MCESaint

As I see it, alcoholism is a "mind screw disease." It distorts reality for the alcoholic - in a way not unlike schizophrenics suffer from reality distortions. Only it's more subtle in alcoholism.

I don't much like the "blame game" where the relapsed alcoholic is said to have "failed himself or herself" -- if your brain were a hall of mirrors it would be tough to tell what is real and what is not.

I tend to go back to "A Brilliant Mind" -- where John Nash finally figures out that the delusional people he keeps seeing are NOT real, because they didn't get any older (but *real* people did). At least, that's the movie version of it.

Each alcoholic has to come to his/her own "aha!!" moment about what is real and what is not. If they don't the disease will eventually kill them (sometimes slowly, sometimes quickly).

I *love* Hopeworks definition of recovery -- because it doesn't focus on the *absence* of alcohol, but on the state of mind that can replace it.

The siren call of alcohol will never go away, I don't think (not being an addict myself), but if you can learn that its call is not real, its promises are full of shyte, AND replace it with a different, positive message -- about how wonderous (and, yes, even painful) real life can be -- that's recovery.

And, yes, I say real life can be both painful and wonderous at the same time, I think of something like Passover/Easter. Think about the suffering that came with those two events, but ultimately the overall message is peace and joy. The Israelites left Egypt; Christ rose from the dead.

Alcoholism is a terrible disease because it is a "mind screw" and the "mind screw" will never, ever fully go away -- but with proper medical treatment, proper behaviorial treatment, self-awareness, etc. the addict has a *chance* at recovery - a recovered state of mind of peace and joy (not misery and loss). Not a guarantee of recovery, but a chance.

MCE Saint