Corking the Bottle

(Reprinted from my blog post August 7, 2018) Excuse me, but I disagree with something. In the book  Staying Sober -- A Guide for Relapse Prevention , by Terrence Gorski and Merlene Miller, the authors seem to be saying that why we drink doesn't matter. Just attack the problem itself. "Searching for the cause of an addiction (such as emotional or family problems) is usually nonproductive. Treatment that recognizes the addiction as a primary condition rather than a symptom of something else, has been found to be most effective."  ( https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/293618.Staying_Sober ) My symptom is alcoholism. The disease is self-centeredness, unfulfilled dreams, regrets, and other character defects. As I work through my character defects, I will eliminate the resulting symptom. Let me draw an analogy. My car started going kerlunk kerlunk kertwottle. I couldn't solve the problem unless I knew the cause. Well, I never would figure out the cause unless I took...

(First published June 21, 2018) I used to be the community relations manager for a chemical plant. Part of my job was meeting people, talking about our operations, and listening to concerns. "I can smell it, so I know that's why I feel bad all the time." Too often, the monologue went like this: I have breast cancer. My husband died of lung cancer. Our son has asthma. I know of at least six people on my street who have had cancer. I'm ready to sue y'all. Son, go out to the car and bring me my cigarettes." No one can say if our emissions were the cause of cancer or asthma or the common cold. One out of four people will get cancer no matter where they spend their lives. We worked on reducing emissions and odors constantly, but we were dealing with odoriferous chemicals that evaporate easily. It's like the gasoline smell when you fill up your car. It's like baking bread and keeping all that wonderful odor out of the house. Some molecules escape and ...

"Look at all my trials a tribulations Sinking in a gentle pool of wine. What's that in the bread? It's gone to my head 'Till this morning is this evening, life is fine...."      -- from Jesus Christ Superstar Certainly alcoholics walked this earth ever since humans learned about fermentation. Not until the 20th Century, however, did scientists begin to understand how alcohol works in the body and brain. Some "regular people" still don't understand us. "While alcoholism is widely accepted as a disease today, until very recent years was it considered a psychological or moral issue." --  Staying Sober , by Terrence Gorski and Merlene Miller ( https://www.amazon.com/Staying-Sober-Guide-Relapse-Prevention/dp/083090459X/ref=sr_1_3/137-2378647-5105957?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1549817655&sr=1-3&keywords=staying+sober ) I used to be embarrassed by my alcohol addiction. I was afraid others would think I was mentally ill or had lo...

[First published June 25, 2018] I used to be the community relations manager for a chemical plant. Part of my job was meeting people, talking about our operations, and listening to concerns. "I can smell it, so I know that's why I feel bad all the time." Too often, the monologue went like this: I have breast cancer. My husband died of lung cancer. Our son has asthma. I know of at least six people on my street who have had cancer. I'm ready to sue y'all. Son, go out to the car and bring me my cigarettes." No one can say if our emissions were the cause of cancer or asthma or the common cold. One out of four people will get cancer no matter where they spend their lives. We worked on reducing emissions and odors constantly, but we were dealing with odoriferous chemicals that evaporate easily. It's like the gasoline smell when you fill up your car. It's like baking bread and keeping all that wonderful odor out of the house. Some molecules escape and ...

[First published June 17. 2018] Today's paradox: I regret the way I used to live, but I love my life left behind out of the ruins. I wouldn't know people I know, I wouldn't know myself I now know, and I wouldn't be able to help those still struggling with alcohol addiction. This passage from  Staying Sober  by Terence T. Gorski and Merlene Miller reminds me of the me I used to be. Sound familiar? "Mood swings are common as the person uses the drug to feel better but is unable to maintain the good feelings. As life becomes more and more drug centered, there is less and less control over behavior. Activities that interfere with drinking or using are given up. Getting ready to use, using, and recovering from using become the life activities of addicted people. They do things while drinking they would not do sober. While sober, they structure their lives to protect their using. They break promises, forget commitments, lie -- all to be able to use. Isolation is co...

[First published on May 20] I have been told and read since I was knee-high to a bourbon barrel that alcoholism is a disease. That's still my opinion and I'm sticking to it. But a book I am currently reading,  Scripts People Live   by by Claude Steiner, contains a different view (page 233). I will save you the wordy reasoning, but he writes that "real" diseases require micro-organism changes to some organ. No such bodily alterations cause mental illnesses and no drugs cure them, leaving afflictions like addictions as un-diseases. He goes on to claim, "At present no drug has proven effective to cure depression, madness, or drug abuse ... since these tragic scripts are not the result of chemical or micro-organismic changes in the body but the result of the scripted interactions between people.... Thus, alcoholism is not an illness." Not so fast, Claude. The Big Book disagrees. So do  Staying Sober  authors Terrence T. Gorski and Merlene Miller (page...

Excuse me, but I disagree with something. In the book Staying Sober -- A Guide for Relapse Prevention , by Terrence Gorski and Merlene Miller, the authors seem to be saying that why we drink doesn't matter. Just attack the problem itself. "Searching for the cause of an addiction (such as emotional or family problems) is usually nonproductive. Treatment that recognizes the addiction as a primary condition rather than a symptom of something else, has been found to be most effective."  ( https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/293618.Staying_Sober ) My symptom is alcoholism. The disease is self-centeredness, unfulfilled dreams, regrets, and other character defects. As I work through my character defects, I will eliminate the resulting symptom. Let me draw an analogy. My car started going kerlunk kerlunk kertwottle. I couldn't solve the problem unless I knew the cause. Well, I never would figure out the cause unless I took it to an expert. The mechanic looked, diagnosed...

I used to be the community relations manager for a chemical plant. Part of my job was meeting people, talking about our operations, and listening to concerns. "I can smell it, so I know that's why I feel bad all the time." Too often, the monologue went like this: I have breast cancer. My husband died of lung cancer. Our son has asthma. I know of at least six people on my street who have had cancer. I'm ready to sue y'all. Son, go out to the car and bring me my cigarettes." No one can say if our emissions were the cause of cancer or asthma or the common cold. One out of four people will get cancer no matter where they spend their lives. We worked on reducing emissions and odors constantly, but we were dealing with odoriferous chemicals that evaporate easily. It's like the gasoline smell when you fill up your car. It's like baking bread and keeping all that wonderful odor out of the house. Some molecules escape and get sucked up our nostrils. Stay...

Today's paradox: I regret the way I used to live, but I love my life left behind out of the ruins. I wouldn't know people I know, I wouldn't know myself I now know, and I wouldn't be able to help those still struggling with alcohol addiction. This passage from Staying Sober by Terence T. Gorski and Merlene Miller reminds me of the me I used to be. Sound familiar? "Mood swings are common as the person uses the drug to feel better but is unable to maintain the good feelings. As life becomes more and more drug centered, there is less and less control over behavior. Activities that interfere with drinking or using are given up. Getting ready to use, using, and recovering from using become the life activities of addicted people. They do things while drinking they would not do sober. While sober, they structure their lives to protect their using. They break promises, forget commitments, lie -- all to be able to use. Isolation is common.... Drug seeking behavior beco...

I have been told and read since I was knee-high to a bourbon barrel that alcoholism is a disease. That's still my opinion and I'm sticking to it. But a book I am currently reading, Scripts People Live by Claude Steiner, contains a different view (page 233). I will save you the wordy reasoning, but he writes that "real" diseases require micro-organism changes to some organ. No such bodily alterations cause mental illnesses and no drugs cure them, leaving afflictions like addictions as un-diseases. He goes on to claim, "At present no drug has proven effective to cure depression, madness, or drug abuse ... since these tragic scripts are not the result of chemical or micro-organismic changes in the body but the result of the scripted interactions between people.... Thus, alcoholism is not an illness." Not so fast, Claude. The Big Book disagrees. So do Staying Sober authors Terrence T. Gorski and Merlene Miller (page 39-40): "Addiction is a physical ...