It was established to provide a focused opportunity across America to increase awareness and
understanding of alcoholism, its causes, effective treatment, and recovery.
The wife's
understanding of alcoholism provides a solid foundation for realistic decisions and attitudes on her part.
Because of this, existential anxiety is an important consideration for
the understanding of alcoholism.
The educational impact of this program on the congregations — in terms of
their understanding of alcoholism and their acceptance of alcoholics — has been a valuable by - product.
The thesis stated above, that alcohol provides a pseudo-satisfaction for the alcoholic's religious needs, is so fundamental to
an understanding of both alcoholism and any religious approach to it, that it will be discussed at some length in Chapter 6.
Through these channels, the churches have an unrivaled opportunity to help develop
understanding of alcoholism at the grass roots of our population.
In order to counsel alcoholics with any degree of effectiveness, one must have a basic
understanding of alcoholism and of AA.
That an adequate conception and
understanding of alcoholism is a necessity in fashioning an effective therapy.
From insight gained through analyses of alcoholics, Worcester arrived at a profound
understanding of alcoholism:
Not exact matches
I have instructed the Secretary
of Health, Education, and Welfare to: Appoint an advisory committee on
alcoholism; establish in the Public Health Service a center for research on the cause, prevention, control, and treatment
of alcoholism; develop an educational program in order to foster public
understanding based on scientific fact; work with public and private agencies on the state and local level, to include this disease in a comprehensive health program.
Because
of deeper
understanding of personality, the Emmanuel therapy was beamed more accurately at the roots
of alcoholism than is the AA therapy.
By his own public statements and also through his role
of helping to develop an
alcoholism education emphasis for the youth and adults in his church school, the minister helps to plant the seeds
of understanding of the nature and treatment
of alcoholism.
Further, it will give the minister a greater
understanding of both AA and
of alcoholism.
In its
understanding of the psychodynamics
of alcoholism and its incorporation
of psychoanalytic insights and methods, this approach was decades ahead
of its time.
Its superiority lay in its splendid conception
of alcoholism and its
understanding of the psychodynamics
of human behavior.
They recognize that AA, for instance, is tailor - made to meet the stresses and strains
of alcoholism, and they accept the fact that
alcoholism, as Harry Emerson Fosdick has put it, is like a stained - glass window in that it can best be seen and
understood from the inside.
If you want a thorough review
of the place religion occupies in
alcoholism recovery, I feel Dr. Howard Clinebell has done the job best in his
Understanding and Counseling Persons with Alcohol, Drug, and Behavioral Addictions, supra.
I myself will never adopt an
understanding that the power to overcome «disease» or sin or «sickness» or whatever
alcoholism is, can be received from, or operated with, «something» or «somebody» or a «power greater than myself» or a «higher power» or a «group» or a light bulb, chair, bulldozer, goddess, doorknob, radiator or any
of the other «absurd names for God» (as Rev. Sam Shoemaker, our «cofounder» described them).
This tentative model for
understanding the causes
of problem drinking is offered in the report
of the Cooperative Commission on the Study
of Alcoholism: «An individual who (1) responds to beverage alcohol in a certain way, perhaps physiologically determined, by experiencing intense relief and relaxation, and who (2) has certain personality characteristics, such as difficulty in dealing with and overcoming depression, frustration, and anxiety, and who (3) is a member
of a culture in which there is both pressure to drink and culturally induced guilt and confusion regarding what kinds
of drinking behavior are appropriate, is more likely to develop trouble than will most other people.»
Within this frame
of reference, decisions about all matters including
alcoholism can be made, and an
understanding of the congregation's mission to the burdened, including the alcoholic, can be gained.
We look to the member churches
of the National Council to encourage the establishment and maintenance
of clinics and other appropriate therapeutic facilities when competently conducted, for the victims
of alcoholism... - The churches should disseminate such sound information as is now available concerning the
understanding and counseling
of persons with alcohol problems.
Therefore, these differences must be taken into account both in the
understanding of the sociocultural factors in the causation
of alcoholism and in its prevention.
An
understanding of the distinctive contribution
of a religious approach to
alcoholism is dependent on insight into what might be called the vertical dimension
of the alcoholic's problem.
Both the ethical and the therapeutic approaches to the problem
of alcoholism must be based on an
understanding of alcohol, drinking, and the physiology and psychology
of the human being.
In addition to its broad target — reaching the entire congregation with a message that will help them
understand alcoholism — the church has a number
of more limited and strategic target groups: teen - agers and pre-teens who are making or are about to make decisions about alcohol; parents who are searching for ways to prepare their children to cope constructively with alcohol and to avoid
alcoholism; alcoholics and their families who need help but are afraid to come out
of hiding (see Chapter 8).
An
understanding of any religious approach to
alcoholism must include the recognition that, for the alcoholic, religion and alcohol often are functionally interchangeable.
Phase two
of alcoholism education should move beyond head
understanding to heart
understanding of the persons suffering from the problem.
Alcoholism education aimed at developing a climate
of understanding and acceptance.
They seek to help the person
understand the problem
of alcoholism, AA, and how he may help get his alcoholic mate into AA.
In the case
of Mrs. R., these include an
understanding of the nature
of alcoholism (as it eventually became clear that Mr. R. is an alcoholic), the futility
of her attempts to coerce him to stop drinking, and the importance
of her changing her assumption that any improvement in the family situation is totally dependent on his sobriety.
In addition, an
understanding of the dynamics
of the interpersonal relationships in the alcoholic's family and the effects
of alcoholism on these relationships is important.
Trauma is what most don't
understand, In fact studies point to «childhood trauma» as responsible for over 80 %
of all chaos in society; drug addition,
alcoholism, lawlessness...
One can
understand the depth and complexity
of alcoholism, and therefore its prevention, by seeing it as a «tragic response to areas
of tragedy in our culture.»
Bierut: I am trained as a psychiatrist, so I have my medical degree and specialized training in psychiatric disorders such as
alcoholism, depression, schizophrenia, and I also have training in genetics so to
understand how illnesses are transmitted through families, and so we are trying to look at how mental illnesses and addictions are transmitted in families and
understand the underlying genetic causes
of them.
Bierut: With this knowledge, I think, we are starting to
understand some
of the basic biologic pathways that are leading to
alcoholism.
Understanding the neurological basis
of alcoholism and other addictions is critical to treating these diseases.
Through the generous support
of individual, corporate, and public donors, The Scripps Research Institute has already made major strides toward
understanding and treating
alcoholism and addiction.
The research was carried out at Tel Aviv University and the University
of California - San Francisco and will continue, with a focus on obtaining a better
understanding of the brain and the biological mechanisms that underlie memory processes that cause vulnerability to
alcoholism — and perhaps drug use — in some individuals.
Completely hammered and trying to conceal that they have a mild
understanding of what's going on, the group decides to stick to the plan
of completing the crawl in order to not draw attention and possibly die
of something other than
alcoholism.
And that after all, an artist is a man with his work to do...» Such Romantic ideas about the link between drunkenness and continuing creativity have been made less credible since the 20th century by widespread acceptance
of «
alcoholism» as a disease, and then by increased
understanding of the nature
of alcohol dependency.
I am free from the trap
of alcoholism for today as long as I don't take a drink, am willing (although not always able) to be honest with myself and others, make a conscious connection with a higher power
of my
understanding, and am willing to make amends for the problems I create when I fall short
of rigorous honesty.
(If you
understand that sentence, you might be an alcoholic...) I was trapped in a web
of lies that I thought were true because I was too afraid to face my
alcoholism and angry with myself for what I thought just a weakness.
Emphasizes the perspective and role
of family in
understanding and treating
alcoholism and substance abuse.
For further insights &
understanding please see previous posts on The Magic
of Family Therapy, Thinking About Thanksgiving, and
Alcoholism and the Family «A Systemic Approach».
The second point that we need to
understand is that in order to truly recover from
alcoholism / addiction, it is almost always necessary to undergo a serious regimen
of good psychodynamic psychotherapy.