Originally Posted by
Iriss 
Just a humble thought
I tried AA for a couple of months and it didn't sit with me at all, higher powers, alcoholism is a disease, 12 steps etc etc, although I met some lovely helpful people there, this was not for me. That was two years ago.. I have drank far too much for the past ten years, perhaps not to the point where I have lost all, or very much for that matter as a result of drinking, I have never been to skid row etc, I have never given up and admitted I am powerless over alcohol. However, I have spent far too much of my life either drunk, thinking about how to stop or nursing a hangover, which makes me think I'd rather do without. I guess more people than we care to imagine know or suspect that they drink too much today, but how many want to think or label themselves as alcoholics, how many people think that AA is out of the question in their life, I know I did initially, I am way beyond that point now, I have tried it and its jut not for me, I niether care for the word alcoholic.
Doctors will recommend AA, but that would horrify so many people. When we give up smoking there are now support groups, but there is no stigma with being a smokaholic, I know as an ex smoker I am one fag away from 20 aday, so surely the addiction is similar. I think sometimes society needs to move forward and we need a change our perception of the word alcoholic (as no one can diagnose this), then, those of us that dont wish to drink can mingle at parties and in society, without being frowned upon as having a drink problem, especially from other drinkers.. This surely is an upside down view.... Thanks for listening...
Several interesting statements there, the most interesting being
'no one can diagnose this'
If that were true, you would have a fair number of folks
here that wouldn't be posting, they would have died from dt's when they stopped drinking due the medical communitys inability to diagnose their alcoholism. While I am in agreement that in most cultures addiction issues are handled incorrectly, I have a hard time agreeing with blaket statements like
'horrify so many people'. I'm getting a strong vibe here that in your world the person
most concerned with the stigma of your 'drinking problem' is
you.
I am a grateful alcoholic. I have a disease, per the American Medical Association, British Medical Association, I could cite numerous sources here but why bother. While my disease may be incurable, it responds readily to a very simple treatment regimen, unlike diseases like diabetes, for example. If anyone out there has a problem with my status as a
recovering alcoholic, that's really
none of my business, and
not my problem.