| Can an addiction to alcohol be cured? Any number of | | | | substances to soothe the nerves. This is the essence |
| high-priced private health clinics would like to give a | | | | of the predicament faced by the addicted person, be |
| clear-cut answer to this question, but the traditional | | | | they addicted to alcohol, drugs, sex, work, or |
| understanding of groups such as 'Alcoholics | | | | something else. They engage in addictive behaviour in |
| Anonymous' is that alcohol addiction can never be | | | | order to lessen the pain. |
| cured, but only controlled. | | | | As one good friend of mine who had suffered from |
| Of course no one would refute that many of the | | | | a 20-year addiction said to me, when challenged as |
| physical problems linked with excessive alcoholic | | | | to why he kept returning to his addiction again and |
| substances ingestion can be cured, though some are | | | | again even after long periods of abstinance, "I just |
| more easily treated than others. | | | | don't know any other way of dealing with pain". |
| The liver can renew. Imbalances to the blood and | | | | According to the 'addictive personality' finding, healing |
| damage to the muscle tissue can both be repaired. | | | | can only begin when the addict acknowledges their |
| Long-term damage to the brain and central nervous | | | | helplessness in the face of their dependency and |
| system is less responsive to medical treatment. Even | | | | hands over control of their lives to God (or their |
| then though, no one would want to misjudge the | | | | 'higher power', to use the more commonly accepted |
| benefits of proper medical care being given to even | | | | term). |
| the most chronic of maladys. | | | | The emphasis on 'spiritual healing' predictably finds |
| Similarly, medical science can play a very important | | | | few adherants in the established medical community, |
| role in helping an liquor-addicted person get through | | | | even in the absence of successful alternatives to |
| the period of detoxification that is the compulsory | | | | point to. Some religious communities though have also |
| leading step towards bodily health. | | | | been critical of the 'personality type' conclusion, |
| While some helping professionals still frown upon the | | | | though obviously not on account of the spiritual |
| use of sedatives and pain killers during the detox | | | | dimension. |
| process, few who have seen a person suffering | | | | Some reject the idea that there can be no final |
| from 'delirium tremens' as an effect of alcohol | | | | healing for the addict. Sincere healing is possible, many |
| withdrawl would not sympathise with the value of | | | | believe, though the process of healing may require an |
| detox medication of some sort. | | | | extensive working through of the historical factors |
| In all such situations though medical science can only | | | | that contributed to the disease. |
| treat the indications of alcoholic drinks addiction (and | | | | If there is no healing for alcoholism, then the only |
| alcohol withdrawl). The question is whether the illness | | | | possibility for health lies in controlling addictive |
| itself can ever be cured. | | | | behaviour and channeling addictive tendencies |
| As mentioned above, the traditional wisdom of | | | | towards more creative alternatives. A person who |
| 'Alcoholics Anonymous' (hereafter 'AA') and its parallel | | | | becomes addicted to 'working out' or even addicted |
| organisations ('Narcotics Anonymous', 'Gamblers | | | | to their work is naturally far healthier and generally |
| Anonymous', etc.) is that such illness's can never be | | | | easier to live with than someone who is addicted to |
| cured, as the the same ailment is only ever | | | | alcoholic drinks or narcotics. As is commonly quipped, |
| symptomatic of an addictive qualities, and that the | | | | it is amazing how quickly AA members become |
| character problem is embedded in the addicted | | | | addicted to AA meetings. Indeed, I personally know |
| person's genetics. | | | | of one member who has not missed a meeting for a |
| Memembers in AA meetings always begin their time | | | | single day in almost 30 years! |
| of sharing by introducing themselves by name and | | | | Perhaps in the end it is unimportant whether or not |
| then announcing, "I am an alcoholic". They will do this | | | | an addiction to alcohol can ever technically be 'cured' |
| even if they have not touched a drop of liquor in 50 | | | | so long as there is a solution to the problem, and so |
| years, as the self-understanding is that they are now | | | | long as sufficient weight is given to the non-genetic |
| only 'non-drinking alcoholics' who are nonetheless only | | | | factors that lead to liquor dependency. For while the |
| ever one drink away from returing to a life that is | | | | devestating effects of liquor dependency start to |
| entirely controlled by destructive drinking! | | | | look depressingly similar from one alcohol-dependant |
| Such a perspective helps to make AA members | | | | person to the next, the history of the malady is |
| humble and non-judgemental, as they never see | | | | always unique, and needs to be taken seriously if |
| themselves as rising above their sisters and brothers | | | | there is to be any hope of recovery. |
| whose lives are still being destroyed by their alcoholic | | | | I'll never forget one tragic old man who was spending |
| drinks addiction. Such an verdict though also inevitably | | | | the last part of his life moving between Sydney's |
| minimalises the significance of any non-genetic factors | | | | park benches and the various shelters available for |
| leading to an alcohol dependency, which, it could be | | | | homeless men. After I got to know him a little |
| argued, might inhibit the recovery process. | | | | through one of the shelters I was working with, I |
| A person who drinks alcoholic substances regularly | | | | spoke to him about the possibility of going through |
| and excessively always has a history associated with | | | | detox. Unlike almost everyone else I had spoken to, |
| their drinking problem. While in some cases it might | | | | he was entirely disinterested, though initially he didn't |
| just be a bad habit picked up during the party days | | | | want to tell me why. "Buy why not?", I pleeded him. |
| of their youth, in a vast number of cases the drinking | | | | He told me: "because my alcohol addiction is the last |
| problem has arisen in response to an experience of | | | | weapon I have against my family!" |
| grave personal tragedy, such as family breakdown, | | | | It is certainly a tangled web we weave, and In actual |
| the death of a son or daughter, or some other | | | | fact, medical professionals will always be limited in |
| unbearable crisis that has led the person to drink in | | | | what they are able to do to help alcoholic persons. |
| order to numb the pain. | | | | They can treat the indicators but not the disease, |
| In the short term of course this can be a very | | | | though when we totally understand the history of |
| positive way of dealing with an impossible situation. | | | | our alcohol-addicted sisters and brothers, we often |
| The problem occurs though when the drinker finds | | | | find that the same ailment itself is only a indication of |
| that he or she is no longer able to deal with pain or | | | | a deeper pain - one for which there is no simple |
| with life itself without the sedative effect of alcoholic | | | | therapy. |