Alcoholics Anonymous and Drug Addiction

[Dorian Gray]

Er, I'm gonna go out on a limb here and suggest that most everyone who makes it to AA, rehab or therapy tried willpower and self control multiple times without success. That's why they end up in those places.

If you can control your drinking through willpower and self control, then you're not an alcoholic. My brother is a heavy drinker, but he can stop whenever he needs to. He's not an alcoholic.

I spent years in AA, and almost a year in an intensive Christian rehab, and 2 other secular rehabs before that. I’ve been hospitalized 9 times for alcohol overdose, spent dozens of weeks cumulatively in detox, spent and lost over $200,000 in booze and losses inflicted thereof. Had 3 DUIs, lost all my friends and my family due to my drinking, and have been told by several doctors that my next drink could kill me. I’ve lived on the streets, slept in alleys, under bridges, AND went out and drank a half gallon a day for years after being told I would die. I’m 43 years old.

Uh, yeah I think I MIGHT be an alcoholic.

I used to say “prayer is the last resort of the truly damned.” Since I am still alive, and basically left with no “help,” I guess my new slogan is “I am the last resort of the truly damned.”

What I mean to say, is that I believe that the old and much maligned concepts of willpower and self control may become the only thing you can rely on when addicts like me find that AA, church, and rehabs (as we know them today) don’t work very well. Advances in neuroscience have proven such concepts as “ego depletion” and “decision fatigue” that addicts in particular suffer from. Diet also plays an enormous part in decision making and clear thinking. It’s no surprise that willpower and self control alone do not work for addicts given the mountain of stress, bodily damage and poor diets that they inflict on themselves. BUT, once these things are normalized, self control, which has been fatigued by overuse, can be strengthened like a muscle. There is too much on the topic to go into here, but I honestly believe it best for all addicts to not discount themselves as a major element in sobriety. I used to say AA is a good start – it can get you in a place where people understand and some shoulders to cry on, but when you go home at night (if you have one) you are always alone with your thoughts.

I’m going on a year soon, and I won’t get a chip, go to church, or celebrate in any way, except do some mindfulness exercise, make sure I’ve got plenty of glucose in my system at all times, and get plenty of rest.