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No One to Rescue Me from My Drinking

nytimes.com

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Re: No One to Rescue Me from My Drinking

#31

Post by Devthrowaway80 »

RockyMcNuts wrote: post #12
Animats wrote: post #8

Note the total lack of self-blame, or taking responsibility for one's own problems. Even the title, "No One to Rescue Me from My Drinking", puts the blame on someone, anyone, else.

I could never be an alcoholic, alcohol does nothing for me except dulling the senses. But there were kids I knew, from the first drink of their lives, it made them a different, less stressed, happier person. It was like heroin (I imagine, never tried it). Point is, some people genetically have an alcohol problem. And this person is writing about it, exposing themself to potential criticism like this, and taking actio…

Interesting to hear that. The first time I ever had unrestricted access to alcohol was a revelation - like I'd suddenly found the cure for everything that ailed me. I lost count at something like 26 standard drinks.

Fast forward about two decades and surprise, I'm an alcoholic!

Re: No One to Rescue Me from My Drinking

#32

Post by eulo_ »

vernie wrote: post #11
throwaway999777 wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The reason this is so important is that should this woman have a "slip" - which LOTS of alcoholics do - now the world, and needy alcoholics, have one more reason to dismiss AA. > Try it before you judge it. An organization that tries to inflate its own public success rate, and then asks people to keep an open mind towards it rather than dismiss it. Ok.

Yea, better to do nothing, I'm sure it'll sort itself out.

From all studies I've seen it does. As a vague rule addiction lasts at most around 10 years

Re: No One to Rescue Me from My Drinking

#33

Post by baobabaobab »

Animats wrote: post #8

Note the total lack of self-blame, or taking responsibility for one's own problems. Even the title, "No One to Rescue Me from My Drinking", puts the blame on someone, anyone, else.

That was the entire point of the story. That the way to fix your personal problems is to take responsibility for your own life. It takes you deciding that you are going to change who you are.

There was no one to rescue her because you can't be rescued from yourself.

Re: No One to Rescue Me from My Drinking

#34

Post by siliconc0w »

On a similar topic - AA actually isn't that effective: http://www.salon.com/2014/03/23/the_pseudo_science_of_alcoho...

I haven't read the book the above article is covering but it seems Dodes argues psychotherapy is a better alternative as 'addiction' is usually just a manifestation of self-destructive/self medication behavior ultimately due to untreated psychological issues. In this OP's case this is looks like depression.

Re: No One to Rescue Me from My Drinking

#35

Post by Devthrowaway80 »

throwaway999777 wrote: post #6
tossit123 wrote: post #4

weird that she just flat breaks AA tradition 11 "we need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio, and films.” The reason this is so important is that should this woman have a "slip" - which LOTS of alcoholics do - now the world, and needy alcoholics, have one more reason to dismiss AA. Try it before you judge it. AA finds u when u need it, not to be traded for a drunkalog to generate page view…

> The reason this is so important is that should this woman have a "slip" - which LOTS of alcoholics do - now the world, and needy alcoholics, have one more reason to dismiss AA. > Try it before you judge it. An organization that tries to inflate its own public success rate, and then asks people to keep an open mind towards it rather than dismiss it. Ok.

His understanding of the reasoning behind Tradition 11 is flawed. It has nothing to do with protecting the image AA from member relapses.

It has to do with encouraging humility among its members, who are alcoholics and who generally tend to have issues with being self-centered. This is true of a lot of the traditions - "leaders are trusted servants, they don't govern" and so on. Basically trying to keep addicts from getting an inflated sense of their own importance.

Re: No One to Rescue Me from My Drinking

#36

Post by fredkbloggs »

RockyMcNuts wrote: post #12
Animats wrote: post #8

Note the total lack of self-blame, or taking responsibility for one's own problems. Even the title, "No One to Rescue Me from My Drinking", puts the blame on someone, anyone, else.

I could never be an alcoholic, alcohol does nothing for me except dulling the senses. But there were kids I knew, from the first drink of their lives, it made them a different, less stressed, happier person. It was like heroin (I imagine, never tried it). Point is, some people genetically have an alcohol problem. And this person is writing about it, exposing themself to potential criticism like this, and taking actio…

> kids I knew, from the first drink of their lives, it made them a different, less stressed, happier person.

> Point is, some people genetically have an alcohol problem.

Can you explain how you got from point A to point B above? I don't understand how your observation implies dependency, addiction, or any of the numerous problems that alcoholism causes in someone's life.

It is also true that some people have inherited traits that interfere with processing alcohol. But I don't understand how you can conclude that someone has such a trait from observing their behavior when drinking, nor how you conclude that such a person is an alcoholic. In fact, perhaps the most common genetic quirk (it's not really a defect) is a missing encoding for alcohol dehydrogenase, which according to Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcohol_flush_reaction) is correlated with lower rates of alcoholism. Of course, others exist also.

Not really interested in the emotional reactions here on either side. Just interested in why/how you conclude that these three things are strongly correlated/causal.

Re: No One to Rescue Me from My Drinking

#37

Post by siliconc0w »

On a similar topic - AA actually isn't that effective: http://www.salon.com/2014/03/23/the_pseudo_science_of_alcoho...

I haven't read the book the above article is covering but it seems Dodes argues psychotherapy is a better alternative as 'addiction' is usually just a manifestation of self-destructive/self medication behavior ultimately due to untreated psychological issues. In this OP's case this is looks like it was depression - though it's unclear if she is seeking treatment outside of AA.

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