frank_s
He's not alone. Most medics do too.
The only way I managed to get off alcohol was by vigorous exercise: cycling many miles and hours in the Yorkshire Dales. That was in '98.
Before that, I found that any stress or anxiety would quickly result in me going back on the bottle.
My uncle was a general practitioner for many decades and he reflected later that at least 50% of his patients presenting with primarily a physical complaint, he'd find the actual pathology, if you did enough digging, was actually primarily psychological in nature.
Part of the problem with drinking alcohol is that the more you start to drink, you can start to realise you are getting into a spiral of decline.
You start to wake up in the mornings needing a drink in order to not feel ghastly and actually function at all. This starts to become a regular occurrence. You feel deeply ashamed that you can no longer control your drinking: it's controlling you. Because you feel ashamed, you then drink more so you no longer feel ashamed.
Welcome to the death spiral of alcohol addiction.
The only way of getting off that spiral is by admitting that you are an alcoholic. Not just to yourself but to your friends and family who may not even be aware that you are struggling.
You need to make it known to them because of the simple fact that you go to some family get together or other social occasion and it usually means alcohol is present (in the UK at least) and it's awkward when you're expected to be drinking and joining in with the festivities. If the folks around you know that you have an alcohol problem, then they wont try and encourage you to drink. If they don't know, then they can think you're some sort of killjoy etc.
Also, I declare myself an alcoholic on a forum like this as a form of public service. Anybody who suffers with an alcohol addiction is pretty much an expert on the matter. Even more so those few of us who are able to talk about it and possibly help others. You also find that you end up helping yourself by talking to others with similar experiences as it can occasionally cast a light on your own problems. It's essentially group therapy in action.
Most alcoholics can't do that, because they're pissed and many simply for the fact that they are lying in an early grave.
I declared myself as an alcoholic in an effort to get outside help. It was a big mistake. I went from being the equivalent of a Jew in a ghetto to a Jew in a ghetto who had ever so helpfully just pinned a gold star on their chest in order to identify themselves more clearly to their persecutors.
One of the problems your parents had, is that in you they had a child who clearly chose to 'admonish' and just feel self-pity.
I don't blame you. My sister hated our alcoholic father and she still hates alcoholics. She's a Nurse Practitioner BTW.
If you cared about your parents, you would have looked into the why's and wherefore's of drug addiction and if you cared about anybody else you would have moved heaven and earth to make sure nobody else should have to go through what you did as a child.
To just say: Drugs are bad, mmmkay?
That's a stuck record and about as bad as it gets and just ensures drug abuse persists and the broken lives with it.
Which is basically what you and this study are promulgating.
If you recognise you are an alcoholic you ultimately have 3 choices:
1) Carry on as you are with the inevitable consequences of a slow unpleasant & painful death but also significant damage to those who love you: family & friends.
2) Own up to your addiction. See comments above. BTW, the medical profession will like you no more than the rest of society ie. Not at all. If you recover, it's going to be largely due to your own efforts & if you're lucky enough, supportive loved one(s).
3) Suicide. ASAP.
I think that's known as a classic Hobson's choice.
It is a strong anxiolytic and is readily available 'over the counter' which means people can self-medicate themselves in times of crisis.
How many lives has that saved?
Most medical studies tell you significantly more about the prejudices of the authors and/or who paid for the study. This one seems no different in that regard.
I have an interest in the matter being an alcoholic myself.
A more interesting study would be on the degree of contempt we're held in by the medical profession at large.
RIP. Ian Murdock.