Who me?
“When the idea was first presented to me that I was an alcoholic, my mind simply refused to accept it. Horrors! How disgraceful! What humiliation! How preposterous! Why, I loathed the taste of liquor – drinking was simply a means of escape when my sorrows became too great for me to endure.
Even after it had been explained to me that alcoholism is a disease, I could not realize that I had it. I was still ashamed, still wanted to hide behind the screen of reasons made up of unjust treatment, unhappiness, tired and dejected, and the dozens of other things that I thought lay at the root of my search for oblivion by means of whiskey or gin.
In any case, I felt quite sure that I was not an alcoholic.” (A Feminine Victory; Personal Story from the First Edition of the book Alcoholics Anonymous)
“Highly competent psychiatrists who have dealt with us have found it sometimes impossible to persuade an alcoholic to discuss his situation without reserve. Strangely enough, wives, parents and intimate friends usually find us even more unapproachable than do the psychiatrist and the doctor.” (Alcoholics Anonymous, pp 18)
Denial is not necessarily a conscious act by alcoholics. Often times it is subconscious because we have slowly changed our way of thinking over the years to be unaware of alcohol’s effect on us.
- See also
- Can Denial be Disturbed?
- Attitudes
- 12 Stupid Things That Mess Up Recovery
- What is Relapse?
- Alcoholics Anonymous – the Big Book – an Audible MP3 book
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