So I looked up the definiton of alcoholism...
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Join Date: Aug 2013
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Originally Posted by fini 
There is one group of people who are not alcoholic, by any definition. This group consists of people that never drink
can't agree with you there, freshstart.
i didn't stop being an alcoholic when i stopped drinking.
can't agree with you there, freshstart.
i didn't stop being an alcoholic when i stopped drinking.
I believe the affliction lied waiting for me since the moment of conception, and I had it before my first drink. I had my first drink at about 14 I believe, didn't drink heavily consistently, but had my first blackout at 15. Given the benefit of 20/20 hindsight, I should have begun addressing my affliction then.
That isn't an excuse, I still believe everything is a choice. Unfortunately, true understanding of the consequences of the choice often comes after it is made.
I choose not to drink today.
FG
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Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Eastern Us
Posts: 1,366
If alcohol is negatively affecting your life, you should probably do something about it. If you can effectively moderate your consumption to where drinking doesn't cause you problems (like about 90% of the population can do) then do that. Problem solved. If you cannot effectively moderate your drinking, best to stop drinking altogether. Again, problem solved. It might be best to get off the fence and actively try something to solve your drinking issues.
I wish you peace on your journey.
I wish you peace on your journey.
Member
Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: Christchurch
Posts: 451
I used to question whether or not I was an alcoholic because despite my heavy drinking I still had a job, no major financial difficulties and good relationships with people. In truth this just kept me drinking longer because in my mind I didn't have a problem. I am an alcoholic because drinking causes me shame, embarrassment, crippling illness and once I start drinking I find it impossible to stop. There is no way a non alcoholic would torture themselves like this.
12 Step Recovered Alcoholic
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: New Zealand
Posts: 6,613
It is important to know whats wrong, otherwise how can you fix it, which solution should you choose?
The AA definition: "If, when you honestly want to, you find you cannot quit entirely, or if when drinking, you have little control over the amount you take, you are probably alcoholic. If that be the case, you may be suffering from an illness which only a spiritual experience will conquer."
If you have a different kind of alcohol problem, then a different solution may be what you need.
I am one of the AA type above. Having tried everything else and failed, I found in AA a solution to my particular problem.
The AA definition: "If, when you honestly want to, you find you cannot quit entirely, or if when drinking, you have little control over the amount you take, you are probably alcoholic. If that be the case, you may be suffering from an illness which only a spiritual experience will conquer."
If you have a different kind of alcohol problem, then a different solution may be what you need.
I am one of the AA type above. Having tried everything else and failed, I found in AA a solution to my particular problem.
Sober Alcoholic
Join Date: Aug 2011
Posts: 3,539
Originally Posted by freshstart57
There is one group of people who are not alcoholic, by any definition. This group consists of people that never drink.
I know that as an alcoholic I process alcohol differently than 90% of the population. One drink causes me to want another and the second ends up making that desire for more even stronger. That’s what defines my alcoholism. It’s an ongoing condition that will not change. It’s not defined by my blood alcohol content.
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Join Date: May 2012
Location: canada
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Well, since we are picking at the nits a bit, I believe the affliction lied waiting for me since the moment of conception, and I had it before my first drink.
yes, i believe it is like that for some of us. not all...
disagreeing with freshstart on his post , no, i wouldn't call that nitpicking. nits are tiny, no? this, to me, wasn't a tiny, picky bit.
but in general, yes, i do nitpicking. it is hugely helpful to me, though often annoying to others. persistently pursuing some nagging little bits and finally, finally gaining some clarity in those spots has made all the difference to me.
you're one of the few i've seen use the word "affliction". i've often thought it might be the most apt for this "thing".
yes, i believe it is like that for some of us. not all...
disagreeing with freshstart on his post , no, i wouldn't call that nitpicking. nits are tiny, no? this, to me, wasn't a tiny, picky bit.
but in general, yes, i do nitpicking. it is hugely helpful to me, though often annoying to others. persistently pursuing some nagging little bits and finally, finally gaining some clarity in those spots has made all the difference to me.
you're one of the few i've seen use the word "affliction". i've often thought it might be the most apt for this "thing".
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Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: Earth
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Originally Posted by fini
Well, since we are picking at the nits a bit, I believe the affliction lied waiting for me since the moment of conception, and I had it before my first drink.
yes, i believe it is like that for some of us. not all...
disagreeing with freshstart on his post , no, i wouldn't call that nitpicking. nits are tiny, no? this, to me, wasn't a tiny, picky bit.
but in general, yes, i do nitpicking. it is hugely helpful to me, though often annoying to others. persistently pursuing some nagging little bits and finally, finally gaining some clarity in those spots has made all the difference to me.
you're one of the few i've seen use the word "affliction". i've often thought it might be the most apt for this "thing".
yes, i believe it is like that for some of us. not all...
disagreeing with freshstart on his post , no, i wouldn't call that nitpicking. nits are tiny, no? this, to me, wasn't a tiny, picky bit.
but in general, yes, i do nitpicking. it is hugely helpful to me, though often annoying to others. persistently pursuing some nagging little bits and finally, finally gaining some clarity in those spots has made all the difference to me.
you're one of the few i've seen use the word "affliction". i've often thought it might be the most apt for this "thing".
I do understand your point and agree, sober I still have the same problem, I am not cured, I am simply holding the thing dormant.
And I don't mind nitpicking either, and do it as well, it was really just my segue phrase into my thought that there was a susceptibility to it in me all along, just waiting for that first drink to activate it.
Affliction just seems most fitting to me also. By definition it neither abdicates from or places blame. It is just descriptive of my condition - more so should I desire to pour alcohol into my mouth or actually do so.
Affliction has fewer connotations to me, simply meaning a condition of pain, suffering, or distress. It avoids the association of 'no control' of the word disease, and it also avoids the now nebulous (in my view) definition of 'alcoholism' in general which was removed from the DSM around 30 years ago, I believe.
I could ramble more but I must now take my afflicted self to bed.
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FG,
yes, at first i assumed Freshstart was speaking about people who had never drunk, but the entire quote includes the last part, the invitation to join "them", the ones who are "not alcoholic by any definition" ("There is one group of people who are not alcoholic, by any definition. This group consists of people that never drink. Are you ready to join them?").
but i don't want to nitpick a person, and Freshstart will speak for himself if he wishes.
yes, i see "affliction" much the same way you do, which , to me, is similar to calling it a "condition".
"affliction" seems open-ended, a big tent, so to speak.
that word isn't used much in general out there, for anything, it seems, and i wonder why that is? i hadn't considered it or thought of it until i read some Simone Weil , who uses it very specifically, though in a different context. with different connotations.
an interesting "concept".
yes, at first i assumed Freshstart was speaking about people who had never drunk, but the entire quote includes the last part, the invitation to join "them", the ones who are "not alcoholic by any definition" ("There is one group of people who are not alcoholic, by any definition. This group consists of people that never drink. Are you ready to join them?").
but i don't want to nitpick a person, and Freshstart will speak for himself if he wishes.
yes, i see "affliction" much the same way you do, which , to me, is similar to calling it a "condition".
"affliction" seems open-ended, a big tent, so to speak.
that word isn't used much in general out there, for anything, it seems, and i wonder why that is? i hadn't considered it or thought of it until i read some Simone Weil , who uses it very specifically, though in a different context. with different connotations.
an interesting "concept".
Member
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Eastern Us
Posts: 1,366
Well it all depends if words actually have agreed upon meanings.
AA defines alcoholism in a particular way. The medical community defines it differently. From a medical view there is alcohol abuse and alcohol dependency.
If one never drinks one cannot be abusing alcohol nor dependent upon alcohol. Thus if you follow a medical definition, one isn't an alcoholic if one never drinks.
AA, well I'll let the AAs speak for what they think the BB says about the issue.
AA defines alcoholism in a particular way. The medical community defines it differently. From a medical view there is alcohol abuse and alcohol dependency.
If one never drinks one cannot be abusing alcohol nor dependent upon alcohol. Thus if you follow a medical definition, one isn't an alcoholic if one never drinks.
AA, well I'll let the AAs speak for what they think the BB says about the issue.
Member
Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: Cambridgeshire, UK
Posts: 215
Originally Posted by ru12
Well it all depends if words actually have agreed upon meanings.
AA defines alcoholism in a particular way. The medical community defines it differently. From a medical view there is alcohol abuse and alcohol dependency.
If one never drinks one cannot be abusing alcohol nor dependent upon alcohol. Thus if you follow a medical definition, one isn't an alcoholic if one never drinks.
AA, well I'll let the AAs speak for what they think the BB says about the issue.
AA defines alcoholism in a particular way. The medical community defines it differently. From a medical view there is alcohol abuse and alcohol dependency.
If one never drinks one cannot be abusing alcohol nor dependent upon alcohol. Thus if you follow a medical definition, one isn't an alcoholic if one never drinks.
AA, well I'll let the AAs speak for what they think the BB says about the issue.
What the medical community could say is by abstaining from beverage alcohol the symptoms of your addiction will be in remission.
My Doctor, when I said I think I am an alcoholic, said I'd better get my ar5e to AA as he could not help me. Best piece of medical advice I ever got!!
To further nitpick - if you were to include psychologists in the wider sphere of the medical community (as in mental health practitioner) you will find they often use addict and alcoholic and define both as a physical craving and mental compulsion.
In my experience most medical practitioners use the term alcohol dependency (syndrome) and alcoholic interchangeably. Most of them realise there is a curious mental twist over and above the pure physical addiction.
That's my tuppence :-)
Self recovered Self discovered
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Toronto Canada
Posts: 5,148
I believe freshstart was thinking of 'someone that had never drank alcohol ever'. That was my interpretation, I could be wrong.
If one is obsessed with drinking, there is a dependency which exists, hence an addiction. On the other hand, if all of the criteria which define alcoholism no longer apply, then the term is no longer accurate or correct.
One may attest to a dependency and obsession with alcohol while abstinent. That is an unfortunate situation to be in. On the other hand, one may choose to self identify as obsessed with and dependent upon alcohol, an alcoholic, while resolutely and securely sober. This is a choice that may assist with continued sobriety. I understand that.
There appears to be a third state. If one is resolutely, securely, permanently and unconditionally sober, then the term alcoholic is not only inaccurate, it is not helpful. Those non-alcoholics have more fun anyway.
quat
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: terra (mostly)firma
Posts: 4,822
Originally Posted by awuh1
Nope. I also disagree…strongly. I never drink. I’m an alcoholic. There are several million in AA just like me and we have the same definition. We don’t drink and we proclaim ourselves alcoholic on a regular basis. We are alcoholic because we cannot safely have just one drink. Not today, not tomorrow and not ever.
I know that as an alcoholic I process alcohol differently than 90% of the population. One drink causes me to want another and the second ends up making that desire for more even stronger. That’s what defines my alcoholism. It’s an ongoing condition that will not change. It’s not defined by my blood alcohol content.
I know that as an alcoholic I process alcohol differently than 90% of the population. One drink causes me to want another and the second ends up making that desire for more even stronger. That’s what defines my alcoholism. It’s an ongoing condition that will not change. It’s not defined by my blood alcohol content.
Being a member of one group of a population vs being a member of the another has no bearing on one's situation. You 'process alcohol' the way You do, there is no choice. I may 'process' or metabolize alcohol differently from someone else, but that changes nothing for me, I 'process' it the way I 'process' it(.)
Btw without actual medical testing , how do you determine which percentile group you are in?
I choose not to drink. Those who choose not to drink make the same choice I do. The choice is self motivated.
I doubt this really an argument about semantics, I think the real debate is how or by what mechanisms do humans make choices and what 'forces' control such choices.
Member
Join Date: May 2012
Location: canada
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If one is resolutely, securely, permanently and unconditionally sober, then the term alcoholic is not only inaccurate, it is not helpful.
freshstart,
this is an opinion, of course, and not a "fact".
there is the person, like me, who is sober, not obsessed with or dependent on alcohol, for whom the term has been hugely helpful.
not the term itself, of course, but what it denotes. to me.
freshstart,
this is an opinion, of course, and not a "fact".
there is the person, like me, who is sober, not obsessed with or dependent on alcohol, for whom the term has been hugely helpful.
not the term itself, of course, but what it denotes. to me.
Member
Join Date: Feb 2011
Posts: 567
My take is, what was is my inner experience when I drank alcohol?
I wanted more alcohol. So I drank more and then became insanely drunk. In other words when I added alcohol in my body, something would also happen in my mind that I thought was normal.
My personality would change and some sort of delusion in my mind would say I can do with another drink.
I take another drink, get drunker and lose all sense of how drunk I had become.
I remember many many times people around me would start to walk away or avoid me.
I get "lonely" even though there lots of people around, and I would pour another drink, and another.
Next thing in some way I remember things like, "what's wrong with him", or my ex used to say, "enough", and I drank more.
Has anyone else have/had these similar experiences ?
OK,
The next day, IF I survived, I would say to my self, "next time I won't let that happen, but I won't drink at that same pub again for a while till they forget my face", type of thing. ( some remembered my face )
That's a form "mental obsession", the obsession that some day I will "get it right, just watch me!".
And the same thing will happen over and over again and again till eventually everyone in my life is just gone.
For me it took 35 years, others "wake up" sooner, some later, some never.
And that's what happened to me, that one day I knew I had wasted the last thread of human interaction with a friend due to the last black-out-drunk and humiliated her in front of her friends who I had never met before.
It hit home this time, the guilt, shame, remorse etc .
The question of, "why does this happen to me, I have worked hard all my life and nothing to show for it with dignity. My rent was paid, food in the fridge, yet why can't I just enjoy a drink like others?, was my question.
So by that above illustration, one can see that I never ever thought alcohol had an effect on my mind and body.
Deluded and I needed answers after 35 years trying to drink socially.
AA informed me about the physical aspects of alcohol, the craving for more alcohol after the first drink. I Identified with these things they talked about because similar things happened to them to.
Why would they lie?
I learnt that craving for alcohol is physical, obsession is mental, my thoughts.
So I had a mental obsession that one day I will drink "normally", but the fact is I have a physical issue in my body in regards to how it metabolises alcohol, that being one drink sets off a craving for more, therefore I consider myself a real alcoholic.
I define the word "real" in alcoholic to separate me from those that don't crave more alcohol and don't get that comical change in personality.
They metabolize alcohol different than me.
Information has shown this has been clinically proven.
There are hard drinkers, who can stop, but there are the real alcoholics who just don't have that off-switch, it is simply not there.
If you have a off-switch to alcohol, then you don't know what it's like to drink without the off-switch, same as I don't know what's it's like to have a off-switch to alcohol because I simply cannot stop, there is no off-switch in regards to my drinking.
Therefore it makes sense to me to define my own condition as Alcoholic. Not the doctor or anyone, but me, I define it for me.
I'm alcoholic means I am powerless to stop the craving for more alcohol once I put alcohol in my body.
The solution for me, a form of "surrender" to the game of trying to drink like normal drinkers, cos it ain't going to happen, both physically and mentally.
If I try it will only break my spirit, my personality and more.
"Surrender to alcohol" simply means I now don't have to contemplate a drink.
I can say "No thanks, not today", if offered and need not explain it.
But, the obsession in the mind can sneak up and say to me, "no one will know, just have one"...I have had that happen out of no where.
That's alcoholism, I think.
Because this happens and I cannot control it, then I consider I am allowed to say, "God, help cos there is no one else around".
This makes the thought change to whatever else, usually, "sit,shut up and don't move till it passes". ( survival skills of the alcoholic )
Therefore alcoholism in a nutshell may be defined as Physical, Mental and Spiritual, it's a complete dis-ease.
Physical-Craving for more and life gets all messed up
Mental- obsession to drink again and not mess up
Spiritual- Emotions, depression etc, which takes us back to the drink and the cycle begins all over again with the first drink because the Physical craving will kick in.
A Vicious Cycle,
a negative force of nature !
I wanted more alcohol. So I drank more and then became insanely drunk. In other words when I added alcohol in my body, something would also happen in my mind that I thought was normal.
My personality would change and some sort of delusion in my mind would say I can do with another drink.
I take another drink, get drunker and lose all sense of how drunk I had become.
I remember many many times people around me would start to walk away or avoid me.
I get "lonely" even though there lots of people around, and I would pour another drink, and another.
Next thing in some way I remember things like, "what's wrong with him", or my ex used to say, "enough", and I drank more.
Has anyone else have/had these similar experiences ?
OK,
The next day, IF I survived, I would say to my self, "next time I won't let that happen, but I won't drink at that same pub again for a while till they forget my face", type of thing. ( some remembered my face )
That's a form "mental obsession", the obsession that some day I will "get it right, just watch me!".
And the same thing will happen over and over again and again till eventually everyone in my life is just gone.
For me it took 35 years, others "wake up" sooner, some later, some never.
And that's what happened to me, that one day I knew I had wasted the last thread of human interaction with a friend due to the last black-out-drunk and humiliated her in front of her friends who I had never met before.
It hit home this time, the guilt, shame, remorse etc .
The question of, "why does this happen to me, I have worked hard all my life and nothing to show for it with dignity. My rent was paid, food in the fridge, yet why can't I just enjoy a drink like others?, was my question.
So by that above illustration, one can see that I never ever thought alcohol had an effect on my mind and body.
Deluded and I needed answers after 35 years trying to drink socially.
AA informed me about the physical aspects of alcohol, the craving for more alcohol after the first drink. I Identified with these things they talked about because similar things happened to them to.
Why would they lie?
I learnt that craving for alcohol is physical, obsession is mental, my thoughts.
So I had a mental obsession that one day I will drink "normally", but the fact is I have a physical issue in my body in regards to how it metabolises alcohol, that being one drink sets off a craving for more, therefore I consider myself a real alcoholic.
I define the word "real" in alcoholic to separate me from those that don't crave more alcohol and don't get that comical change in personality.
They metabolize alcohol different than me.
Information has shown this has been clinically proven.
There are hard drinkers, who can stop, but there are the real alcoholics who just don't have that off-switch, it is simply not there.
If you have a off-switch to alcohol, then you don't know what it's like to drink without the off-switch, same as I don't know what's it's like to have a off-switch to alcohol because I simply cannot stop, there is no off-switch in regards to my drinking.
Therefore it makes sense to me to define my own condition as Alcoholic. Not the doctor or anyone, but me, I define it for me.
I'm alcoholic means I am powerless to stop the craving for more alcohol once I put alcohol in my body.
The solution for me, a form of "surrender" to the game of trying to drink like normal drinkers, cos it ain't going to happen, both physically and mentally.
If I try it will only break my spirit, my personality and more.
"Surrender to alcohol" simply means I now don't have to contemplate a drink.
I can say "No thanks, not today", if offered and need not explain it.
But, the obsession in the mind can sneak up and say to me, "no one will know, just have one"...I have had that happen out of no where.
That's alcoholism, I think.
Because this happens and I cannot control it, then I consider I am allowed to say, "God, help cos there is no one else around".
This makes the thought change to whatever else, usually, "sit,shut up and don't move till it passes". ( survival skills of the alcoholic )
Therefore alcoholism in a nutshell may be defined as Physical, Mental and Spiritual, it's a complete dis-ease.
Physical-Craving for more and life gets all messed up
Mental- obsession to drink again and not mess up
Spiritual- Emotions, depression etc, which takes us back to the drink and the cycle begins all over again with the first drink because the Physical craving will kick in.
A Vicious Cycle,
a negative force of nature !
Member
Join Date: May 2012
Location: canada
Posts: 7,242
On the other hand, one may choose to self identify as obsessed with and dependent upon alcohol, an alcoholic, while resolutely and securely sober.
i haven't met anyone who says they are securely sober and obsessed with and dependent on alcohol.....have you?
can't really wrap my mind around that one. seems so contradictory.
i haven't met anyone who says they are securely sober and obsessed with and dependent on alcohol.....have you?
can't really wrap my mind around that one. seems so contradictory.
Member
Join Date: Sep 2013
Posts: 2,805
Katie, I read something in a simple book the other day that made a lot of sense to me. The author adores strawberries. They are his favorite food in the whole wide world. If he was told he could never have strawberries again in his entire life, it would depress him, but it would not fill him with fear and dread. Alcohol is a drug that is designed to cause addiction. You know you are addicted when the idea of never having alcohol again in your life, fills you with fear, literally takes your breath away. What do you do to relieve that fear? You drink alcohol. That is the addictive cycle. I have no desire to wear the alcoholic banner. I think anyone that drinks alcohol is toying with a dangerous drug and could easily end up addicted. (just the same as heroin, crack, cigarettes, etc.) We all have different restrictions we place on ourselves and our lives. Some of us are firmer about our personal restrictions than others. My parents have always been heavy drinkers, but now that they are retired and so many of their "restrictions" have been lifted, my mom is plummeting in her depth of alcohol abuse. For me, seeing alcohol in a whole new light is what is helping me to make my changes. My favorite part of the book I just read is when the author said that when he quit drinking, people who were still drinking the poisonous drug called alcohol asked him if he was an alcoholic. Huh? He said, with what other drug would that happen?!? If you saw someone shooting up heroin, and you were not shooting up heroin, which of you has the problem with the drug?!? I am now waking up to the absurdity as to how society as a whole has kept a hood over our heads as to the truths about alcohol. I think those of us that are questioning it and trying to keep it out of our lives, are the sanest of the lot. No labels needed, except maybe Awakened.
quat
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: terra (mostly)firma
Posts: 4,822
I knew from the first time as a teen drinking that I had no off switch. I was literally drug home passed out. I knew that wasn't 'normal', but I also knew I enjoyed the oblivion. I was drug or dropped home most weekends through high school, didn't care. Only lasted one semester at college, drinking and drugs were more enjoyable, I didn't care. Got a menial job with little chance of advancement and drank to oblivion for years, didn't care.
At some point I felt the need to outgrow what I knew was destructive behavior. I sobered up , married a fantastic woman and had beautiful children.
At some point I started drinking again , mostly socially, with an occasional 'over the top performance.' I am not even sure exactly when drinking became habitual again, but it did and continued for years. I reserved 'oblivion' for special occasions, like only a few times a week.
It wasn't until the last few years that I wanted to stop, I reached the point of 'sick and tired of being sick and tired'. I knew though that I was addicted, that I was an alcoholic, I didn't think I could really 'stop whenever I wanted to', as evidence of progressing to drinking in the am to stave off withdrawl symptoms. It was then I think that I started to actually be conscious of feeling the itch, the physical craving for more after the first or second drink. It was an actual physical sensation in my chest an overpowering urge, and only one way to make it stop, drink til oblivion.
But given what I thought I knew about alcoholism , I thought stopping was beyond my power. I figured I had to go to a rehab and start some program or other, things I was in no way comfortable doing.
Coming to this site one morning I ran across a mention of RR and ARVT. I read through the material and realized I did in fact have the power. I was the only one with that power. Everyone who has drank and stopped has exercised that exact power. My belief in not having that power was the only thing keeping me from ending my addiction.
I will never drink again. And I will never change my mind about that decision.
Am I an alcoholic? Who cares, semantically, I quit, its the only way.
At some point I felt the need to outgrow what I knew was destructive behavior. I sobered up , married a fantastic woman and had beautiful children.
At some point I started drinking again , mostly socially, with an occasional 'over the top performance.' I am not even sure exactly when drinking became habitual again, but it did and continued for years. I reserved 'oblivion' for special occasions, like only a few times a week.
It wasn't until the last few years that I wanted to stop, I reached the point of 'sick and tired of being sick and tired'. I knew though that I was addicted, that I was an alcoholic, I didn't think I could really 'stop whenever I wanted to', as evidence of progressing to drinking in the am to stave off withdrawl symptoms. It was then I think that I started to actually be conscious of feeling the itch, the physical craving for more after the first or second drink. It was an actual physical sensation in my chest an overpowering urge, and only one way to make it stop, drink til oblivion.
But given what I thought I knew about alcoholism , I thought stopping was beyond my power. I figured I had to go to a rehab and start some program or other, things I was in no way comfortable doing.
Coming to this site one morning I ran across a mention of RR and ARVT. I read through the material and realized I did in fact have the power. I was the only one with that power. Everyone who has drank and stopped has exercised that exact power. My belief in not having that power was the only thing keeping me from ending my addiction.
I will never drink again. And I will never change my mind about that decision.
Am I an alcoholic? Who cares, semantically, I quit, its the only way.
Laozi Old Man
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Detroit, MI
Posts: 6,665
Originally Posted by fini
There is one group of people who are not alcoholic, by any definition. This group consists of people that never drink
can't agree with you there, freshstart.
i didn't stop being an alcoholic when i stopped drinking.
can't agree with you there, freshstart.
i didn't stop being an alcoholic when i stopped drinking.
I suffered from alcohol-withdrawal when I first stopped drinking alcohol.
I suffered from alcohol-ism when I tried living without alcohol.
Not-drinking did not treat my alcohol-ism. What does treat my alcohol-ism is a daily program of action that treats the suffering part. Not-drinking has nothing to do with why I am sober today. Not-suffering as a result of not-drinking is what keeps me sober today.
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