Strong Link Between Problem Drinking and Gambling
A new study reveals a strong link between alcohol dependency and gambling problems, Reuters reported Dec. 17.
According to researchers at the Research Institute on Addictions at the University at Buffalo, N.Y., adults with an alcohol addiction are 23 times more likely to have a gambling problem than those [...]

Binge Drinking Damages Brain and Stops Growth
Researchers found that binge drinking not only damages the brain, but interferes with the repair of brain cells, as well, Reuters reported Nov. 15.
Researchers at the Center for Alcohol Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill studied inebriated rats. They found that new cell growth in [...]

Heavy Drinkers More Likely to Get Sex Diseases
Heavy drinkers were more than twice as likely to contract a sexually transmitted disease (STD) in the past year than young adults who abstained from alcohol, according to a new study from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).
The Sexually Transmitted Diseases and Substance Use [...]

Recovery through the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous
Sgt. Bill S., used a one word summary to describe the basic principle (as he saw it) behind each of the 12 Steps, when he was giving talks to military personnel about alcoholism at Lackland in San Antonio, Texas, during the 1950’s and later on in California.
In the [...]

Mental obsession Bill W. a
co-founder of Alcoholics
Anonymous answers
questions about alcoholism
in a discussion in 1960.
Question; Bill, could you
explain what you mean by
“mental obsession”? What
is this? Bill W.: Well, as I
understand it, we are all
born with a certain amount
of 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.

Relapse, Slips and Busts Bill
W. a co-founder of
Alcoholics Anonymous
answers questions about
alcoholism in a discussion in
1960. Question; What
about slips in general? You
must have witnessed a lot
of them. Bill W.: The
subject of slips is a very
large one. It takes in a lot
of territory. Slips can often
be charged to rebellion and
some of us surely are more
rebellious than others. Slips
can be charged to
carelessness, to
complacency. Many of us
fail to ride out such periods
sober. Slips are due to the
illusion that one can be
“cured” of alcoholism.
Things go fine for two or
three

Alcohol and Seniors People
are living longer and are
generally healthier. This
means that seniors are
making up a larger portion
of our population. Although
alcohol use typically
declines with age, some
seniors may be at risk for
alcohol-related problems.
What Makes Alcohol an
Issue for Seniors? Alcohol
has a greater effect on
seniors because
metabolism changes as we
age. Older people are more
sensitive to the effects of
alcohol, and a little will go a
long way. Seniors generally
take more medications than
other adults. Mixing alcohol
with either prescription or
over-the-counter drugs is
unwise and can be
dangerous. The
development of age-
related health problems
can cause anxiety and
drinking

Alcoholic defined “If, when
you honestly want to, you
find you cannot quit
entirely, or if when
drinking, you have little
control over the amount
you take, you are probably
alcoholic. If that be the
case, you may be suffering
from an illness which only a
spiritual experience will
conquer.” ~Alcoholics
Anonymous, 4th Edition,
We Agnostics, pg. 44~

Jill C’;s Recovery Story I
Found My True Self I grew
up in a middle-class family
in Australia. We had a
three-story home with an
indoor swimming pool and I
had a pony. But home was
not as it looked from the
outside. Not How It Looked
My family looked very
successful, but my mother
drank alcohol daily and my
dad drank beer and got
drunk. Mum and Dad had
weekly arguments. My
brother was a qualified
Chemist at 21. He
committed suicide one
night- the disease got him.
It took me years to seek
my own recovery after two
marriage break-ups, loss of
homes and a life of
unmanageability that

Wernicke-Korsakoff
Syndrome Background: In
1881, Carl Wernicke first
described an illness that
consisted of paralysis of
eye movements, inability to
coordinate voluntary
muscle movements, and
mental confusion in 3
patients. The patients, 2
males with alcoholism with
progression to coma and
death. Wernicke detected
holes and bleeding
affecting the gray matter
in some parts of the brain.
S.S. Korsakoff, a Russian
psychiatrist, described the
disturbance of memory in
the course of long-term
alcoholism in a series of
articles from 1887-1891. In
1897, Murawieff first
postulated that a single
cause of a disease was
responsible for both
syndromes - Wernicke
syndrome and Korsakoff
syndrome. Or, in common