What we have learned about alcoholism

The first thing we have learned about alcoholism is that it is one of the oldest problems in Man's history. Only recently have we begun to benefit from new approaches to the problem. Doctors today, for example, know a great deal more about alcoholism than their predecessors did only two generations ago. They are beginning to define the problem and study it in detail.

While there is no formal "A.A. definition" of alcoholism, most of us agree that, for most of us, it could be described as a physical compulsion, coupled with a mental obsession. We mean that we had a distinct physical desire to consume alcohol beyond our capacity to control it, and in defiance of all rules of common sense. We not only had an abnormal craving for alcohol but we frequently yielded to it at the worst possible times. We did not know when (or how) to stop drinking. Often we did not seem to have sense enough to know when not to begin.

As alcoholics, we have learned the hard way that willpower alone , however strong in other respects, was not enough to keep us sober. We have tried going on the wagon for specific periods. We have taken solemn pledges. We have switched brands and beverages. We have tried drinking only certain hours. But none of our plans worked. We always wound up, sooner or later, by getting drunk when we not only wanted to stay sober but had every rational incentive to do so.

We have gone through stages of dark despair when we were sure that something was wrong with us mentally. We came to hate ourselves for wasting the talents with which we were endowed and for the trouble we were causing our families and others. Frequently, we indulged in self-pity and proclaimed that nothing could ever help us. We can smile at those recollections now but at the time they were grim, unpleasant experiences.

Today we are willing to accept the idea that, as far as we are concerned, alcoholism is an illness, a progressive illness that can never be "cured" but which. like some other illnesses can be arrested. WE agree that there is nothing shameful about having an illness, provided we face the problem honestly and try to do something about it. We are perfectly willing to admit that we are allergic to alcohol and that it is simply commonsense to stay away from the source of the allergy.

We understand now that once a person has crossed the invisible line from heavy drinking to compulsive alcoholic drinking, he will always remain alcoholic. So far as we know, there can never be any turning back to "normal" social drinking. "Once an alcoholic - always an alcoholic" is a simple fact we have to live with.

We have also learned that there are few alternatives for the alcoholic. If he continues to drink, his problem will become progressively worse; he seems assuredly on the path to the gutter, to hospitals, to jails or other institutions, or to an early grave. The only alternative is to stop drinking completely, to abstain from even the smallest quantity of alcohol in any form. If he is willing to follow this course, and to take advantage of the help available to him, a whole new life can open up for the alcoholic.

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