How many people are recovering alcoholics? How did drinking destroy your life?

Answer 1

I'm a RECOVERED alcoholic. My real problem has always been depression, I had it long before I started drinking.Because of the high cost of therapy and medication, I ended up drinking to mask my symptoms (as many with mental illness do) and ended up with a secondary problem.

Unfortunately, people can't see depression, but they could see that I was an alcoholic.

Treatment "professionals" discounted the depression and push me into AA which led to a deeper depression and more drinking. Half of all alcoholics (according to the National Institute of Mental Health) have an underlying mental disorder and AA is NOT the proper treatment for those with mental health issues.

It ended up taking twenty years before I was able to get proper treatment. Once that happened, I was able to take responsibility for my addiction and my recovery.

At my worst I was a suicidal, homeless, unemployable alcoholic; today with over five years sober, I'm married, working in the mental health field, and enjoying life.

Answer 2

Each alcoholic will have a different story. The drinking could have reck there fincial part of life, relationships , career. Myself , I am only 18 years old an went to seek help because i did have a drinking problem. The drinking somewhat made my life better for that moment...even now. i feel a lot more confident about things ..when i was drinking i made a lot of friends , some that werent invovled with drinking. But it really reck my relationship with my family ...mostly my mother. We found out that we no longer can live together because it has reck our relationship real bad.

Answer 3

I started drinking as a young person, and it got bad as a young adult. I quit soon after. Haven't touched it since, won't even be around it. I failed out of my entire first year of college because of it (they kicked me out and I had to get reinstated). It also broke up some friendships of mine (really good ones). I didn't have the problem for as long as many people but it did kick me in the butt. I am glad to be sober!!!!