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How to Recognise the Insanity of Addiction
Why do we wait until our problems get worse to deal with them?
Helping other women get sober, has taught me a lot about the particular insanity that surrounds problem drinking. It is a kind of madness I lived with for years, but I was barely aware of it, at the time.
That’s because it is a specific insanity that involves forgetting.
This insanity is particularly painful to witness in the context of a sober support meeting. Usually, the drinking bout is close enough that the person still looks a little haunted. They sit stiffly, wide-eyed, and if you talk to them about their drinking they usually defend it.
“I’m not sure I’m an alcoholic,” they say, and my heart sinks.
It always reminds me of somebody defending their abusive boyfriend’s bad behavior. “He didn’t mean to hurt me.”
But I understand too. Because it’s a big word to get your head around. And that’s frustrating to watch. Because the medical profession no longer use it. And so many people who would benefit from quitting drinking are unable to do so because they cannot identify with that word.
“It means a different thing in here than it does out there,” I have said, to young women battling with the semantics. “The only…
