If you are/close with a recovered alcoholic...?

Question

How did you/that person stop drinking?

What made you/that person decide to stop?

How long did it take to commit to stop drinking?

How many relapses?

Are you/that person able to be around friends/family that drink alcohol?

BONUS* would you consider smoking weed harm reduction from drinking?

Answer 1

I stopped drinking 5 years ago. I finally got help for the depression that kept me returning to drinking; I took responsibility for my actions and my recovery. Now it's a non-issue. Drinking took the edge off my depression, but it took ever-increasing amounts and I'd become unemployable and I'd get suicidal.

I spent twenty years bouncing in and out of AA, only managing months of not drinking at a time. When I first got there, they taught me that I was powerless, that I couldn't do it on my own, that I had a disease, and that it was genetic. A whole list of excuses that kept me drinking. Something I didn't know at the time: AA has a 5% success rate, no better than trying on your own, but people who try AA are four times as likely to end up drinking more destructively after exposure to the program. They also have the highest mortality rate of any treatment program: http://www.blamedenial.co.uk/orange/orange-effectiveness.html

AA also teaches that only God can help, by granting you a daily reprieve from drinking; that approach didn't work for me because I'm an atheist. But it didn't stop people (therapists, counselors, shrinks, government agencies, family, and friends, but thankfully never the courts) from sending back to the rooms. I'd attend for a few months, get suicidal (many members are confrontational with non-believers, the rest simply shun them), and go back to drinking. I did 5 rehabs followed by AA and just AA about another 5. I made it to six months 4 or 5 times.

I can be around people who are drinking, but I have no desire to be around people who are drunk, not because it stirs up any cravings, but because they aren't half as interesting as they think they are; I find it kind of sad.

I work with people who have substance abuse and mental health issues and advocate harm reduction. Weed is definitely better for you physically, but I never cared for the effects it had on me. These days I'm enjoying life too much to alter my perceptions, I spent far too many years wasted. Weed is also still illegal and can have dire consequences.

Answer 2

My dad was an alcohloic. He went to AA meetings and eventually in the hospital to get it all out of his system. I am not sure what made him stop. He quit 5 years ago and has had no relapses. He hangs out with friends and family members that do drink. It was really hard for him at first. It is now easier for him, but he still doesn't enjoy being around it. He is usually one of the first ones to go to bed or leave.

Answer 3

i hate the headache.