Film Review: Social Drinking With Alcoholism

I chose to visit an Alcoholics Anonymous group for my Understanding Group Dynamics project. I went on March 20th 2016, to an open discussion group titled Pass it On Group for Beginners that are Living Sober. It was held at the First Congregational Church at 14 Brookside Road in Darien, CT 06854 at 6:15 p.m.. I chose to go to this group as I felt it was a group that I could most strongly connect to, as I am a recovering alcoholic. I have been cold turkey for two years now. I choose to live a sober life as the hangovers, pain that myself and loved ones endured and the constant need to escape from reality was taking over my existence. Going to this group reminded me that I am not alone in this journey of recovery and in the journey of figuring out how to live life sober with my friends, family and strangers drinking around me. The group was friendly and one that when you first enter, they make sure that you are there for the right reasons as confidentiality is important. Then right after, they welcome you with open arms and if you choose to just sit and listen that is fine, but I am a vocal person and I spoke and applauded. I am glad that we got to do this assignment, for I think without I would have never gone to an AA group meeting. I would have kept on my journey by myself and just praying when times got hard, now I have people I can reach out to.

A man introduced his self as alcoholic, and he started to talk about his life. He said this addiction comes from my family, his mom was alcoholic and his dad used drugs. He said “I’m pretty sure that my mom used to drink alcohol when she was pregnant of me”, when he was a kid his mother used a pill to calm him down, when he was sick. He moved to Florida, and he started his new job, which helped him to make money, to spend in alcohol and drugs. At his early age he got married because his wife was pregnant, she stop using drugs during her pregnancy, it became very hard for him because she was his partner. One day one of his sister told him about a AA Meeting, and he wanted to try it because he saw his sister into that, they

The third chapter of the Alcoholics Anonymous book develops the idea of what alcoholism involves and how people with alcoholism differ from normal people. This chapter elaborates on the idea that there is no such thing as making a normal drinker out of an alcoholic, meaning an alcoholic will never be able to have a few drinks and then stop. It is also believed within the alcoholics’ anonymous community that at in the early stages of their drinking careers, they could have stopped drinking. The first step in recovery is to acknowledge that there is a problem, the book describes different ways a person can be an alcoholic. Not every alcoholic is going to drink a long time nor take large quantities, but the inability to stop makes the alcoholic. The chapter explains how an alcoholic is still unable to stop on the basis of self-knowledge and will power. In order to protect against taking that first drink again, there must be a higher power. Chapter three outlines that there is more than one option of what

Alcoholism does not only affect a person’s physical, mental, and emotional state, but it also changes the lives of people close to the drinker forever. It ruins relationships and trust that took years to build up, and may never be able to be restored. In Jeannette Walls’s memoir, The Glass Castle, she tells the story of her childhood in which her father was an alcoholic. Jeannette’s father, Rex Walls, was brilliant and charismatic when he was sober, but when he drank, he was destructive and dishonest.

As Bill lay in the hospital, the thought came to him that there were thousands of hopeless alcoholics who might be overjoyed to have what was so freely given to him. He felt as though he could help some of those alcoholics. Then those he helped, might in turn work with other struggling alcoholics, passing on the message. Bill, then came to understand how helping others would be imperative to his recovery.( Cheever, 2004). After his release from the hospital, he managed to stay sober but returned to the hospital quite often to help other alcoholics undergoing detox. It was during this time that Bill faced his moment of truth at the Mayflower Hotel and began his association and friendship with Dr. Bob Smith. Bill and Dr. Bob helped each other first and then reached out to other alcoholics. Soon they began to hold meetings for recovering alcoholics so that they could support their recovery group and welcome others who were looking for help, struggling or not; these meeting are now known as Alcoholics Anonymous. (Pudgett, (nd)).

Drinking, A Love Story, Written by Caroline Knapp: Is an insider’s story about fighting the battle of alcoholism and addiction, victoriously winning sobriety. Caroline Knapp fought her addiction for 20 years before becoming sober. “The Drink” as she called it, was her true love. The most beloved form being a good crisp dry white wine, but any form would do. She fell in love with alcohol at a young age and loved everything about it. The smell, the sound of a cork being pulled from a bottle, the cold liquid anesthesia running down the back of her throat after a long day at the office, the routine of drinking, but most of all she loved the way alcohol made her feel.

when she gets angry. She refuses to listen to his apologies and ends up leaving. Holden thinks that Sally is very phony of a person. Holden meets Carl Luce and tries to talk about sex with him , which annoys Carl and he leaves Holden early, but Holden continues to drink and ultimately gets very drunk. Holden is exhausted both physically and mentally and decides that it is time to go home. He sneaks into his apartment and wakes up Phoebe to be able to let her know what is going on. He tells her of his fantasy of himself being a Catcher In The Rye, a person who catches little children as they are about to fall off of a cliff. Phoebe tells him that he has misremembered the Robert Burns’s poem which says “if a body meet a body, coming through the

It is said that, once completed, the alcoholic has a lifetime of recovery. Alcoholism is a disease that most alcoholics will admit never goes away. Alcoholics need ongoing treatment and support. There is always a chance to “fall off the wagon.” Alcoholics should enter a long-term treatment facility, go through detox, join Alcoholics Anonymous and attend meetings regularly. The longer an alcoholic receives treatment, the better the chances for becoming sober and being able to stay that way.

Randomly, people will turn their drinking habits into a reason why to drink. Whether they drink to just have fun, to release some stress, or because they drink to help with various sorts of problems. Often, the alcoholic in the family starts drinking too much, causing the family to always be on edge and be cautious with his mood swings, because they never know how they’ll end up acting. Often in times a sign of abuse on alcohol is when ¨Legal problems, such as being arrested or harming someone else while drunk¨ said researchers in Talbott Recovery. Once the alcoholic figures what kind of power they have over the family, they’ll often tend to use it in a more manipulative way, to make sure they get what they want in the end of the day. And when they’re drunk, they could care less about the family and just desire to get another bottle, and to let their emotions/actions lash out. That is when a person ends up becoming an

My first experience at an alcoholics anonymous meeting was very interesting and in a way uplifting. At All Saints Lutheran Church the home group called “The Young People’s Group” there were people who had come from all walks of life. The group meeting that I thought would have been rather small slowly became larger and larger over the course of the night. I was unaware that the AA meetings had been setup with a set of codes or rules for those who struggle every day to fight this addiction. They allowed people who were new or if it was their first meeting to introduce themselves and tell their story to the fight of addiction related to alcohol. I was really impressed with the fact that the AA groups have an awards system for reaching

I was very one sided as I walked into a AA meeting. I thought that the meeting where boring and little bit too much for people who wont to stop drinking. I couldn’t understand why people look forward to these meeting when they can simply talk to someone at home. Nevertheless, I was wrong. Hearing these people story who suffer from alcohol addiction was very heart breaking. I remember one story about this man losing his son to car accident. The only way he dealt with the pain of losing his son was to drink. He stated ever night he drunk him self-asleep. He was so adamant about telling his story because if it wasn’t for the hospital staff he would have lost his life. Alcoholism is an addiction to the consumption of alcoholic liquor or the mental illness and compulsive behavior resulting from alcohol dependency. alcohol is the main common substance abuse in the united states. The reported show over 16.3 million adults over 18 years older had a least try alcohol in the life time. 71 percent reported that they drank in the past year. 4.7 percent of people ages 18 or older reported that they engaged in binge drinking in the past month. 6.7 percent reported that they engaged in heavy drinking in the past month. 50 percent of marriage fell due to the spouse drinking uncontrollably (Burke, 2015)

The first speaker at the Alcoholics Anonymous meeting was a woman who had been sober for more than 15 years. She related that when she was younger, and as the daughter of a preacher, there was a lot of pressure in her hometown to prove she was not a 'goody-two shoes'. She relates that her social drinking became pronounced following her divorce at which time she also began taking nerve pills and specifically Xanax that were not prescribed to her. All of this worsened until she had a car wreck one night causing great amount of disfigurement to her face. This woman suffered greatly for many years going through plastic surgeries in an attempt to correct her facial features. This woman discussed the subject of Attitude Modification during the Alcoholics Anonymous meeting.

People drink in many ways, for many different reasons. We drink socially, to gain acceptance into a group. We drink alone to ease stress, to cope with our problems, or we “drink because we like the taste or how it makes us feel”#. Often drinking is a learned behavior, starting out as a social drinker; you quickly become psychologically and physically dependent. When someone reaches this stage they are often classified as an alcoholic. To an alcoholic, drinking becomes a compulsion; they cannot stop themselves from having another drink, like a social drinker can. In many cases alcoholics don’t even have to drink continuously in order to be an alcoholic. One the problems of alcohol addiction is that it’s something that doesn’t just effect the individual but it effects, friends and family as well. Spouse abuse, child abuse and dysfunctional family relationships can all be influenced by alcohol abuse.

Today, one out of every thirteen adults abuse alcohol or are alcoholics. That means nearly thirteen million Americans have a drinking problem. (www.niaaa.nih.gov) This topic offers a broad range of ideas to be researched within the psychological field. For this particular project, the topic of alcoholism and the psychological effects on people best fit the criteria. Alcoholism is defined as a disorder characterized by the excessive consumption of and dependence on alcoholic beverages, leading to physical and psychological harm and impaired social and vocational functioning. (www.dictionary.com) Through this project, the most important information regarding personal experiences

Alcoholism is a demon, a disease, something reached for out of desperation. It helps with a person 's problem by deadening their senses, and increasing his problems at the same time by destroying his character. When you drink, you don 't have to think about all your problems, you can just let the alcohol wash them away from your mind. But it can never take away all your problems—they still remain, just your sense to care for them is gone. Alcoholism has a great chance to pass on to later generations, but sometimes growing up in an alcoholic family will make the children swear off the drink because they have seen what it can turn people into. It turns them into the basic raw human emotion of grief. They are miserable for alcohol is the only thing that can make them feel normal after awhile, their entire bodies ache for it. Even when they have given up drinking, their bodies can revert back after having just one drop again. Yes, alcoholism is truly a terrifying disease of the mind and body—not just to the addict, but also to the loved ones