The big book talks about people who have grave emotional and mental disorders can recover as long as they are honest.
There are those, too, who suffer from grave emotional and mental disorders, but many of them do recover if they have the capacity to be honest.
(How it works)
The one thing I found for myself was... the first step was getting clean and sober. But I drank and used to try and cover up my mental abuse and depression...an oxymoron when alcohol is a depressant. 1 in 3 people in recovery also have depression...so I needed help professionally and with group support.
hello my friend.
Hello back at you Faux. Hope you are well.
Long Covid's a monster.... haven't been well for a very long time my friend, it's just another adjustment in life... doing less, painting more when I'm well enough and taking each day as it comes.... how are you doing?
Learning to live with husband’s kidney failure. And the dialysis process three times a week. And doctors the other two days. I never would have thought five months ago that I’d have to be doing so much caregiving as I am now. But I don’t have a drink in my hand today. Which makes all of this possible to handle.
Sorry you’re not well. I send hugs and love and prayers
You nailed it pal; 'But I don’t have a drink in my hand today. Which makes all of this possible to handle. '
I can't imagine what your going through my friend, I am sorry your going through all that as well as for your husband's suffering. But I'm always here for you. Some days I can't go online, but I get back eventually.
probably a little of both. I found for me I have to treat both my alcoholism and my mental illness of depression. I can’t do one without the other. Drinking makes my depression worse. And I want to escape my depression by drinking. But once I pick up a drink, my craving kicks in and I continue drinking. Then I have this mental obsession that leads me back to another drink. That’s why I need to admit that I’m powerless over alcohol and my life became unmanageable.
When I got sober, I had a house, a job and lots of friends. So how was my life unmanageable you may ask? Well the state of my mental, emotional and spiritual life certainly were unmanageable. I had an open, festering hole in my soul. My mind was a mess. I hated myself. My emotions were like a roller coaster. And I couldn’t stop drinking.
Its a chicken or egg kind of question. What led me to alcohol was that intuitive thought that it will fix my shyness (😀). Initially it did. After the initial puking period, I started to drink alcoholicly. Its a progressive disease, I came to know later. Several phases of my drinking career i could have stopped or looked for solution. But always turned to alcohol. There was one phase where I tried Friday only beer experiment. It was such a torture. After Friday I will look forward to the next Friday. The unmanageability (internal-anxiety, depression, boredom...) was so severe that slowly I extended it to saturday and sunday. And then back to square one. In 2005ish in Georgia they introduced those beers with high alcoholic content, I started drinking those. Dowing 5-6 pints of steel reserves in a short duration. Got to mention I lost my brother due to alcoholic depression in 94. Still I was fighting the fight. Finally some consciousness crept into me, reached out to a shrink, who (i didnt know then, was a member of AA) he suggested that I seek a spiritual solution. Thus started my journey in AA in 2006 september.
Yes, if you read the car salesman story in the chapter more about alcoholism, Bill W paints the profile of this person:
Our first example is a friend we shall call Jim. This man has a charming wife and family. He inherited a lucrative automobile agency. He had a commendable World War record. He is a good salesman. Everybody likes him. He is an intelligent man, normal so far as we can see, except for a nervous disposition. He did no drinking until he was thirty-five. In a few years he became so violent when intoxicated that he had to be committed. On leaving the asylum he came into contact with us.
So Jim had a "Nervous Disposition" i guess that means nervousness back in 1930s..... Nothing much as changed. People have been caught in this dilema for years.
If you read in the book “Alcoholics Anonymous,” the chapter entitled “The Doctor’s Opinion,” you’ll learn a lot about the disease.
Quick update before people think I've disappeared through not being able handle the group debates 🙂
Relapse Gutted : ( 
hi everyone
Gambling and Smoking are bad but Alcohol is our friend? 