Alcoholism: Illness

“Alcoholism, at source, is about how we think, not merely how we drink.”

- Kieron Brady

By Kieron Brady - Former footballer at Sunderland AFC and ireland, Alcoholism Consultant, and Public Speaker.

It remains to this day one of life's more misunderstood illnesses. This, despite the very public and personal presence it can offer, the immediate impact it has on families and friends as it propels a path, pebble like through the pond, catching many unsuspecting souls unaware.

It continues to be subject to endless myth and mistruth, both put forward by the naive and socially conditioned who see it almost exclusively as an inability to stop consumption once commenced. That, of course, is a relevant and accurate appraisal. It does not, however, convey much of the abnormality that takes up residency in the mind of the alcoholic. It also implies that we may one day develop the ability to overcome this purported 'weakness of the mind'.

At this point it is worth pointing out that alcoholism is little to do with the mental weakness of the individual, it is more to do with the strength of the condition itself - a patient, devious and deadly abnormality that, if seen as an entity, has one objective, to destroy the alcoholic.

Those who dare stand in the way, those loved ones who felt that citing the dangers of such excess could reap rewards, become helpless bystanders who simply cannot understand why 'Dad no longer loves them'. The reality is he still does love them, it is just that he, via a poisoned part of the mind, loves something much much more.

That is the illness, the enslavement that poisons thinking to the extent that all things in life that were once warmly embraced become secondary, tertiary etc. The alcoholic who asserts, with genuine conviction, that he or she has aspects of, or people, in their life that take priority over liquor are one of two things, still in denial or have not yet arrived at their rock bottom. It is vital to make clear that denial and lying are two wholly different propositions. Alcoholics who frequently swear they will never touch another drop mean it when said, they simply have little comprehension that the fortitude required simply does not exist and when the emotional cobwebs diminish a voice resurfaces insisting that 'One won't hurt'.

Alcoholism is a sober illness. For me to suffer from it and you, I hope and trust, to be unafflicted there has to be components to me that make me different. If you consume alcohol then that does not distinguish us, if you get drunk then again we share common features. At source alcoholism is about how we think, not how we drink. Of course the latter follows the toxic thoughts but nevertheless what separates me from the majority is how I think, how I think about alcohol and the sheer intensity of it. Over time this gets worse, to the point that alcoholism possesses such a grip that people, often rational when abstinent, become indifferent to the dire predictions of medical practitioners who, in seeing the condition of a liver, kidney or heart can sense impending or immediate problems.

The recourse is to seek a second opinion, or more, which may allow a resumption of consumption or, as happens often, dictates the alcoholic mind to conclude 'Well, I am on the way out....I may as well get drunk'. These thoughts are alcoholism, when the alcoholic starts to become more and more intoxicated they actually suffer less and less from alcoholism. With every passing second and sip the capability for clarity starts to erode and the behavioural patterns influenced by over indulgence are such that it matters little whether the person suffers from alcoholism or not.

This is one of the main misconceptions around alcoholism, that we can diagnose based on word and deed.

Alcoholics come in a host of shapes and sizes - they are passive, violent, talkative and bashful. They are not all 'mean drunks', they are not all hopeless to the point that employment is lost and families are perpetually broken.

Nor are the worst of us those you idle by on park benches en route to work. In fact, they are those sitting opposite you now in work, well dressed, eloquent, clever yet convinced that because they can abstain for several weeks at a time there is no need for concern.

Alas, you cannot disprove alcoholism simply because you can go several weeks without, even several months. Nor is it rebutted because you get to work each day or manage to keep appointments. The alcoholic who can function on a daily basis is a regular creature, his or her condition not yet eating at the soul to the point where they attempt to have a daily life and normality co-existing with their drinking. In short, a secret swig of a small half bottle whilst doing the 'school run' or any other task that is common across society.

The final destination of alcoholism is often the sufferer lying comatose, the concept of 'having a couple' is anathema to the alcoholic mind. The illness however is much more than drunkenness, its symptoms are much more than drinking alcohol. The concept of self is an ingrained part of alcoholism, as a result selfishness and self-will are partners in the crime of taking a, generally, decent human being, frequently with ownership of endless skills, and fettering them to an idea, an idea that dictates that life without alcohol is a life without meaning. Ultimately what it impresses upon us is that life is a problem and alcohol not only a solution, it is thee solution.

That is what it, alcoholism, does.

That is the illness.