More is required to recover from alcoholism than the first step. The fear of the certain consequences of drinking may keep us sober for varying lengths of time. Many of us never want to forget how horrible that last days of our drinking were, but reliance on our memories to keep us sober rarely works for long. The proof of this is that we continue to drink long after we realize the damage drinking has caused in our lives and to our health.

The inability to stop based solely on our knowledge of the consequences is described many times in the BB. The authors describe this as the insidious insanity of the first drink.