Dry Drunk
Holding The Father's Hand
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Oregon
Posts: 96
Dry Drunk
I found this very interesting. I found it in the Wikipedia encyclopedia.
Although dry drunk is not a medical diagnosis, the phrase is used by members of AA to describe a group of symptoms which they believe come about as a result of not following the twelve steps. The steps include the inventory and confession of character defects and wrongs as well as prayer and communion with the Higher Power, which may be, but is not necessarily God (or a divine being of some kind). It is believed in AA groups that a person who quits drinking without embracing the tenets of AA as the means to quit drinking will experience many unpleasant feelings and exhibit maladaptive behaviors. These feelings are said to include despair, anger, rage, depression of mood or clinical depression, and anxiety and are expressed in behavior stemming from those types of feelings. This dry drunk state is thought to lead, virtually without exception, to the resumption of an even more intensive and harmful drinking spree.
Copied from:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dry_drunk
Although dry drunk is not a medical diagnosis, the phrase is used by members of AA to describe a group of symptoms which they believe come about as a result of not following the twelve steps. The steps include the inventory and confession of character defects and wrongs as well as prayer and communion with the Higher Power, which may be, but is not necessarily God (or a divine being of some kind). It is believed in AA groups that a person who quits drinking without embracing the tenets of AA as the means to quit drinking will experience many unpleasant feelings and exhibit maladaptive behaviors. These feelings are said to include despair, anger, rage, depression of mood or clinical depression, and anxiety and are expressed in behavior stemming from those types of feelings. This dry drunk state is thought to lead, virtually without exception, to the resumption of an even more intensive and harmful drinking spree.
Copied from:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dry_drunk
Member
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Posts: 5,075
It's a good description because it keeps the phrase "dry drunk" as adjectives - as in a dry-drunk condition, not drunk as a noun - as in he/she is a dry drunk. I think there is a distinction to be made.
Member
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: uk
Posts: 3,054
It is believed in AA groups that a person who quits drinking without embracing the tenets of AA as the means to quit drinking will experience many unpleasant feelings and exhibit maladaptive behaviors. These feelings are said to include despair, anger, rage, depression of mood or clinical depression, and anxiety and are expressed in behavior stemming from those types of feelings. This dry drunk state is thought to lead, virtually without exception, to the resumption of an even more intensive and harmful drinking spree.
It's good to see it's refered to as a phrase or a state, made clear that the phrase is both predictive and negative and clarified that it is NOT a diagnosis - which would require objective evidence!!
I'm quite happy with D's non stepping behaviour, a new job, a reduced period before it became permanent, and a climb out of depression.
Holding The Father's Hand
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Oregon
Posts: 96
One thing that has kind of "hit me" as I've been thinking about the definition above is that we, as the loved ones of alcoholics, can be dealing with our own sort of dry drunk if we don't get help. If your A stops drinking or drugging, yet we don't get some help for ourselves, we are, in a sense, on a dry drunk.
Member
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Starting over all over again
Posts: 4,426
That particular definition is taken out of context by the wiki-folk. The term "dry drunk" is _not_ a diagnosis of any kind, nor is it approved by the AA literature. It is a colloquial term used to cover a wide variety of different situations.
The underlying concept in AA is that alcohol alone is not the cause of the disease that afflicts alcoholics. As evidence there is all the folks who are addicted to other substances from sugar to heroin who exhibit nearly identical emotional symptoms. Based on that assumption it follows that if a person is afflicted with the disease of addiction then simply ceasing consumption of the drug of choice will not aleviate the disease. Some form of recovery program needs to be followed in order for that person to overcome the emotional components of the disease.
The AMA and the NIAAA have ample research indicating a difference in the metabolic pathways of the brains of people with chemical addictions. The brain of the addictive person is _chemically_ different from those of non-addicts. It is this difference that causes the emotional disturbances that in turn require a program of recovery.
The AMA, NIAAA and AA are all in agreement that recovery of both the physical and emotinoal aspects requires _both_ abstinence from mood altering chemicals as well as involvment in a program of recovery. All three groups also agree that _which_ program is irrelevant.
From all the above comes the observation that some addicts who cease to consume their drug of choice show no change at all in their anti-social behavior. Those people who remain anti-social in the absence of intoxication are sometimes refered to as "dry drunks".
A more colorful expression says that if you throw an alcoholic car-thief into a meeting of alcoholics anonymous you get back a sober car-thief.
The official view of AA, ever since it's founding a little over 70 years ago, is that AA holds the utmost respect for those individuals who are able to overcome addiction and live a life that is happy, joyous and free. Folks who opine otherwise are expressing a personal intransigence that is fully against AA principles.
Mike
The underlying concept in AA is that alcohol alone is not the cause of the disease that afflicts alcoholics. As evidence there is all the folks who are addicted to other substances from sugar to heroin who exhibit nearly identical emotional symptoms. Based on that assumption it follows that if a person is afflicted with the disease of addiction then simply ceasing consumption of the drug of choice will not aleviate the disease. Some form of recovery program needs to be followed in order for that person to overcome the emotional components of the disease.
The AMA and the NIAAA have ample research indicating a difference in the metabolic pathways of the brains of people with chemical addictions. The brain of the addictive person is _chemically_ different from those of non-addicts. It is this difference that causes the emotional disturbances that in turn require a program of recovery.
The AMA, NIAAA and AA are all in agreement that recovery of both the physical and emotinoal aspects requires _both_ abstinence from mood altering chemicals as well as involvment in a program of recovery. All three groups also agree that _which_ program is irrelevant.
From all the above comes the observation that some addicts who cease to consume their drug of choice show no change at all in their anti-social behavior. Those people who remain anti-social in the absence of intoxication are sometimes refered to as "dry drunks".
A more colorful expression says that if you throw an alcoholic car-thief into a meeting of alcoholics anonymous you get back a sober car-thief.
The official view of AA, ever since it's founding a little over 70 years ago, is that AA holds the utmost respect for those individuals who are able to overcome addiction and live a life that is happy, joyous and free. Folks who opine otherwise are expressing a personal intransigence that is fully against AA principles.
Mike
Member
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: El Cerrito, California
Posts: 580
I have a problem with the idea of dry drunk. I've had to deal with some pretty intense family issues through therapy, meditation, Alanon, and journal work, and was often on an emotional roller coaster. Adult Children of Alcoholics literature says that going through such changes is about integration of old feelings into new circumstances. It takes a lot of work to allow such feelings to come up and to process them without getting self destructive. Perhaps the classic "dry drunk" is similar, but doesn't have any context with which to work it through.
Member
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Starting over all over again
Posts: 4,426
Ngokpa, you make some excellent points. There are many different reasons why people behave in a self-destructive manner. Addiction is just one. The emotional injuries that are caused by a "toxic" family can create so much damage that a person becomes self-destructive. The whole point to understanding that addiction is a disease is to make it clear that it can happen to anyone. Just like heart failure can happen to a person with a normal family, or to a person from a toxic family, likewise with addiction.
I come from a very toxic family, and have had to deal with all the emotional injuries I was subjected to. In addition to that, and totally separate from it, I also have the disease of addiction. And just for spice I also have heart problems
Mike
I come from a very toxic family, and have had to deal with all the emotional injuries I was subjected to. In addition to that, and totally separate from it, I also have the disease of addiction. And just for spice I also have heart problems
Mike
Currently Active Users Viewing this Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
