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OBVIOUS TRAITS
Persons experiencing a full-blown DRY DRUNK are,
for that period, removed from the world of sobriety; they fail,
for whatever reason, to accept the necessary conditions for sober living.
Their mental and emotional homes are chaotic, their approach to everyday
living is unrealistic, and their behavior, both verbal and physical, is unacceptable.
This lack of sober realism manifests itself in many ways.
1. Grandiosity, put very simply, is an exaggeration of one's own importance.
This can be demonstrated either in terms of one's strengths or weaknesses.
In either case it is blatantly self- seeking or self-serving, putting oneself
at the center of attention, from the "big me" who has ask the answers to the
"poor me" whose cup of self-pity runneth over and wants all of our attention.
2. Judgmentalism is mutually related to grandiosity. It means that the alcoholic
is prone to make value judgments - strikingly inappropriate evaluations -
usually in terms of "goodness" or "badness".
3. Intolerance leaves no room for delaying the gratification of personal desires.
This is accomplished by gross confusion of priorities with the result that a
mere whim or passing fancy is mistakenly given more importance than genuine personal needs.
4. Impulsivity is the result of intolerance or the lack of ability to delay
gratification of personal desires. Impulsivity describes behavior which is heedless
of the ultimate consequence for self or others.
5. Indecisiveness is related to impulsitivity in the sense that while the latter
takes no realistic account of the consequences of the actions, the former precludes
effective action altogether. Indecisiveness stems from an unrealistic exaggeration
of the negative possibilities of the action ; so one wavers between two or more
possible courses of action, more times than not- nothing gets done.
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