An Alcoholism Cure.
Sorry To Be the Bearer of Bad News, but There Is None.
If there were an alcoholism cure, I wouldn't be where I am today - a recovering alcoholic, developing this website! A cure for alcoholism, in my mind, implies that medical science would successfully conjure up a medication or treatment that would eradicate alcoholism.
Can you just imagine the implications of THAT?!
Let's see. Because there is a history of alcoholism in my family, I could take a pill or a treatment and Voila! Alcoholism cured!
Now how would that work? Would I then be able to drink "successfully", with no more cravings for more and more and more? Would I suddenly want "just one" drink? Wow! I could order some chic cocktail or wine before dinner, sipping it slowly, leaving the glass half-full because "I think I'll just switch to water with my dinner..."
Just think! If there were an alcoholism cure, I would then answer "NO" to all those questions about the Ten Warning Signs of alcoholism, or the 12 Questions to self-diagnose alcoholism.
I could then decide to quit drinking, or not, my choice, and STAY STOPPED effortlessly! No one would nag me about my drinking. Why would they? It would be a non-issue. No more legal trouble or family feuds.
And just think about the ramifications of an alcoholism cure for society as a whole! Worldwide, crime statistics would plummet, as would homelessness, domestic violence and the divorce rate. Drunk driving accidents and deaths would decline. No more alcoholic liver or heart disease. Alcohol abuse treatment centers would go out of business. And what about Alcoholics Anonymous and Al-Anon/Alateen? The meeting rooms would be empty!
Now Back to Reality
The reality is that there is no alcoholism cure, at least not in terms of a medical science breakthrough.
This world has felt the pains of alcohol abuse and alcoholism "ever since man first crushed grapes".
The reality is also that we, as alcoholics, cannot use sheer willpower and resolve to stop drinking. This is something that moderate or social drinkers have difficulty understanding.
" . . . we were the victims of a mental obsession so subtly powerful that no amount of human willpower could break it. There was, they said, no such thing as the personal conquest of this compulsion by the unaided will. . . The tyrant alcohol wielded a double-edged sword over us: first we were smitten by an insane urge that condemned us to go on drinking, and then by an allergy of the body that insured we would ultimately destroy ourselves in the process. Few indeed were those who, so assailed, had ever won through in singlehanded combat. It was a statistical fact that alcoholics almost never recovered on their own resources. And this had been true, apparently, ever since man had first crushed grapes. "
~p. 22 Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions by Alcoholics Anonymous World Services Incorporated
There Is A Solution
Although it is possible for alcoholics to find their way to sobriety on their own, most alcoholics need professional treatment and/or support from recovery groups like Alcoholics Anonymous or Celebrate Recovery. I drank alcoholically for 20 years, and I absolutely needed the support and guidance, especially in the beginning days and months, that was provided from A.A. and a professional addictions counselor.
The closest thing to an alcoholism cure are the Steps To Recovery. They have worked for me and countless others and are described right here on my website. They are also outlined in the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous and the Life Recovery Bible.
