Thorburn sheds light on alcoholism’s myths

By John Davis ~ Sunday, October 16, 2005 ~ The Decatur Daily

Alcoholism: The very word evokes images in everyone's mind. Most of us envision an alcoholic as a drunkard who cannot function in society, whose very awareness of his surroundings is a blur. We might believe that all "alcoholics lack willpower" or that if a person is an alcoholic he will be an unsuccessful loser, or come from a bad family.

In each case, we would be wrong, for the disease of alcoholism is subtle, destructive and can afflict any family.

Doug Thorburn, founder of nonprofit PrevenTragedy, is a writer and public speaker who seeks to identify and thus help alcoholics through public education. He hopes thereby to help society come to grips with this devious and most dangerous of diseases.

He begins by identifying alcoholism as a disease. Its origin is as elusive as cancer, and no one blames a cancer victim for lacking "willpower."

Indeed, alcoholics can be masters of deception, for they sometimes hide their disease for years behind a facade of any number of ruses meant to confound those who would make them leave their world of self-medication. In each case, the disease will gradually become more and more pervasive until the alcoholic comes to desire alcohol more than his possessions, his job, his family, his very self-respect. What causes this?

Rather than battle the drug itself, Thorburn argues to look to the person. "Just say no" is the DARE concept for the approach to treatment of drug abuse. Rather, Thorburn says "Just say no" makes it appear as if the problem of alcohol is "out there" and willpower will overcome it. No, for the alcoholic, it will not.

Rather he suggests, look to the person. If he or she is one who will sacrifice anything to drink, who will use any manipulation to extract means to get alcohol, to maintain an alcoholic lifestyle, then intervention is needed. Alcoholism, a disease that must be treated, did not come about by poor upbringing, bad character, sin, lack of willpower or other stigmas of society. It came about because some one-tenth of the American population is afflicted. Alcoholism can be generational, from father to son, or skipping one sibling to appear in another, even reappearing when one family marries another.

Alcoholism is a reality that must be faced. No alcoholic goes quietly into rehabilitation. Usually he goes kicking and screaming after being confronted with loss of job, loss of family, even loss of life caused by a DUI. What keeps an alcoholic trapped in his sickness is when those around him fail to acknowledge what they see is happening. Alcoholics are "covered" by those who think they are doing right by not allowing them to pay the price of their bad behavior.

Examples are: hiding DUIs, allowing debts to be "taken care of," covering for why they missed work, hiding physical abuse of others and not admitting there is a problem in a "good family."

Once these myths are overcome, then reality can be faced. An alcoholic can be identified for the ill person he is, and treatment can commence. Rehabilitation can only come when myths are overcome, when no one lies to protect the alcoholic.

Then, and only then, can a procedure for recovery begin. That recovery can take a lifetime, and it can come with any success only through initial rehabilitation in a medical facility, and then through a group support apparatus such as Alcoholics Anonymous.

Thorburn notes the success of AA in helping those who have this ailment, which requires identification, acceptance iof its reality, treatment and lifetime recovery process.