What is meant by mental obsession
and the obsessional character of alcoholism?
Answer
Well,
as I understand it, we are all born with the
freedom of choice. The degree of this varies
from person to person, and from area to area
in our lives. In the case of neurotic
people, our instincts take on certain
patterns and directions, sometimes so
compulsive they cannot be broken by any
ordinary effort of the will. The alcoholic's
compulsion to drink is like that.
As a smoker, for example, I have a deeply
ingrained habit - I'm almost an addict. But
I do not think that this habit is an actual
obsession. Doubtless it could be broken by
an act of my own will. If badly enough hurt,
I could in all probability give up tobacco.
Should smoking repeatedly land me in
Bellevue Hospital, I doubt that I would make
the trip many times before quitting. But
with my alcoholism, well, that was something
else again. No amount of desire to stop, no
amount of punishment, could enable me to
quit. What was once a habit of drinking
became an obsession of drinking - genuine
lunacy.
Perhaps a little more should be said about
the obsessional character of alcoholism.
When our fellowship was about three years
old some of us called on Dr. Lawrence Kolb,
then Assistant Surgeon General of the United
States. He said that our report of progress
had given him his first hope for alcoholics
in general. Not long before, the U.S. Public
Health Department had thought of trying to
do something about the alcoholic situation.
After a careful survey of the obsessional
character of our malady, this had been given
up. Indeed, Dr. Koib felt that dope addicts
had a far better chance. Accordingly, the
government had built a hospital for their
treatment at Lexington, Kentucky. But for
alcoholics - well, there simply wasn't any
use at all, so he thought.
Nevertheless, many people still go on
insisting that the alcoholic is not a sick
man - that he is simply weak or willful, and
sinful. Even today we often hear the remark
"That drunk could get well if he wanted to."
There is no doubt, too, that the deeply
obsessional character of the alcoholic's
drinking is obscured by the fact that
drinking is a socially acceptable custom. By
contrast, stealing, or let us say
shop-lifting, is not. Practically everybody
has heard of that form of lunacy known as
kleptomania. Oftentimes kleptomaniacs are
splendid people in all other respects. Yet
they are under an absolute compulsion to
steal - just for the kick. A kleptomaniac
enters a store and pockets a piece of
merchandise. He is arrested and lands in the
police station. The judge gives him a jail
term. He is stigmatized and humiliated. Just
like the alcoholic, he swears that never,
never will he do this again.
On his release from the jail, he wanders
down the street past a department store.
Unaccountably he is drawn inside. He sees,
for example, a red tin fire truck, a child's
toy. He instantly forgets all about his
misery in the jail. He begins to
rationalize. He says, "Well, this little
fire engine is of no real value. The store
won't miss it." So he pockets the toy, the
store detective collars him, he is right
back in the clink. Everybody recognizes this
type of stealing as sheer lunacy.
Now, let's compare this behavior with that
of an alcoholic. He, too, has landed in
jail. He has already lost family and
friends. He suffers heavy stigma and guilt.
He has been physically tortured by his
hangover. Like the kleptomaniac he swears
that he will never get into this fix again.
Perhaps he actually knows that he is an
alcoholic. He may understand just what that
means and may be fully aware of what the
fearful risk of that first drink is.
Upon his release from jail, the alcoholic
behaves just like the kleptomaniac. He
passes a bar and at the first temptation may
say, "No, I must not go inside there; liquor
is not for me." But when he arrives at the
next drinking place, he is gripped by a
rationalization. Perhaps he says, "Well, one
beer won't hurt me. After all, beer isn't
liquor." Completely unmindful of his recent
miseries, he steps inside. He takes that
fatal first drink. The following day, the
police have him again. His fellow citizens
continue to say that he is weak or willful.
Actually he is just as crazy as the
kleptomaniac ever was. At this stage, his
free will in regard to alcoholism has
evaporated. He cannot very well be held
accountable for his behavior. (The N.C.C.A.
'Blue Book', Vol. 12, 1960)
