Random Rant on Alcoholism

RANT: People go into treatment for alcohol addiction, and when they finish, the treatment folks tell them they can NEVER drink again because the alcoholism never goes away.

Is that really "treatment"?

Treatment to me would be that you learn to control your drinking. Not that you have to give up drinking. That seems pretty fucking crazy. And since I've yet to see a concrete study showing that people are genetically predisposed to alcoholism (which also makes no sense to me) then the problem should just be mental. Which means with treatment, you should be able to control how much you can drink.

Honestly, I think the current treatment strategies are unrealistic. "Why?" you say. Because drinking alcohol occurs at almost every adult gathering humanity has to offer. Christmas. New Years. St. Patty's. Valentine's Day. Birthdays. Anniversaries. Retirement parties. Award ceremonies. Super Bowl Sunday. Almost every major sporting championship. Birth of a child. Etc. Etc. There's always alcohol. If you've drank it before, it's ridiculous to say, "Well, guess I can never ever do that again because I can't control myself."

Bullcrap! Of course you can control yourself. The treatment is just garbage to say otherwise.

If you get into a major accident and the government sends you to driver's ed, does the instructor tell everyone to just stop driving? If you have panic attacks when in the presence of large crowds, does your therapist tell you to never go out in public again? I mean, CHRIST! If you were a sex addict, no one in their right mind would ever say, "Never have sex again." They'd just try and help you get your addiction under control.

So are people only strong enough to beat certain mental disorders but not others? Is there just a point where mental health specialist say, "Nah, people are too weak to recover from this. Just tell them to avoid it forever"? Is that it?

I think not. I'm more inclined to believe that a "booze is bad" perspective remains in society from the old Puritan and Progressive ideologies from the late 19th and early 20th century. A string of bullcrap that still manages to seep its way into modern society... even in the "scientific" community. Thus, people facing an addiction to alcohol don't receive aid to control their drinking. They are simply told to end the behavior/habit of drinking altogether. A little bit retarded? Surely. Fair enough? Doubtful. Will I drink to that? You betcha.