Alcoholism

Temptation has at one time overwhelmed us all in our lives and as long as one does not allow it to
consume him/her then they are in a healthy state of mind. However when temptation becomes a source
for one's social and personal demise then it has metastasized into an addiction. Alcohol use in a
community with dwelling older adults is common, and the line between "social" or moderate drinking
and alcohol abuse and physical dependency is often not clear. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse
and Alcoholism defines excessive drinking as more than 14 drinks a week and/or more than 4 drinks at
the same sitting. A definition of addiction is having a dependency to a particular substance and if that
substance can cause a person's life to alter from a steady track to all of a sudden be turned upside down
and a mess. Alcoholism, obsession, and personal failures are usually the sort of thing people like to keep
under wraps. Augusten Burroughs goes the opposite direction in his confessional book Dry. Burroughs
intensely describes the trials and tribulations that one goes through in order to break his dependency of
alcohol. Stress can be one of many factors that lead a person to drink periodically. It can take the edge
off and allow a person to gain perspective of what needs to be done, however when the drinking goes
from periodically to everyday and alcohol has become a means of obsession with its ability to allow
someone to escape their situation and be at ease with life and have no burdens, it has become a
problem.

In reading Dry, one gets pulled into the life of an advertising agent who's got to deal with the annoying
clients and demanding bosses. He starts by describing that he's a social drinker who sometimes gets
carried away when he's out on the town after a long day at the office and drinks until he doesn't
remember the night before. The routine goes on until it starts affecting his work and he can no longer
be counted on to perform his expected tasks. This destructive pattern I can imagine is not uncommon
among adults with demanding careers who have not found a way to relieve the stress that builds up
from doing the same thing day in and day out. People hear everyday that it's okay to have a drink and
that it'll lead to a wonderful time where nothing happens except people go to bars and clubs with fun
music and their lives turn into glamorous ones. The idea is that alcohol frees one's self and elevates
them to a higher social status than one couldn't get to without alcohol. Advertising is a business of
getting a products image out into society and showing people why they should use that product; so it's
no wonder why bars, clubs, and popular restaurants are packed every night with people looking to have
a good time and let go. When it comes to alcohol though it can have devastating effects if it becomes
uncontrollable. With the amount of money that goes into advertising and getting the word out to
society that drinking is socially and morally acceptable it has and will continue to infect the growing
population. The young are being shown at such an early age that alcohol and success run parallel when
really it's quite the opposite.

The numerous recognized stresses and losses associated with age that might cause individuals to
resume or initiate regular moderate or excessive alcohol intake, such as role losses; loss of friends,
families, and pets through death or other reasons; loss of physical health and function; loss of income;
loss of overall purpose; and depression and decreased satisfaction with life. These factors can
individually or cumulatively result in use of alcohol. With so many causal factors playing a potential role
in someone's addiction to a substance there's no specific treatment to cure addiction. While the
removal of such temptations is obvious, how a person deals with it and what steps that person takes to
rebuild their health is why one should go to rehab.

When an addiction develops the most important task is getting help. A person has to want to be helped
in the first place or else the treatment will never work and the person will just relapse. In Burroughs'
case, his employer propositioned him about getting help and him being able to keep his job.
Unfortunately that is not always the case. Some employers have zero tolerance with their employees
and will terminate their employee position if caught under the influence while on company time. In the
case of Burroughs, he had a support team at his job that did care enough to confront him about his
alcohol problem and work together to come up with a plan so that he could rid himself of his destructive
habit and return to work sober. For a person to enter rehab with the realization that they do in fact have
a serious problem and that the process for cleaning up their act is a long and arduous one can have
devastating effects on one's mental health. In the novel it did not hit Burroughs until he arrived at the
rehab facility that he was to stay there for a period of time and have his actions monitored by health
officials. This feeling of being imprisoned was overwhelming and potentially has the ability to cause
mental disturbances. With the aid of alcohol withdrawal, the sudden change in personal security and
removal of all contact with loved ones it is no wonder that patients that undergo rehab also undergo
major psychological counseling.

When dealing with the idea of possibly having to go to rehab for something a person believed was an
activity that was acceptable by everyone in the first place and was made to believe that this activity
would help him or her with his or her problems can make a person very confused. Trying to cope with
this surreal experience is the foundation for getting back on track. Burroughs' novel demonstrated this
when he was attending group meetings in rehab and listening to problems that others were having and
he realized that he was not the only one that was dealing with stress. Groups shared their experiences
with one another and worked coherently to find the determining source of their addiction. Meetings like
these are important because they develop a network of trust among other addicts and they are shown
that they aren't alone in their fight. Social networks must be developed between recovering addicts with
other recovering addicts because only these people know the obstacles that stand in the way of
recovery. To others that have not experienced what an addict goes through it is hard to view them as
people that did not know how to better deal with their problems. Society blames these particular people
for their own downfall and people believe that addicts chose the life of dependency and therefore
believe that addicts are the pollutants that harm communities and if not controlled could cause
problems in the future.

Public education programs need to be established so that society can gain valuable knowledge in dealing
with problems so as to possibly prevent dependency. One major obstacle is that people are afraid of
what they do not understand and if they are afraid then they will avoid dealing with the problem. This
causes a chain reaction in which society will either choose to ignore or confront and deal the problem
properly. Alcohol programs are being taught to the growing youth but it is still information that escapes
many of us and leaves some in the dark. Whether it is teaching someone how to deal with stress when it
arises or showing someone the proper steps that need to be taken if one is already overwhelmed with
stress and does not posses the knowledge to deal with their situation safely and rationally.

This novel demonstrates well the strain one must deal with in trying to handle a demanding career,
frantic social life and a troubled past. This novel is a written example of what over 10% of the population
have to go through and Burroughs show's the public that every sort of person has to deal with stress and
problems in some way and what addiction can cause a person's mind and body to go through. The
image that is being shown to so many people that alcohol is this wonderful experience that will
magically remove any problems from one's life is exactly the opposite that we should be showing. More
programs need to be initiated that help people deal with their problems and offer help so that their
problems do not consume their life. Programs that offer this kind of help need to be advertised to those
that need the help and don't know where to turn for it. While having these programs available is a
necessity, it is also necessary for people to be able to recognize the warning signs that people exhibit
when they are starting to become dependent. In conclusion alcoholism is a serious dependency issue
that society has to become aware of in order to solve the problem and keep from ignoring and excluding
the people trying to deal with their problems only because they don't know a better way to deal with
them then to drink them away.

References
Burroughs, Augusten. Dry. New York, NY. 2003
Hans Kristenson, Bertil Hood (1984). "The Impact of Alcohol on Health in the General Population: A
Review with Particular Reference to Experience in Malmo Addiction." 79 (4), 139–145.