiences are what the psychologist William James calls the “educational variety” because they develop slowly over a period of time. Quite often friends of the newcomer are aware of the difference long before he is himself. He finally realizes that he has undergone a profound alteration in his reaction to life; that such a change could hardly have been brought about by himself alone. What often takes place in a few months could seldom have been accomplished by years of self-discipline. With few exceptions our members find that they have tapped an unsuspected inner resource which they presently identify with their own conception of a Power greater than themselves.

Most of us think this awareness of a Power greater than ourselves is the essence of spiritual experience. Our more religious members call it “God-consciousness.”

Most emphatically we wish to say that any alcoholic capable of honestly facing his problems in the light of our experience can recover, provided he does not close his mind to all spiritual concepts. He can only be defeated by an attitude of intolerance or belligerent denial.

We find that no one need have difficulty with the spirituality of the program. Willingness, honesty and open mindedness are the essentials of recovery. But these are indispensable.

“There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all arguments and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance—that principle is contempt prior to investigation.”

—Herbert Spencer"

have you tried going to a different group? i hear they are all different, some people like some and hate others...

but then again i never really understood the point in shoving a whole bunch of drug users together without any drugs... drug people tend to talk about drugs when there are no drugs or they find something...

for example, i had to do a bit of community service, ended up picking up trash on the freeway for a traffic ticket.... i was there for a traffic ticket, the others were probationers out of prison and working off their hours... most of the people i was with had been arrested for meth or other drug felony many multiple... We cleaned trash in pairs, i was with one of the recovering tweekers... over lunch we discussed the synthesis of meth, after lunch we were all standing around outside telling trip stories and other acts of illegal activities... one guy looked like he had been through hell and back... turns out before he was there, he was shooting meth, coke, heroin, oxy... he found an empty needle bag on the side of the road... another guy was drunk for about half the time after finding a bottle of Smirnoff on the side of the road...

on the note of alcoholism... it runs in my family, normally i have a good deal of control over myself as far as how much i drink... even if i go a good bit past moderation i don't do stupid shit and make an ass of myself. i never black out on alcohol even with borderline alcohol poisoning i remember it quite vividly... But its bad when i have the idea in my head of "tonight im going to get fucked up"... that's when the vodka gets the better of me, my stomach, and general nervous system...