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Alcoholism
Our use of and attachments with alcohol provide most complex relationships. With the exception of those addicted to nicotine and caffeine, more people are addicted to alcohol than any other substance. As many as 90% of adults in the United States have had some experience with alcohol, and 60% of men and 30% of women have had one or more alcohol-related adverse life events. While not all drinking is problem drinking, there is an unfortunate group of persons (about 7% of the population) for whom the use of and attachment to alcohol is part of a tragic story. We are unable to determine those for whom drinking will be a problem and those for whom it will not, but through a progressive pattern it can reek a pattern of destruction to parts or all of life-to the organism, to intimate relations, to the family, to the community, and to one's vocation. Estimates of persons, in the United States alone, at some stage of alcoholism exceed ten million.
Our current understanding is that alcoholism is a disease-a compulsive and addictive illness in which there is continuing excessive use of alcoholic beverages that result in damage-and frequently outside the awareness of the alcoholic. Alcohol dependence, alcohol abuse, alcohol intoxication, alcohol withdrawal, and alcohol-induced disorders have special meanings in mental health understandings, but all describe presentations of a drinking problem. A clinician can help you understand these experiences within yourself or with someone you love. There are infinite presentations of how alcohol becomes a problem in a person's life. All stereotypes of the alcoholic give way to the imaginative ways that a person can shape his or her life around the need to drink and experience the effects of alcohol. Other mental health disorders can appear with alcoholism, but, generally, it is best to face one's problems with alcohol, before tackling other mental health problems.
Therapy with alcoholics generally involves detoxification, searching for what motivates them to accept the need for help, interrupting the addictive cycle, and helping the alcoholic rebuild a life without alcohol. Joining Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) or entering an inpatient treatment program is often a needed part of a therapeutic intervention.
Treatment of the spouse and family is important in the treatment of the alcoholic. Typically, alcohol is a problem to other people before it is a problem to the alcoholic. A good lay definition of an alcohol problem is that if someone in your life has a problem with your drinking, you have a drinking problem. Spouse and family care is almost always needed in intervening and helping the alcoholic. Al-Anon and Alateen are very important resources for persons who live with alcoholics.
One may want to review our article on "Addiction" to consider the spiritual dimensions of alcohol dependency. Hebrew and Christian scriptures note that in matters of the spirit, there is a place for God that no attachment can replace. When we permit something to move into that holy place, we lose an irreplaceable relationship, and the results are destructive. While an alcoholic may not be aware that his or her relationship with alcohol usurps the place of the God, in practical ways this is exactly what occurs. One drinks to deal with problems, one drinks to avoid mortality, one drinks to find understanding, one drinks to . . . (you fill in the blank about what is most important). From one biblical view, one will be in bondage to something; care must be taken as to what that will be. With an addiction, a spiritual problem emerges: one constructs a life around an idol that will surely betray the victim. A spiritual awakening is needed, and a belief in the restorative work of God is desired.
Here are the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous (remember one can substitute other addictions for alcohol in the statements; even the behaviors of the co-dependent people in the alcoholics life are types of addictions):
- We admitted
we were powerless over alcohol-that our lives had become unmanagemable.
- Came to
believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
- Made a
decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we
understood God.
- Made a
searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
- Admitted
to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of
our wrongs.
- Were entirely
ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
- Humbly
asked God to remove our shortcomings.
- Made a
list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends
to them all.
- Made direct
amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would
injure them or others.
- Continued
to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted
it.
- Sought
through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with
God as we understood God, praying only for knowledge of God's will for
us and the power to carry that out.
- Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these Steps, we tried to carry this message to others, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
If you or someone you love has a drinking problem, make an appointment to talk with one of our staff members. If you are not sure how serious the drinking problem is, we have ways of evaluating the seriousness of this attachment. Call your local pastoral counseling center and make an appointment today. Don't delay! Do follow through! This first step may be the most important action you have taken-don't let the shame and guilt interfere with doing what is right and needed.
For
more information on alcoholism, try these web sites:
www.aanashville.org
www.al-anon.alateen.org
www.mentalhealth.org
To contact the nearest Pastoral Counseling Center in your area click here.