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.

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

Part I: A. Introduction: 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.

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.

An Outsider’s View of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) Meetings 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

Rachel Hines Mr. Allen Period 6/7 3 June 2015 One Drink Too Many: An Exploration of Alcoholism Many adults can enjoy a drink or two from time to time without any issues, but just one drink can cause over seventeen million Americans’ lives to spiral out of control. Though most people do not have issues with drinking alcoholic beverages, many have a condition which causes their brain to function differently when they consume alcohol. This disease can be deadly for both the alcoholic and those around them. Alcoholism can control someone’s life, and even though it is a societal issue that is still being addressed, more people are seeking treatment to better themselves. Alcoholism, excessive consumption of alcohol that results in dependence, is caused by genetics and environmental factors that result in harmful effects on the body of the drinker and the safety of society; however, therapy and support groups are helping alcoholics recover today, and medications undergoing trial could allow them to live normal lives in the future.

Alcoholics Anonymous: The 12-Step Treatment Alcoholics Anonymous: The 12-Step Treatment The 12-step program used by Alcoholics Anonymous is a well-known treatment method that’s used for many types of addiction, not just alcohol. Alcoholics are encouraged to “work” the 12-steps. The first step involves admitting the powerlessness over alcohol. The second step has the alcoholic

He was an older man in his 60’s and also a veteran of the United States Marine Corps. Keith struggled with sobriety and still does however; his stories were geared around the military. He said that the military in a way helped him become an alcoholic. The military by no means persuaded him but it aided him by the governmental money he received for being a member of the Marines. He told us that all he would do is make the money for his services then he would blow it on alcohol and fun times in the bar. Keith was very blunt about his experiences and even called himself an asshole. He thought of himself as a good guy but then he said he would vomit in the bathrooms and clean off his face just so that he could still party with the people in the bar. He called himself an asshole because he said he was a funny drunk but when people looked at him they just got really mad. Keith said that obviously he got into a lot of fights and he wasn’t scared of anyone. After his experience with alcohol in this manner he came to the conclusion that being sober was going to be the right thing for him even though he knew it was going to be a struggle everyday of his life. One important thing he said that I thought was the highlight of the meeting was about being sober. He said, “Its true what they say about being sober; it stands for son of a bitch everything’s real.” This really hit me because even

First Speaker 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.

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

Alcoholism is a major issue that still plagues our nation to this day. Jeannette Walls experienced this issue first hand through her father, Rex, as depicted in her memoir The Glass Castle. Jeannette’s father was an alcoholic, evident of him always disappearing for days at a time to go on drinking binges and always spending most of the money that the family earned (Jeannette included) on alcohol. Jeannette was not the only one subjected to one’s alcoholism; my wife was also a victim of alcoholism. She was not the alcoholic though, I was. My alcoholism almost destroyed my marriage on numerous occasions. I was verbally abusive toward my wife and I made our day-to-day lives extremely unbearable. Are Rex and I the only ones who affect our worlds and our loved ones through alcoholism? Unfortunately no, we are not. Our nation and our world is filled with people suffering from this pandemic of alcoholism and it has thrived since the early days of alcohol’s discovery. What can we do as a society to better understand and prevent alcoholism? What is it going to take to get control of our lives back from alcohol that has had

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

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)).

Many people have been misguided about whether or not alcoholism is “disease” that attacks a person’s good health. A key suggestion of those that believe alcoholism is a disease is that a disease is uncontrolled. This is not so. When people develop an addiction to alcohol they tend to push everything of importance out of their lives: family, friends, and sometimes even jobs. People with addiction to alcohol throw

One simple disastrous action of adultery with the wife of his best friend has lead his life off track and separated him from his friends and completely ruined his family life for good. He has to suffer for the rest of his life from that one mistake he has made and as a result, he drinks continuously to soothe the pain of his loss. And the pain has clearly set its mark on him; throughout the story he keeps apologising as if it can make up for the mistake he made in the past.