5 ms·
I have no idea whether this will help at all, but after staring at it for a while, I decided I had to try. I think it's VERY likely that a craving for a chemica
by SiVal 10y ago
I have no idea whether this will help at all, but after staring at it for a while, I decided I had to try. I think it's VERY likely that a craving for a chemical such as alcohol or various drugs is learned by the brain and shares a property with such things as language learning, which is that early learning plants it deeply and indelibly in a rapidly developing brain--making it essentially native to the brain's structure--while late learning is relatively superficial.
Based on what I've seen, those who wait to start drinking until well into adulthood have brains that are MUCH more resistant to alcoholism.
The implication for you, then, is that if you can't get your sister to just join you in being a non-drinker, then at least persuade her to procrastinate her drinking as many years as possible and use the language-learning analogy if it helps: the LAST thing you want to do is become a "native drinker". You want it to be something always a little foreign and unnatural to your brain so you can push it away entirely should you ever choose to do so.
Again, this might be of no use to you in your personal situation (and sorry I can't be more useful), but if there's any way you can get her to wait until after college/university age, she won't be completely safe (no drinker is), but she will have MUCH more power than she has now.
- jwdunne 10y agoThank you very much for your insight :) Unfortunately too late. My sister has had her first drink a year or so ago. She was 14 iirc. I had mine at 11 - 12. We can shun alcohol. I have a bottle of Jaeger in the fridge untouched. I got it last Christmas. In effect, being stupid with it when I was a kid made me realise I have a point where it isn't pleasant at all. It also made me realise that I hate the idea of me under the influence - I hate feeling like a fucking idiot. That plus the damage it has done through other means has left me a non-drinker. If alcohol became a class A substance tomorrow and the day after consuming it was punishable by summary death, I would not care (except maybe about a right wing govt). I wouldn't give a shit about losing booze. I also have young children. If I won't jump in a car after 1 drink, how can I look after my kids? What if one wakes up?
- pmoriarty 10y agoThere's an interesting book by Jack London, "John Barleycorn"[1], which is about his battle with alcoholism. He didn't start drinking in earnest until he was 25, though he tried (and absolutely hated) alcohol earlier. An interesting read, and recommended for one very talented person's view on alcoholism. [1] - https://librivox.org/john-barleycorn-or-alcoholic-memoirs-by-jack-london/ https://librivox.org/john-barleycorn-or-alcoholic-memoirs-by...