4 ms·

"Rehab: Good short term, bad long term. Rehab failure rate is over %90." That's if you can even get the person into rehab at all! Just before last Christmas we

"Rehab: Good short term, bad long term. Rehab failure rate is over %90." That's if you can even get the person into rehab at all! Just before last Christmas we buried a good longtime friend and colleague who'd died of liver cirrhosis. Nothing we did could get him into rehab. 'So what' you may say - he was just one more of many thousands. The trouble was that he was also an organic chemist by training yet even with this insight he couldn't stop his alcohol consumption. It was tragic really. I've come to the conclusion that those of us who aren't alcoholics have little or no conception of how the mind of an alcoholic works or why he/she finds it necessary to consume alcohol in such damaging quantities. Simply, we cannot get into their minds and perceive the world from their perspective. This is a huge problem as it often stops friends and or family from being effective helpers. As I see it, there's a perceptual barrier that separates alcoholics from those who aren't alcoholic. It's not a simple matter for a person who is not an alcoholic to put himself/herself into an alcoholic's mindset especially so if the alcoholic has no serious underlying psychological problems (if he/she did have then perhaps the person who's trying to help could envisage the alcoholic's state of mind - that of, say, depression, etc.). Essentially, even those of us who aren't alcoholics but who've experienced the effects of alcohol can't use that experience (of say, being drunk) as an analog to understand the alcoholic's mindset as both perceptions of the effects of alcohol are fundamentally different. Take my experience, I recall getting badly drunk in my student days and it was very unpleasant, since then on rare ocassions I've been what you'd call 'merry' from the effects of alcohol. Nevertheless, I find the effect of even a little alcohol both disturbing and mind-dulling and I deliberately avoid getting into that state. On the other hand, the alcoholic either experiences different physical effects from alcohol than I do and or his/her visceral perception of those physical effects of the alcohol are very different to mine. It seems to me that this difference in percetion between the alcoholic and us who aren't alcoholics is one of the reasons why we're often unsuccessful in helping them. If we cannot communicate on their level then we're at a disadvantage when we try to help them and or offer them support. That was what I experienced when I tried to help my former friend and colleague. Even though I knew him well and had done so for many years, it was clear to me that when it came to discussing alcohol that we spoke a different language. I'd hasten to add that at no time did I patronize him, nor was I intrusively paternalistic towards him. Essentially there was no effective communication between us on the matter of alcohol.

callalex 5y ago
>”I find the effect of even a little alcohol both disturbing and mind-dulling and I deliberately avoid getting into that state. On the other hand, the alcoholic either experiences different physical effects from alcohol than I do and or his/her visceral perception of those physical effects of the alcohol are very different to mine.” As an alcoholic I think an often overlooked aspect is the opposite of this: how it feels to NOT have the alcohol.
- hilbert42 5y ago
  Right, what you said makes sense. Essentially, it's the same thing, that is, we're feeling at our best in opposite states. My perception of the world and state of mind seems better to me sans ethanol, yours is the opposite. But that doesn't mean it's a bed of roses for me, it's just that ethanol doesn't work for me to make things better. This is a very complex matter of which millions of words have already been written and clearly I'm not going to come up with any new insights. What I've tried to say is that these differering worldviews make it difficult to make life easier for alcoholics. It's strange really why different people have such different responses to alcohol. Despite what I said about the negative effects of alcohol on me I nevertheless love the taste of good wine and I reckon it's a damn cruel act of fate that alcoholic drinks are so nice and yet at the same time alcohol is far from being just another innocuous additive. Trouble is that the level of alcohol in many alcoholic drinks has increased in recent years when it ought to have been decreasing. For example, a top Bordeaux traditionally has 12.5% alcohol-that is, the world's best wine needs only that amount of alcohol, yet on the shelves of liquor stores where I live almost all wines now have 14.5% or more alcohol. It used not be like this but winemakers found that if they increased the level of alcohol then the wines needed almost no ageing and could be turned over more quickly. That's a sore point with me, wines may be sold more quickly by increasing their alcohol content but good wines must still be aged. Again the quick buck has gotten in the way of better health and governments have done stuff-all about it. I hope that alcohol eventually becomes much less of a problem for you.
  - alar44 5y ago
    Not sure how your missing the fact that people drink to shut off or dull their senses. No one drinks to become smarter or more perceptive. The very point is to get your brain to chill out in a sense, unwind, relax, etc. Also a 2% increase in alcohol content isn't noticeable in any way other than MAYBE taste (and I'm sure most people wouldn't even notice that).

callalex 5y ago

>”I find the effect of even a little alcohol both disturbing and mind-dulling and I deliberately avoid getting into that state. On the other hand, the alcoholic either experiences different physical effects from alcohol than I do and or his/her visceral perception of those physical effects of the alcohol are very different to mine.” As an alcoholic I think an often overlooked aspect is the opposite of this: how it feels to NOT have the alcohol.

hilbert42 5y ago
Right, what you said makes sense. Essentially, it's the same thing, that is, we're feeling at our best in opposite states. My perception of the world and state of mind seems better to me sans ethanol, yours is the opposite. But that doesn't mean it's a bed of roses for me, it's just that ethanol doesn't work for me to make things better. This is a very complex matter of which millions of words have already been written and clearly I'm not going to come up with any new insights. What I've tried to say is that these differering worldviews make it difficult to make life easier for alcoholics. It's strange really why different people have such different responses to alcohol. Despite what I said about the negative effects of alcohol on me I nevertheless love the taste of good wine and I reckon it's a damn cruel act of fate that alcoholic drinks are so nice and yet at the same time alcohol is far from being just another innocuous additive. Trouble is that the level of alcohol in many alcoholic drinks has increased in recent years when it ought to have been decreasing. For example, a top Bordeaux traditionally has 12.5% alcohol-that is, the world's best wine needs only that amount of alcohol, yet on the shelves of liquor stores where I live almost all wines now have 14.5% or more alcohol. It used not be like this but winemakers found that if they increased the level of alcohol then the wines needed almost no ageing and could be turned over more quickly. That's a sore point with me, wines may be sold more quickly by increasing their alcohol content but good wines must still be aged. Again the quick buck has gotten in the way of better health and governments have done stuff-all about it. I hope that alcohol eventually becomes much less of a problem for you.
- alar44 5y ago
  Not sure how your missing the fact that people drink to shut off or dull their senses. No one drinks to become smarter or more perceptive. The very point is to get your brain to chill out in a sense, unwind, relax, etc. Also a 2% increase in alcohol content isn't noticeable in any way other than MAYBE taste (and I'm sure most people wouldn't even notice that).