There are many myths, new and old concerning alcoholism. I ought to know because I recently came to the realization that I am a alcoholic and have been an active alcoholic
for more then ten years. As I was confiding in some of my close friends about my disease
I was faced with many of these myths. I had very close friends and even my spouse, try to convince me that I was not an alcoholic.Here are some of things I was hearing: “It’s not like you drink everyday.” ” When was the last time you had a drink ? If you haven’t had one today
then your not an alcoholic” , ” You should just take a break for awhile or stop drinking liquor
or wine, just stick with beer then you won’t be so hung over.” So, it occurred to me that my friends are all enablers. For my friends to accept that me, one of their drinking partners as
an alcoholic would mean that they too should evaluate their situation and make changes.My
friends have made it alright for me to drink.I did not take the position ( when dealing with
this backlash) that I am some holier then thou person because I quit drinking. First of all to
say to anyone this early in my recovery that I am never gonna drink again is way to over-
whelming. What if I do slip ? It is easier for me to say I will not drink today.I think I can
take this on if I take it day by day.
There are so many social myths that are ingrained in our psyche from a very early age. The media has a large hand in this. In every advertisement you see about alcohol you are presented with many myths. First, in all the advertisements you are faced with images of a glamorous
lifestyle, one where everyone is dressed elegantly is behaving sophisticatedly,has money,is
athletic,and is having grand parties and celebrating. None of these images portrays the harsh
reality of an alcoholic. The deaths related to alcohol,the fatalities, the rapes, suicides,
unemployment, and child and spouse abuse. Alcoholism is a serious disease But, slogans and jingles are streaming at us every time we turn on the T.V. or open a magazine like ” always
drink responsibly” and ” know when you’ve had one to many.” This train of thought leads me to another myth , alcoholism can be controlled by learning to drink socially. The thought that you
can control alcoholism by simply “learning how to hold your liquor” is a huge misgiving. It is
so difficult to admit that we cannot control our drinking because we are so poorly adjusted to our environment, that we are trying so