Alcoholic insanity
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Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Home is where the heart is
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Alcoholic insanity
Alcoholic insanity leads us to believe that it would be okay for us to have a drink despite the fact that our own experience proves this to be false. People who are insane do not realize it at the time. We act on our false beliefs and take that first drink setting in motion the physical craving for more alcohol that compels us to continue drinking.
Our very best thinking will not prevent us from drinking. It never has before. Why would it begin to work now?
We seem to lack the ability to properly evaluate the risks compared to the benefits of dirnking. We somehow fail to connect our drinking with its almost certain consequences. A straight line of thinking might lead us to conclude that when we take that first drink we begin an uncontrollable spree. The worst part is that even if we are able to connect the cause with the result, at certain times we are unable to effectively use this knowledge.
One of the hallmarks of alcoholics is that we go to extremes. We don't just get a little nervous, angry, worried, depressed, or jelous. We take these emotions to extreme levels.
This insanity is one of the hallmarks of alcoholism. Who in their right mind would drink again knowing full well that they are unable to control it once they start? What sane person would drink knowing full well that the consequences will be terrible? An alcholic will drink in both these circumstances. This is why we consider alcoholics insane.
Our sound reasoning fails to keep us in check because the insanity of alcoholism is more powerful than our best thinking. Our very best thinking will not prevent us from drinking. Only someone who is insane would believe that a method that has repeatedly failed to stop their return to drinking woudl somehow begin to work if only it were tried once again.
If we are experiencing some of these symptoms, it is likely only a matter of time before alcoholism takes us to the extremes that others have experienced. Once again, self-knowledge will not keep us sober and neither will our good intentions. The information we are recieving is intended to illustrate our powerlessness, not to give us the illusion of power.
Our very best thinking will not prevent us from drinking. It never has before. Why would it begin to work now?
We seem to lack the ability to properly evaluate the risks compared to the benefits of dirnking. We somehow fail to connect our drinking with its almost certain consequences. A straight line of thinking might lead us to conclude that when we take that first drink we begin an uncontrollable spree. The worst part is that even if we are able to connect the cause with the result, at certain times we are unable to effectively use this knowledge.
One of the hallmarks of alcoholics is that we go to extremes. We don't just get a little nervous, angry, worried, depressed, or jelous. We take these emotions to extreme levels.
This insanity is one of the hallmarks of alcoholism. Who in their right mind would drink again knowing full well that they are unable to control it once they start? What sane person would drink knowing full well that the consequences will be terrible? An alcholic will drink in both these circumstances. This is why we consider alcoholics insane.
Our sound reasoning fails to keep us in check because the insanity of alcoholism is more powerful than our best thinking. Our very best thinking will not prevent us from drinking. Only someone who is insane would believe that a method that has repeatedly failed to stop their return to drinking woudl somehow begin to work if only it were tried once again.
Our behavior is as absurd and incomprehensible with respect to the first drink as that of an individual with a passion, say, for jaywalking. He gets a thrill out of skipping in front of fast-moving vehicles. He enjoys himself a few years in spite of friendly warnings. Up to this point you would label him as a foolish chap having queer ideas of fun. Luck then deserts him and he is slightly injured several times in succession. You would expect him, if he were normal, to cut it out. Presently he is hit again and this time has a fractured skull. Within a week after leaving the hospital a fast moving trolley car breaks his arm. He tells you he has decided to stop jaywalking for good, but in a few weeks he breaks both legs.
On through the years this conduct continues, accompanied by his continual promises to be careful or to keep off the streets altogether. Finally, he can no longer work, his wife gets a divorce, he is held up to ridicule. He tries every known means to get the jaywalking idea out of his head. He shuts himself up in an asylum, hoping to mend his ways. But the day he comes out he races in front of a fire engine, which breaks his back. Such a man would be crazy, wouldn't he?
You may think our illustration is too ridiculous. But is it? We, who have been through the wringer, have to admit if we substituted alcoholism for jaywalking, the illustration would fit us exactly. However intelligent we may have been in other respects, where alcohol has been involved, we have been strangly insane. It's strong language----but isn't it true?
Some of you are thinking: "Yes, what you tell us is true, but it doesn't fully apply. We admit we have some of these symptoms, but we have not gone to the extremes you fellows did, nor are we likely to, for we understand ourselves so well after what you have told us that such things cannot happen again. We have not lost everything in life through drining and we certainly do not intend to. Thanks for the information. Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous page 37
On through the years this conduct continues, accompanied by his continual promises to be careful or to keep off the streets altogether. Finally, he can no longer work, his wife gets a divorce, he is held up to ridicule. He tries every known means to get the jaywalking idea out of his head. He shuts himself up in an asylum, hoping to mend his ways. But the day he comes out he races in front of a fire engine, which breaks his back. Such a man would be crazy, wouldn't he?
You may think our illustration is too ridiculous. But is it? We, who have been through the wringer, have to admit if we substituted alcoholism for jaywalking, the illustration would fit us exactly. However intelligent we may have been in other respects, where alcohol has been involved, we have been strangly insane. It's strong language----but isn't it true?
Some of you are thinking: "Yes, what you tell us is true, but it doesn't fully apply. We admit we have some of these symptoms, but we have not gone to the extremes you fellows did, nor are we likely to, for we understand ourselves so well after what you have told us that such things cannot happen again. We have not lost everything in life through drining and we certainly do not intend to. Thanks for the information. Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous page 37
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Join Date: Jun 2005
Posts: 410
Originally Posted by nandm 
One of the hallmarks of alcoholics is that we go to extremes. We don't just get a little nervous, angry, worried, depressed, or jelous. We take these emotions to extreme levels.
same planet...different world
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Butte, America
Posts: 10,946
IT's so all of us, Rimmy.
Todd -
nice avatar - I watched it for like two minutes like he was gonna get out or something ...LOL
Thanks NandM -
I get tired of the same ole 'doing the same thing over and over' explanation.
This is much better.
Todd -
nice avatar - I watched it for like two minutes like he was gonna get out or something ...LOL
Thanks NandM -
I get tired of the same ole 'doing the same thing over and over' explanation.
This is much better.
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Join Date: Jan 2006
Posts: 120
completely agree -- same pattern over and over, expecting different results
nearly lost a good job because of "calling in sick" -- at the time I was thinking that if I lost my job, I would probably just lie in bed, let the money run out and maybe kill myself -- it also caused me a serious medical problem or two
not to mention depression, paranoia, anxiety and screaming (internal and external)
took me a while to get some rationality back -- the first post reminds me that that alone isn't enough
"insanity in a bottle"
nearly lost a good job because of "calling in sick" -- at the time I was thinking that if I lost my job, I would probably just lie in bed, let the money run out and maybe kill myself -- it also caused me a serious medical problem or two
not to mention depression, paranoia, anxiety and screaming (internal and external)
took me a while to get some rationality back -- the first post reminds me that that alone isn't enough
"insanity in a bottle"
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Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Fredericksburg, Va.
Posts: 9,730
Great thread, I do not miss that insanity. What a relief it was for me once I was restored to sanity.
I used to (When I could) quit drinking for a week and being so proud of myself for doing so reward myself with a 6 pack, even though I knew that every time in the past I had "rewarded" my self with a 6, that the 6 would lead to 12 and the 12 to a case, which lead me right back to where I was when I quit!
It was also insane of me to blame the world for everything that went wrong in my life. Funny thing, but on rare occasions I still wonder "Am I really an alcoholic?" Today due to my sanity beiing restored I am able to rapidly acknowledge fully that I am. The urge/need to drink has been gone for a good while now, but I still when I am not doing everything I need to be doing start into some stinking thinking, but sanely I am able to see this and know what to do today, there was a time when my insanity would have allowed me to convince myself that a drink was a good idea.......... not today thanks to the 12 steps.
I used to (When I could) quit drinking for a week and being so proud of myself for doing so reward myself with a 6 pack, even though I knew that every time in the past I had "rewarded" my self with a 6, that the 6 would lead to 12 and the 12 to a case, which lead me right back to where I was when I quit!
It was also insane of me to blame the world for everything that went wrong in my life. Funny thing, but on rare occasions I still wonder "Am I really an alcoholic?" Today due to my sanity beiing restored I am able to rapidly acknowledge fully that I am. The urge/need to drink has been gone for a good while now, but I still when I am not doing everything I need to be doing start into some stinking thinking, but sanely I am able to see this and know what to do today, there was a time when my insanity would have allowed me to convince myself that a drink was a good idea.......... not today thanks to the 12 steps.
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