Alcohol is a drug, pure and simple. But the way if affects people is quite different. Statistics indicate that one out of every 10 folks is alcoholic, or at the very least, has drink problem. So consuming lots of booze on a regular basis does not necessarily get you hooked. In fact, if you locked 10 people in a room for a year and had them drink a quart of whisky a day, at the end of the experiment, 9 would be happy if they never saw another drop of alcohol for as long as they lived, but the remaining one would be begging for more of the same. It is this remaining one that would require some kind of alcohol treatment, but only if he wanted it, and here lays the problem.
When it comes to alcohol and the alcoholic, one of the biggest problems is that his or her mind tells them there is no problem. If only other people would get off their case and leave them alone, all would well in the world, or so they believe! Speaking from personal experience, I was a sicky drinker. I would throw up most mornings, suffer splitting hangovers at least once a week, spend all my spare time and money boozing, and continuously bounce in and out of failed relationships. Yet denial kept me from owning my problem which is a common characteristic of most alcoholics. It was only when I hit rock bottom some 30 years later that I saw the light when I was drying out in an alcohol treatment center.
Alcohol is cunning baffling and all powerful and once it grips the mind of an alcoholic personality, it tells the drinker they have no problem at all and to continue drinking no matter what. When you really think about it, this really is a crazy condition. There’s no healthy fear to protect them from the perils of alcohol. Let’s look at this from a logical perspective.
Say I ate a piece of strawberry cake and it gave me a splitting headache, diarrhea, disorientation, vomit attacks, and problems with the law. There would be a pretty safe bet I wouldn’t be queuing up for a second slice! When an alcoholic pours the juice down his throat, then all the above upsets plus more are quite often the norm, yet unlike the cake, he develops no healthy fear or regrets, and is usually ready for another bout soon after. This really does emphasize the denial of this destructive disease. Unfortunately, most alcoholics have to go through the physical and emotional wringer, and quite often to deaths doorstep, before they even consider alcohol treatment of any kind.
Many alcohol treatment programs are focused on the mind not the body. The recovering alcoholic has to realise that all he has to do in order to stay sober is not pick up that first drink. However, getting sober is one thing, but staying sober is quite another. This is why most alcoholics need to continuously be in recovery or some kind.
Many choose to become members of Alcoholics Anonymous or AA. AA is a fellowship of men an woman who have lost the capacity to control their drinking. Many find that the support of the fellowship and the 12 step program of action is the only way for them to stay sober and live happy and joyous lives. Once an alcoholic, always an alcoholic and there is no returning to the bottle unless through choice. Those that do relapse usually pick up right where they left off, whether it was 2 weeks or twenty years earlier.
Personally, I found AA to be the perfect alcohol treatment program for me. I’ve been sober for a good number of years now and after loosing my youth and early adulthood to the booze, I have a life today that is indescribably wonderful, and it all started the day I got honest with myself and put a plug in the jug.