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> Frankly, most people would rather continue to ban drugs than pay for treatment for people who abuse them. I agree. However, I’m talking not only about treati

> Frankly, most people would rather continue to ban drugs than pay for treatment for people who abuse them. I agree. However, I’m talking not only about treating addiction, but preventing abuse in the first place. The first line of social support is made up of our friends and families. Outreach and education could foster better attitudes toward mental health and addiction, and reduce the systemic effects of stress and loneliness. Rehab is very late in the game, and it’s much more difficult and costly for everyone involved.

groovy2shoes 11y ago
I admire your courage to speak out about your alcoholism on a public forum. You're not alone. I myself went through a rough period of alcoholism for about 5 years. You're absolutely correct about social support: when I finally kicked the habit (about 3 years ago), I was only able to do it because I switched jobs and made some new friends. The stress of my previous job combined with the loneliness of being isolated from all my friends were, in retrospect, huge players in my alcoholism. In fact, once I was in that new position, I found it remarkably easy to reduce my drinking to social norms. Nowadays, I hardly even drink at all. I haven't had a drink since before Thanksgiving, and I don't even think about it anymore. Hang in there. If there's any way I can help, let me know. I'm a fellow PL enthusiast and designer (I still refer to one of your concatenative programming articles now and then, thanks for that!), so perhaps we can chat sometime :)
- evincarofautumn 11y ago
  Thank you. I don’t feel like it’s courageous—I think of it as just an annoying illness that I’m dealing with. Work stress and loneliness were big factors for me as well. I moved across the country with no support network, then went through a difficult breakup. Changing jobs, finding new friends and hobbies, and meeting a new partner who has also dealt with addiction, have all helped enormously. I am still working on Kitten, and it would be a great help to chat about it, as well as whatever you’re working on. Feel free to email me, or star the repo on GitHub and I’ll include you in the pre-release announcement—soon, hopefully!

groovy2shoes 11y ago

I admire your courage to speak out about your alcoholism on a public forum. You're not alone. I myself went through a rough period of alcoholism for about 5 years. You're absolutely correct about social support: when I finally kicked the habit (about 3 years ago), I was only able to do it because I switched jobs and made some new friends. The stress of my previous job combined with the loneliness of being isolated from all my friends were, in retrospect, huge players in my alcoholism. In fact, once I was in that new position, I found it remarkably easy to reduce my drinking to social norms. Nowadays, I hardly even drink at all. I haven't had a drink since before Thanksgiving, and I don't even think about it anymore. Hang in there. If there's any way I can help, let me know. I'm a fellow PL enthusiast and designer (I still refer to one of your concatenative programming articles now and then, thanks for that!), so perhaps we can chat sometime :)

evincarofautumn 11y ago
Thank you. I don’t feel like it’s courageous—I think of it as just an annoying illness that I’m dealing with. Work stress and loneliness were big factors for me as well. I moved across the country with no support network, then went through a difficult breakup. Changing jobs, finding new friends and hobbies, and meeting a new partner who has also dealt with addiction, have all helped enormously. I am still working on Kitten, and it would be a great help to chat about it, as well as whatever you’re working on. Feel free to email me, or star the repo on GitHub and I’ll include you in the pre-release announcement—soon, hopefully!