Posted by akc on December 11, 2001, at 6:39:20
In reply to alcoholic vs. just can't drink, posted by Shar on December 10, 2001, at 23:46:48
I am not denying I am an alcoholic. I cannot drink "normally." It is stupid for me to take even one drink, because history has shown that when I take one drink, I get drunk, and that bad things happen.
My complaint is that it is as ignorant to treat each alcohlic/addict the same as it would be to treat each person presenting symptoms of bipolar. Look here, your bipolar, take these three meds and call me in the morning.
I am a huge supporter of AA (just see some of the other threads recently on this page). The fellowship is an important part of my life -- I go to several meetings a week. Even though I have picked up here recently, I have continued to go to meetings (I sit there ashamed wondering when I am going to take that first step again).
My complaint was with how my pdoc treated me yesterday. She was ready to send me to a half-way house without really knowing me. To separate me from my animals -- who are an important factor in keeping me alive.
I drink/cut right now not so much because I am an alcoholic (which I am) but because I am very depressed. I talked to my pdoc again last night -- she is now to the point that maybe I need hospitalized. That fits. Because what is wrong is not that I have fallen off the wagon, but that my mental illness is out of control. To just treat me as another drunk is to ignore the person. The drinking is a symptom of a larger problem. To focus on the drinking as the cause -- well that is pretty stupid too because the facts don't fit that.
In how it works it reads that "There are those to with grave emotional and mental disorders, but many of them do recover if they have the capacity to be honest." Even Bill recognized that some drinkers had some extra problems. People are different. Period. AA works for a lot of people and I will always go and I will always hope that one day I get the miracle. But for my pdoc to treat me like a gutter drunk who can't hold a job -- well, that was upsetting. Especially when the drinking is a symptom of my mental illness, not the other way around.
One last story. When I was in my early 20s, I was involved in a church that marriage was expected and all. So you would be around a bunch of women and the issue of having kids would come up. I would always say I didn't want kids. And the comments always were, oh, you will want kids -- all women want kids. I shook my head at the time because that was not a very wise statement -- of course not all women would want kids for a variety of reasons.
People are different -- and get sick and well for a variety of reasons. AA has been a miracle in that it has helped so many hopeless drunks. And it has helped me put together some time. But why each drunk makes it there -- well it is for different reasons -- and those differences can be important. Especially in a situation where the person suffers from a grave emotional disorder.
I'm a drunk. I shouldn't drink. But I ask to be treated with respect by my pdoc and not pigeon-hole. That was what my post was about -- not getting further pigeon-holed.
Plus I was upset. Which I continue to be.
akc
poster:akc
thread:15305
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20011207/msgs/15330.html