Online Alcoholism & Addiction Counselling

Sometimes the terminology used when talking about alcohol problems can be quite unhelpful.

In fact, when using the terms ‘alcoholism’ or ‘alcoholic’ (which everyone does, including this site), the emphasis can be that the problem is with the alcohol itself.

But the problem actually stems from the state of mind that the alcohol gives you, not from the chemical as such. The importance that this state of mind takes on for you, the preferability of it despite the huge costs to other parts of your life, that is actually where the problem lies.

Similarly, people often refer to alcoholism as a disease. But what actually is a disease? Well, it is

“an abnormal condition that causes discomfort, dysfunction, distress, social problems, and/or death to the person afflicted, which is associated with specific symptoms and signs”.

The symptoms of the condition ‘alcoholism’ are generally agreed on as:

• tolerance – the need to consume more in order to achieve the same effect,
• withdrawal – the experience of unpleasant physical effects upon stopping drinking,
• craving – a preoccupation or prolonged urge to have a drink,
• loss of control – the inability to stop drinking at a sensible level once you have started.

You may have periods when you experience all four of these symptoms, and therefore you could be classified as an alcoholic. There may be other times when you’re not experiencing all of them, so you merely have ‘problems with alcohol’. But do you have a disease?

A disease is something over which you would have very little choice – “I don’t want this disease any more, I’m going to make some changes” would seem slightly ridiculous. So the way you view your alcohol problems, what terminology you use – will determine what you feel you can do about them.

If you view it as a set of problems, you will be motivated to solve those problems, but if you say to yourself “I’m an alcoholic, its a disease, it can’t be cured” then what are you likely to do about it? Not that much, I would suggest. Some people seem to have more control over their alcohol problems than others, so perhaps it is not a black or white condition, but one with varying shades of grey in between.

There are many different factors involved in an alcohol dependency, from genetic predispositions, or inherited behaviour from parents, perhaps learnt behaviour from society, to our beliefs about ourselves, our coping strategies, our self worth, our levels of anxiety and the stability or instability of our moods.

Different people will have different causes for their alcohol problems. The way to solve them is therefore to make yourself more aware of what factors are involved in your personal problem. Then you can go about making some changes to those underlying issues.

There are those who believe (the alcoholics anonymous crowd mainly) that there is no cure for alcoholism – that if you’re an alcoholic or an addict, then no matter what treatment you go through, you’ll still be an alcoholic or an addict for the rest of your life.

This is not a position which holds much hope for anyone considering treatment or a rehab. The idea that you will always be liable to relapse and descend into alcoholism or addiction again could easily dissuade many people from bothering to make changes at all.

Wouldn’t it be more useful to encourage people and remind them that lasting change is possible. If you can heal the underlying causes of the addiction, then a former alcoholic no longer has such a tendency. Of course they would be prudent to be very respectful and observant of their relationship to alcohol. But people in recovery should not live their lives as a ‘dry-drunk’, believing that they are just one drink away from their previous excesses.

Can a former alcoholic ever drink sensibly again? Some can and some cannot. Abstinence is an option for some, and the only option advocated by AA, but that does not mean it is the only option which works. The cognitive therapy approach advocates self-understanding, but leaves the choice of whether to drink again to the individual.

There is only a cure for alcoholism if the problems that are causing it in the first place are dealt with.