|
|
#21
10-02-2007, 02:36 PM
|
|||
|
|||
Re: Some of my former friends
[ QUOTE ]
No. You are still an alcoholic till the day you die or you never were to begin with. You never "beat" alcoholism, especially since you still drink. For a alcoholic there's no such thing as "social" drinking, it's just drinking. [/ QUOTE ] Someone's been brainwashed by AA http://www.moderation.org/ 
|
|
#22
10-02-2007, 02:37 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Re: Some of my former friends
Hopefully not further moving the topic of the thread but,
the successs rate of AA is 10% The success rate of people kicking booze cold turkey is 10% These are the numbers of people who have stayed clean for a year. So lets not pretend that AA and it's philosophy is the end all be all.
|
|
#25
10-02-2007, 02:48 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Re: Some of my former friends
My parents quit drinking within 2 weeks of eachother in 1990 and went to AA meetings for at least a solid year afterwards, they've been clean ever since, which, imo, is amazing.
They dragged me to some meetings when I was 11 years old and I'll tell ya...I get plastered occassionally like many adults, but alchohol will never consume me like it did these folks. I'm eternally grateful that I sat in on some of these meetings. That is a place where I never want to be ever again. EDIT: Evagaba, great post. I really enjoyed reading it. I don't get to witness this type of plight on a daily basis.
|
|
#27
10-02-2007, 06:13 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Re: Some of my former friends
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ] I was a past alcoholic (which I have long since beaten, I can now drink socially without problems). [/ QUOTE ] No. You are still an alcoholic till the day you die or you never were to begin with. You never "beat" alcoholism, especially since you still drink. For a alcoholic there's no such thing as "social" drinking, it's just drinking. And yes this is from personal experience. Still a very sobering cautionary story. Would make a good tv show. [/ QUOTE ] This is an interesting issue. I was an alcoholic. Got full marks on the twenty questions. I drank to blackout; drank on my own; spent a few nights rough when I drank so much I couldn't get home; vomited my guts up and endured incredibly painful hangover countless times; put myself through so much social disgrace. I finally got myself to AA aged 25, went to meetings for six months, was sober a total of 22 months. But when I started drinking again, it didn't progress like they told me it would in AA. I just wasn't interested in booze any more. It wouldn't happen any more that I'd drink and not be able to stop. I wouldn't turn to booze as an escape. Two things had changed. First, my social life wasn't so good, so I didn't have so many opportunities to drink, and I didn't look for them. But, mostly, while "sober" I had become a compulsive gambler. I was more interested in playing poker than getting drunk. It's now two years since I started drinking again, and I can count on one hand the number of times I did embarrassing things while drunk since then, and there haven't been times I've blacked out etc. Both the quantity and frequency of my drinking is now much, much less. Weeks pass without me having a drink now. I just lost interest in booze. Of course, I'm still an addict. Alcoholism is best looked at as a symptom of something else, a wider problem of being an addict, and so it's perfectly possible for an ex-alcoholic to be able to drink normally while he pursues another addiction.
|
|
#29
10-02-2007, 06:31 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Re: Some of my former friends
eva, your post instantly reminded me of a good friend of mine. I went to visit him in Santa Barbara and he was living with people who were basically what you described, but the same age as him.
Its pretty damn sad seeing your friends live like that. He doesn't live in SB anymore, nor does he live like that, but he's basically setup to be a substance abuser for the rest of his life. Just like his other brothers. I honestly wouldn't be surprised in the next couple of years to hear that his older brother passes away from some stupid substance abuse issue. He's one of those guys who is 27, but looks in his mid 30's. He's liver is swollen already. Sad.
|
 |
|
|
Linear Mode
