Lifelong sobriety is not recovery from alcoholism, as Alcoholics Anonymous claims – it’s just a dama

Added : ( Sun Oct 10 2004 )

Pursuing lifelong sobriety is not a sign of recovery from alcoholism, as Alcoholics Anonymous claims. Staying away from booze one day at a time is treating the symptom instead of the fundamental underlying problem, and merely a damage limitation exercise.

So say former alcoholics Lilian and Murdoch MacDonald from Ayrshire in Scotland. They argue that alcoholism is not an incurable and progressive illness or disease, as Alcoholics Anonymous would have us believe, but rather a self-harming behaviour problem with its roots in childhood.

Lilian says: “If an alcoholic is willing to identify and thoroughly address these issues from the past, then there is no reason why he or she should not be able to consciously change their previously problematic behaviour patterns, even to the extent of being able to drink responsibly and safely again in a perfectly normal and sociable manner. We know that this is possible, because we have done it ourselves. So have many other former alcoholics who have contacted us from all over the world through our website www.alcoholicscandrinksafelyagain.com

“Being able to drink responsibly again is important in itself for an alcoholic, because it’s not pleasant to be socially excluded for any reason. But being able to drink normally and safely again is even more important because it is the outward and visible sign that an alcoholic has resolved his or her problems and is truly well again.”

“Nobody is incapable of changing their behaviour. And that is one of the fundamental differences between Alcoholics Anonymous and us. AA disempowers people – the first of the Twelve Steps says: “We admitted we were powerless over alcohol” – but we are fighting to give alcoholics that power back.”

Ten years ago the Lilian and Murdoch MacDonald had hit rock bottom, sleeping rough for two weeks on the streets of Cambridge, where a quarter of a century previously as an undergraduate Murdoch had received an honours degree in English Literature. They had moved there from Ayr with the idea of Murdoch doing research for a doctorate (PhD), but reverted to their old habits, started binge drinking, and were thrown out of their lodgings.

After a fortnight, and when they were just about at the end of their tether, two nurses on their way home after a Saturday night out took pity on Lilian and Murdoch, bought them a cup of tea and found them a place in a homeless hostel.

The couple spent the next twelve months there getting to the roots of their alcoholism. They tried AA one last time, before concluding that it was a quasi-religious cult whose ideas on alcoholism were inadequate and outdated.

Instead, by reading psychology, they decided that the causes of their alcoholic behaviour lay in problems experienced during childhood. And that once these problems were realised and addressed, there was no longer any need for escape through alcoholism, and they could even drink normally like other people again.

Ten years after selling newspapers from a stand in Market Square, Cambridge, so that he and Lilian could get back on their feet financially, Murdoch now writes his own regular column in the local weekly paper and also runs his own public relations consultancy.

And Lilian is so keen to pass on the benefits of their experience to others who still have problems with alcohol, that the couple are building a website www.alcoholicscandrinksafelyagain.com to spread their message of hope.

They also have a community group website at http://groups.msn.com/AlcoholicsCanDrinkSafelyAgain which includes a chat room and message board where members can exchange thoughts, ideas and experiences.

Lilian and Murdoch have completed the first draft of a book about their experiences, and are currently looking for a suitable publisher.

Issued by:

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AYR, Ayrshire
Scotland KA7 2AY

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