JamesfrmEngland

I am increasingly thinks that treatment is a problem not a solution. I go to rehab 5 days a week even though I am a fully qualified psychologist and I have never drank more than since I have been in treatment for alcoholism

sugarbear1

Maybe try in-patient rehab so you aren't near any alcohol?

MrPL

Hi James,

I haven't ever been in treatment myself, but whichever way you look at this both the problem and the solution are 100% down to you. Get the right mind frame in place and I m sure you can do it.

P

Dee74

Have you ruled out confirmation bias, James?

D

EndGameNYC

Huh.

So if you were to stop drinking, then that would make treatment the solution? Or that drinking without treatment would be the solution?

Not feelin' it.

IvanMike

The problem is that you keep getting loaded...

No one is making that choice but you.

Bird615

That kind of makes sense to me.

My addiction, when threatened, tended to pull out all the stops and go into overdrive. So in that sense, thinking I needed to or was going to stop seemed to make it worse.

What worked for me was to do what I needed to do in spite of the screaming in my head to keep on drinking or drink even more. When I was desperate enough, I was willing to follow suggestions. Including not picking up that first drink.

Treatment and regularly participating in a recovery program saved my life.

doggonecarl

I think the ambivalence to sobriety you spoke of in your previous post, "Fallen at 10 days" has more to do with the solution not working than the treatment itself. But Madbird makes a good point about our addiction bucking at the threat of sobriety.

LadyBlue0527

I've often wondered if part of the reason we drink exponentially more right before we proclaim that we're quitting is that we subconsciously (and consciously) know that our drinking career is coming to an end. I also think it's the same reason we binge. Fit as much as we can in as little time possible before we can't do it anymore.

I don't think that treatment is the problem. I think that treatment is making you realize that you can't, or shouldn't be drinking anymore and you're trying to hold on to it as long as you can and get as much as you can. Fighting the inevitable is hard work. You may be trying to drink away the fact that you need to quit. It's the insanity at play.

This is completely my opinion. It's because one day I was contemplating that where I am an alcoholic, why did I need to swill the booze? There had to be more in play. It's because it was my "one day on the weekend" so I knew that I had to fit as much in as I could until the next "one day on the weekend" came.

This is true testimony to why no amount of treatment or meetings will help until you have fully accepted, and TRULY accepted, that there is no excuse as to why you can't drink. You just can't. Once I did this is the happiest I've been being sober. The fight to drink was over.

"When you stop chasing the wrong things you give the right things a chance to catch you" (Don't know where the quote comes from but there's truth in those words).

Bunny211

You can get sober with treatment and you can get sober without it. I know a lot of old timers who think that rehab is a waste of money and time. I went to rehab but the bottom line is that I did not stop drinking until I wanted to stop drinking MORE THAN ANYTHING in the world. I was a chronic relapser and someone pulled me aside in a meeting and said "You know, if you want to quit drinking...eventually you are going to have to quit drinking." It is really that simple. I just did not drink, no matter what. If someone came and murdered my family and I chose to pick up a drink the reason I would get drunk is because I PICKED UP THE DRINK.

In the first few months I used to pace around my house for hours at 2, 3, 4am repeating "You just don't drink, don't drink, don't f*****ing drink." Sometimes I would scream and beat my fists against the walls. They don't tell you about that in those Promises Malibu commercial....early sobriety is gut wrenching. There's no easy way to get through early sobriety. You just do it. It is the hardest thing I've ever done. But also the most worthwhile thing I've ever done. Today I hardly ever think about drinking. It no longer has a hold on me. I am not fighting alcohol...the problem no longer exists for me. You can get there too...but first you have to put down the bottle...for good.

MLD51

When I was really really ready to quit, it was surprisingly easy. I tried and failed many times to moderate, quit for short periods of time to prove I could do it, drink only on weekends, etc. Nothing - not AA, not treatment, not other people telling me to quit - would have worked for me until I made that decision once and for all, for myself. I did go to treatment, after I drew the line in the sand for myself. I also went to AA on a regular basis - after I took my last drink. Those things "worked" and continue to work for me, because I wanted them to, and had an open mind and listened. Treatment won't work for anyone who isn't ready or who has ambivalence. It's not a magic pill. I saw lots of people wash out of treatment while I was there because they just weren't ready.

Mountainmanbob

Some drunks in your position may have to hit a bottom and lose their license to practice and possibly a few other things before making a firm decision to give up the booze.

Why I sit here with a retirement check I just don't know -- for many of my City co-workers who I drank with were fired due to their drinking. Some will miss the bullet -- but -- not all.

M-Bob

AnvilheadII

unless they are serving drinks AT the treatment center and forcing you to drink them, i don't see how TREATMENT is the problem.

there is a saying that sitting in a garage does not make you a car.
the same could be said for sitting in a treatment center....it doesn't automatically MAKE you sober. sobriety takes work and commitment. recovery is about using any and all tools we have or are taught to live each day without the use of alcohol.

i understand it can be incredibly difficult for those in therapeutic professions to get THEMSELVES well.....they know exactly WHAT the problem is, clinically, but have troubles putting that knowledge into a actual practice.

tomsteve

my car has the symptom of bad brakes. replacing the brakes is the treatment, but not the solution- in my mind.
think maybe i should listen to someone more qualified at fixin brakes and do what they say or just keep drivin til i crash?

ScottFromWI

It's also possible that you are drinking more now simply because you are a "fully qualified" alcoholic and it usually gets progressively worse over time.

Or it could be that you are thinking about these kinds of things while you are drunk, which of course voids any semblance of logic.

Until I realized that the problem was ME, nothing changed. I blamed stress from my job, stress from my family, anxiety, money issues, and the list goes on. I had to look in the mirror and accept that I was the problem and that the only way to fix things was to change myself. I hope you can come to the same realization before you start losing things that you can never gain back.

Db1105

Are you going to outpatient to stop drinking??? Or for some other issue? Back in my drinking days I found I needed a few drinks to see my psychologist, drug counselor , and probation officer. It wasn't until I seriously wanted to try to stop drinking did treatment work.

cwood3

+1 on Scott's post....he sounds like me.....and I believe he's right

JamesfrmEngland

Moments sublime with intervals hilarious

Venecia

Well, James, your comment doesn't suggest you're in much shape to take seriously some really sound feedback. I hope that changes.

Dee74

It's a quote from Bill's Story
I know what Bill means by it - what do you mean by it James?

D