The Five Fond Hopes of Addiction
March 14, 2009 by Kathie Keeler
Filed under Addiction, Parents of Substance Abusers
One of the characteristics of alcoholism is denial. As they say in AA, "We have a disease that tells us we don't have a disease." Denial manifests itself in many ways.
- It can never happen to me. Alcoholism or drug addiction can happen to anyone who makes enough high-risk choices.
- I’ll see my trigger level coming, and I’ll stop making high-risk choices. In reality, by the time I see the problem, the problem is probably already there. It’s now too late to prevent it.
- I can’t have alcoholism if I don’t drink every day. The fact is, most people who drink every day don’t have alcoholism. Many people with alcoholism don’t drink every day. They just drink a lot when they do drink. If it were true, most Europeans would have alcoholism, and they don’t.
- I can prove I don’t have alcoholism by abstaining from alcohol. This is based on the belief that people with alcoholism must drink every day, which isn’t true. Some people believe that if they can stop drinking for a few weeks or months, they can then control their drinking which proves that they don’t have alcoholism. Abstaining from alcohol doesn’t prove anything. Wanting or needing to prove something by abstaining, however, is often a symptom of alcoholism. What people with alcoholism cannot do is consistently drink within the low-risk range.
- If I do have alcoholism, I can control it by cutting down on my drinking. I don’t have to abstain from alcohol forever. Alcoholism cannot be controlled through drinking. Alcoholism can only be treated with total and complete abstinence.
Three recommended websites providing information about addiction and alcoholism are:
Alcoholism Signs and Symptoms
Mayo Clinic Information about Alcoholism
Addiction DVD by HBO
What resources do you recommend for conquering alcoholism?
Alcoholism Signs Symptoms on Tue, 14th Apr 2009 3:42 pm
Alcohol addiction brings all kind of problems not only in a family but socially as well. People under the influence of alcohol generally tend to get loud and boisterous or may become sober and melancholic. Whatever the sign is, one should withdraw himself or herself before it gets much worse.