002 - THE DOCTOR'S OPINION
"we who have suffered alcoholic torture must believe" not what we want to believe, and not easy to accept, instead what we inevitably must concede is true for us...
-that the body of the alcoholic is quite as abnormal as his mind"the body of the alcoholic is quite as abnormal as his mind" - referring to the twofold issue, the physical allergy resulting in cravings and the mental obsession centered in the mind, and that these are unique to alcoholics and not found in others who are able to moderate their intake without any issues
. It did not satisfy us to be told that we could not control our drinking just because we were maladjusted to life"maladjusted to life" - we might be maladjusted to life, though that not why we drink, I used to think that was my problem, not the alcohol. When I took away the alcohol I found that I no longer felt maladjusted to life.
, that we were in full flight from reality"we were in full flight from reality" - I personally was in full flight from reality, I drank to escape, it was my solution, I drank for oblivion, to find that place where I was neither dead nor conscious, the bliss before blackout is where I wanted to live.
, or were outright mental defectives"outright mental defectives" - I know I was starting to think that perhaps I was mentally defective, since I couldn’t just put down the drink and leave it alone, even when I wanted to or when there were serious consequences if I drank
. These things were true to some extent, in fact, to a considerable extent with some of us. But we are sure that our bodies were sickened as well. In our belief, any picture of the alcoholic which leaves out this physical factor is incomplete.The doctor's theory that we have an allergy to alcohol interests us. As laymen, our opinion as to its soundness may, of course, mean little. But as ex-problem drinkers, we can say that his explanation makes good sense. It explains many things for which we cannot otherwise account.
Though we work out our solution on the spiritual as well as an altruistic plane, we favor hospitalization for the alcoholic who is very jittery or befogged. More often than not, it is imperative that a man's brain be cleared before he is approached, as he has then a better chance of understanding and accepting what we have to offer.
