We don’t want to believe we are alcoholics. Instead, we believe the many myths which perpetuate our denial about our own alcoholism.
Alcoholics are homeless, jobless, and have been completely abandoned
- We think of alcoholism as some wild and untamed mental health disorder which drives people to homelessness, unemployment, and being completely abandoned by all friends and family members. Sometimes this is true. Alcoholism can take people to such places in their lives. Alcoholism can and does also affect people who have homes of all kinds, jobs of all kinds, and relationships of all kinds.
- That is because alcoholism affects everyone and alcoholics can be anyone. There are no socio economic requirements for alcoholism because alcoholism doesn’t care how much money you do or do not have. Alcoholism may not even take all that money away. What alcohol robs is your spirit, your heart, and your integrity.
Alcoholism is totally normal and everyone’s an alcoholic
- There are many environments in which alcoholism seems normalized making it easy to believe that everybody drinks the way you drink all the time. You likely think that you’re not even as bad a drinker as other people. Alcoholism is not defined by how much you do or do not drink or even as often. Alcoholism is defined by the reasons you drink and your inability to control or stop your drinking.
- College cultures, various alcohol industries, executive levels of business, entertainment, professional industries, and more often include partying, events, networking, and more, which include copious amounts of alcohol abuse. The truth is, people do have harmful relationships with alcohol and internationally alcohol abuse is normalized. Few people develop the chemical dependency on alcohol. Even if they binge drink regularly, most can stop when they want to. You, however, are finding, you cannot.
Alcoholism only happens to old men with nothing better to do
- For some reason, second to the stereotype of someone homeless and unemployed on the street, the image of an alcoholic is a curmudgeonly old man with nothing better to do than drink.
- Alcoholism happens to young teenagers, twenty somethings, and every decade on up. Alcoholism happens to men, women, and otherwise gender defined. Alcoholism doesn’t discriminate or make special choices.
Coming to terms with your alcoholism is hard. If you are confronting this truth, it is time to get help. Lakehouse Recovery Center offers residential detox, inpatient, and aftercare programs helping clients safely and comfortably transition through each level of care. For information on our integrative programs of care, call us today at 877.762.3707.