More: Alcoholism (Continued)
C: Over on page thirty-four. Second paragraph. (p. 34, par. 3: p. 3S, par. 1-2) 'For those who are unable to drink moderately the question is how to stop altogether. We are assuming, of course, that the reader desires to stop. Whether such a person can quit upon a nonspiritual basis depends upon the extent to which he has already lost the power to choose whether he will drink or not. Many of us felt that we had plenty of character. There was a tremendous urge to cease forever. Yet we found it impossible. This is the baffling feature of alcoholism as we know it--this utter inability to leave it alone, no matter how great the necessity or the wish.'
'How then shall we help our readers determine, to their own satisfaction, whether they are one of us? The experiment of quitting for a period of time will be helpful, but we think we can render an even greater service to alcoholic sufferers and perhaps to the medical (top of p. 35) fraternity. So we shall describe some of the mental states that precede a relapse into drinking, for obviously this is the crux of the problem.'
'What sort of thinking dominates an alcoholic who repeats time after time the desperate experiment of the first drink? Friends who have reasoned with him after a spree which has brought him to the point of divorce or bankruptcy are mystified when he walks directly into a saloon. Why does he? Of what is he thinking?'
You know, I read this. When I read this statement, that the mental state that precedes a relapse into drinking, obviously this is the crux of the problem, I began to look back in my life again. I suddenly realized that always just before I took a drink of booze, I was atone cold sober. Any time I ever took the first drink, just before I took it, I was stone cold sober. So I can't blame alcohol for me taking the first drink. Because there's no alcohol in my brain at that time. There must be something wrong in my head which causes me to take that first drink.
So they're going to describe to me some of the mental states that precede the taking of that first drink. So that I can determine for myself whether I'm alcoholic or not. It's already told me one way to determine whether I am or not. It's to go over across the street have a few drinks and see whether I am or not. Also this example will show me
what's wrong in my mind just prior to taking that first drink.
