[vc_row][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”ALCOHOLISM AND EUPHORIC RECALL” font_container=”tag:h1|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]It’s seems as though the majority of people misunderstand alcoholism. To an individual without an addiction problem, drinking oneself to death or to the brink of death makes no sense. No sense at all. Why is it that some, types, are unable to stop and stay stopped, no matter how great their desire or need for sobriety?
The first thing I say to people, about any kind of addiction, is that it is no longer a choice, but rather a life threatening illness. The sufferer is compelled to drink despite a string of previous catastrophes. At that critical point, the ‘alcoholic’ fails to recognise the carnage of their last debauch. They are overwhelmed with the desire to drink and will often call to mind a time (usually many years previously) when drinking was still fun; or they may fantasise about how good taking a drink will make them feel. They can truly believe that this time they will have control of their drinking and of their actions, despite numerous experiences to the contrary. With the alcoholic, there is a complete lack of defence in their thinking to safeguard them from taking that next drink. Their mind may well conjure up the time when they sat sipping champagne on the beach, watching the sun set over the horizon, some ten or more years ago. What they fail to recall is the very reason they stopped drinking in the first place. Alcoholism is a very destructive illness that affects all those concerned. The alcoholic will be compelled to put drinking before his or her own health, sanity, career, relationships and even family. This is the shocking reality of alcoholism and hence why it is so misunderstood.
DENIAL
Someone who suffers from alcoholism will struggle to see the truth around their drinking. Moments of clarity are usually few and far between. They recall how alcohol made them feel, as oppose to what it did to them. The alcoholic is incapable of controlling their drinking, once they have one drink, they develop an overwhelming craving for more. They cannot think about anything else until they are able to get that next drink, then the next and the next….
Having an addiction, is often described by the sufferer as having a hole in the soul. They try to fill that hole with external things, drink, drugs, money, sex, food etc but only gain temporarily relief. Driven by a feeling of being uncomfortable and an obsession to fix that, they take great risks and go to great lengths to change the way that they feel inside.
RECOVERY
In order to recover from alcohol addiction, we must undergo a complete change; thinking and actions. Sufferers need experts in treating alcoholism; staff that have the credentials and that are ideally in recovery from addiction themselves. They fully understand the addict’s brain and use evidence-based powerful healing methodologies to treat the root causes.
For many years now, the popular approaches haven’t changed much; integrated CBT, Mindfulness, Motivational interviewing and 12 Step approaches. In each approach a quest for reality – the truth.
My stalwart of a euphoric memoir was a particular fancy dress party. I seemed to be able to drink all night, and in my head – I just became simply more and more entertaining as the sun came up. Of course, that was (to use a technical term) an utter load of crap. My addict mind needed to make sense of why I was still drinking. The dissonance had to be addressed with a glimmer of hope. That this night – I would be able to drink like a gentleman….[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][/vc_column][/vc_row]
