I know someone who is an alcoholic: a big-time alcoholic (it is not Willy Dunne Wooters).
I asked this person: Will you see a doctor? No.
I asked, Will you see a therapist? No.
I asked, Will you go to Alcoholics Anonymous? No.
I asked, Will you go to some other kind of rehab? No.
Because I believe the reason for the drinking lies in depression, I asked, Will you take an antidepressant? No.
Even if the person had agreed to take any of these steps, none of them would provide simple answers. You can't get a regular treatment that stops alcoholism. You can't have a surgery that stops alcoholism. You can't get a vaccination in the arm, a shot in the butt, a lecture from a doctor, a prescription filled at the pharmacy . . . .
The truth is that even if an alcoholic goes to rehab and sees a therapist and goes to AA, the only true treatment for alcoholism is willpower. I do know of the existence of a pill that people can take that will cause them to become violently ill if they partake of liquor, but what if the person doesn't want to take the pill? And if he does want to take the pill, then is he going to take it everyday for the rest of his life? All the therapy and AA sponsors and antidepressants in the world will not stop an alcoholic who wants to drink. The person has to want to stop and then do whatever it takes to keep away from the next drink.
"Hitting rock bottom" is supposed to be the answer, but some people seem to hit rock bottom and then bounce back to drink another day.
Willpower: a fleeting desire that is so hard to capture and exercise.
Infinities of love,
Janie Junebug
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| The person was already inebriated at approximately 1 a.m. on Friday when he started drinking these 13 cans of beer and Smirnoff Smash, which he finished early Saturday afternoon. It's possible that more cans were in the recycling bin. He also took cold/flu medicine while drinking. This is someone who is committing suicide in the slow lane, unless he crashes because of alcohol poisoning, destroys his liver (which will happen eventually), or injures himself so severely while drunk that he can no longer hold a can or dies. |
