Superman's Dead

Page: 42

Chapter: More About Alcoholism  

Step we are on: Step One

Subject:  Fred the Accountant, Self Esteem, Relapse

• What did he learn about self-knowledge and willpower?

I saw that will power and self-knowledge would not help in those strange mental blank spots.

Real alcoholics experience mental blank spots. They're gaps in consciousness where "obsession" kicks in. We characterize these unconscious gaps as "insanity," —  a peculiar mental twist that precedes the first drink, setting off the physical craving. They also call it the "queer mental condition," "strange mental blank spot" or "peculiar mental twist". We will discover these as we go on in this book.

•  What did he recollect not being able to ever understand?

I had never been able to understand people who said that a problem had them hopelessly defeated.

•  How did the newly acquired knowledge affect him?  Two  sentences

I knew then. It was a crushing blow.

Here, they are not referring to any "Aha" experience,  flash of intellectual insight or some tear-jerking soliloquy of a share session in a church basement. They're talking about a  CRUSHING impact upon the over-inflated, self-esteem bloated ego of the unrecovered alcoholic.

The more dejected we get the worse we feel — the closer to the solution we get. This is a theme repeated over and over in this book. When working with others, the WORSE thing to do to an alcoholic is to make him feel better! If you want to kill an alcoholic slowly and painfully, drag out the process as long as you can  — put him on a slow SELF-ESTEEM drip.  (Including "Assets" on an inventory sheet will do it.)

This is the deadly practice of the typical rehab facility today where quick-trained counselors — the "certified" addictions experts have been trained to do just that. Their livelihoods ultimately depend upon systematically applying what we know from horrific experience DOESN'T work.

Remember this? “We learned we had to fully concede to our innermost selves we were alcoholics.  It is the first step in recovery.”

• Who came to see him?

"Two of the members of Alcoholics Anonymous came to see me.

• What was the first thing they did?

  They grinned,

We’ll do it every time.

• What did Fred think of what they did?

which I didn't like so much,

They’ll do it every time.   

Don’t think that the suffering alcoholic is going to be impressed with your wonderfully winning, sober, alcohol-free personality. He isn’t. 

Tomorrow:

• What two questions did they ask Fred?
• To what did he concede?
• What did they pile on him?   (Two sentences)
• What did this do for him?
• Once he admitted defeat, what did they tell him?

Peace and  Love,

Danny S – RLRA

Real Live Recovered Alcoholic

http://recoveredalcoholic.blogspot.com