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Was alcohol your problem..was it a symptom of a greater problem?



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Was alcohol your problem..was it a symptom of a greater problem?

Old 03-07-2014, 03:29 PM
  # 21 (permalink)  
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Originally Posted by alphaomega View Post
For me this is a chicken or egg thing. My life, from its conception, was wrought with problems. Serious, awful, horrifying traumas.
Ditto! Very chicken or egg.

One thing is for sure, I realised this just last week, if depression/anxiety is the underlying issue there is NO WAY I'm going to be able to address those issues while drinking.

How can anyone fix depression or anxiety or underlying issue when the results of their drinking makes them worse? That's like trying to catch your breath by running faster.
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Old 03-07-2014, 03:46 PM
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I find it interesting that the DSM-V does not use the terms alcoholic or alcoholism. If you go to counseling (in most places in the U.S., anyway) for alcohol-related problems, the paperwork will likely not state you are an "alcoholic." The terms are "alcohol abuse" or "alcohol dependence," and the diagnostic criteria tend to focus on behavior and cognitive processes rather than a "medical" definition. Maybe that's because regardless of genetic factors, the "cure" (if you can call it that) requires changes in behavior and thinking.

I think I was genetically predisposed to addiction, and environment played a huge role, but my alcohol dependence is entirely the result of my own choices.
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Old 03-07-2014, 03:48 PM
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Alcohol caused the brain damage that caused all the problems for me. I was in my 30's when I started abusing alcohol. I had issues to sort out but I had mostly done that and was progressing pretty well. I had healthy ways of coping at one time. Once I started drinking I was ripped wide open. It took away my ability to cope any other way.
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Old 03-07-2014, 03:53 PM
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I also think it is not helpful for "shrinks" to tell people their problems are the result of "character flaws." I don't believe that is relevant or helpful. It's a matter of behavior that for some of us leads to a chemical addiction. The motivation to drink is varied. Some are escaping. Others start out thrill-seeking or looking for a sense of belonging or just rebelling. We're all trying to meet our physical and psychological needs. Alcohol dependence is the result of poor choices, not a character flaw. It is much more useful to believe you can change your behavior than your character (which opens the question of what is character and can it be adjusted at will).
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Old 03-07-2014, 04:00 PM
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Sorry to keep beating this drum, but caboblanco's first post on this thread hit a nerve. I think it is horrible that you were seeing therapists and counselors who approached your addiction in this way. I'm not a big fan of A.A. or some of the "conventional wisdom," but I think your nurse had it right and the so-called "professionals" were off base. Even the DSM does not list alcohol dependence as a personality disorder (and I'm not a fan of the DSM, either, but on this I think they are on the right track).
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Old 03-07-2014, 05:00 PM
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Both for me. I had underlying issues I drank and medicated for, but I also became an alcoholic.

Addressing only one of those things was not good enough.
I needed to address both things.

D
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Old 03-07-2014, 05:10 PM
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This is sort of a confusing thought for me. I wanted anything that would get me high from a very early age. It was weirdly enough just the way I was right out of the gate, as early as the age of 8? I found out about things that could stimulate me through older friends and began a lifelong quest to use them. Does this constitute the desire to use as the problem or was a deep rooted desire to escape life the problem? I'm not really sure, I just know all those early year experiments led to me the dependence I came to have at an older age. When I began taking steps to quit, there were no underlying issues. I was just addicted physically and most of all mentally. Alcohol had just become a really bad habit that I was now addicted to and I just needed to focus long enough to get passed the cravings.
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Old 03-07-2014, 06:06 PM
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some people believe that after a point just not drinking is all they can focus on. they can't put together the pieces of their past that led to it..us alcohol addicts I believe are driven by their subconscious. i believe its possible to access this part of our being and heal it. I think giving up on that is a downer even though i realize it seems impossible to some
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Old 03-07-2014, 09:51 PM
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Originally Posted by caboblanco View Post
some people believe that after a point just not drinking is all they can focus on. they can't put together the pieces of their past that led to it..us alcohol addicts I believe are driven by their subconscious. i believe its possible to access this part of our being and heal it. I think giving up on that is a downer even though i realize it seems impossible to some
I think that whatever one does and believes to live a sober life is the correct thing for them if it works.
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Old 03-08-2014, 01:08 AM
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I definitely have issues that I need to work through, no question of that. I believe these issues (chiefly anxiety and depression) escalated my drinking to such a level quicker than if I were a 100% mentally healthy (lol, as if that exists) person.

HOWEVER. Alcoholism runs throughout my family on both sides. My parents both drink a lot although as far as I can tell they are both functioning well. Several family members have died from drinking. I also have an addictive personality. Basically my drinking was a train wreck from the very start.

My drinking made my mental health worse which made me drink more etc etc. A truly horrible cycle.
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Old 03-08-2014, 04:41 AM
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Originally Posted by caboblanco View Post
some people believe that after a point just not drinking is all they can focus on. they can't put together the pieces of their past that led to it..us alcohol addicts I believe are driven by their subconscious. i believe its possible to access this part of our being and heal it. I think giving up on that is a downer even though i realize it seems impossible to some
I think we're all different. What is true for one alcohol addict may not apply to all.

If I had/have an underlying problem it was never greater than the problem of my alcohol addiction.
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Old 03-08-2014, 06:17 AM
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Lots of work on myself so far - more needed
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Old 03-09-2014, 06:08 PM
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Very difficult question.
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Old 03-09-2014, 07:32 PM
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Good question which took me a while to figure out. Now I am of the view that I had some psychological and environmental problems (that are still with me) and I used alcohol as a coping mechanism. Then alcohol itself became the problem. It created a lot of mental problems which have since gone away now that I have removed alcohol. My fundamental problems have been laid bare but I am learning new coping mechanisms to dal with them.
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Old 03-10-2014, 12:00 AM
  # 35 (permalink)  
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For me depression was my problem.
being dealing with it for a long time.

only within the past year, (fall/winter) had i got into the habit of drinking everyday.
(2/3 beers a night) I did it to cope with some chronic physical pain issues.
but it evolved to using it to cope with the loneliness and the stress of a negative living enviroment.

don't really think i am an alcoholic.... more of an 'alcohol abuser'

anyways, my therapist recommended me to go to AA after I quit on my own and a couple of weeks later some anxiety issues popped up.

Being going to an AA meeting everyday, mostly evenings, for the last 34 days.
Its been great, a way to deal with my loneliness at night time.
But its hard to me to relate to many of the heavier drinkers, cuz my consumption is low and controlled.

I still think "controlled" drinking is in my future,
but I don't express that opinion in the meetings cause I don't want to "rock the boat"....
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Old 03-10-2014, 12:16 AM
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I have seen it rock the SR Boat too.
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Old 03-10-2014, 12:22 AM
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When I first started drinking I used it primarily to ease social anxiety, and boy did it work well for me. The problem is that I started using it for any and all issues that came up in my life. Alcoholism also runs in my family (both maternal and paternal), so I believe that genetics was the kindling and learning at a young age that alcohol relieved my anxieties was the match.
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Old 03-10-2014, 12:41 AM
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Welcome to SR AANoob

you might be right, you may not. Like I said I had underlying issues (also pain related) but I also developed alcoholism.
Once you cross that line there's no going back IMO.

I recommend to take more than 30 days to look at things.
90 days might be a more reasonable time period?

The worst that can happen is you had 90 days without booze.
D
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Old 03-10-2014, 12:43 AM
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At first I drank because it was fun and a rite passage. I do not drink to cope with life or anything. It was all in good fun. The problems started later. I would drink to suppress my anxiety. I still do have that struggle every single day. Stress causes me to want to drink. Little did I know that I was making my anxiety worse by drinking and stressing myself out MORE BY drinking.
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Old 03-10-2014, 04:43 AM
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at first I just liked the feeling of getting high or drunk, maybe once a week or so with friends, but then you start to like it too much and do it too often. I have always had very low self esteem and confidence, I know those traits and alcoholism often go together, but hard to say which is cause and which is effect. My goal is to quit drinking and work on the self esteem.
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