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Reviews

Review by Cynthianna Appel
Fearless Books, 2005
www.fearlessbooks.com/reviews.html

My first impression of Doug Thorburn’s book was, “No way can this guy condense the two years of ADAC (Alcohol and Drug Abuse Counseling) classes I took in college into one slim volume in such a way that it could make sense to a layperson.” My second impression after reading it is, “Every person on the planet should read this book.”

Thorburn takes a no-nonsense, short and to-the-point approach to the facts about alcoholism and substance addiction in general. Tackling the most misunderstood disease on a myth-by-myth basis, he explains how the disease works in simple terms. Approximately 10 to 20 percent of the population is alcoholic; alcoholics’ biochemistry processes alcohol differently than the rest of the population. Simply put, their bodies process the acetate from alcohol at a different rate than the person born without a genetic tendency toward alcoholism. Hence, the effects and “rewards” of alcohol (and all addictive substances) work differently in the alcoholic whose body doesn’t send him or her feedback signals such as nausea and sleepiness upon consuming too much. Instead, the alcoholic’s brain chemistry manufactures “feel good” neurotransmitters as it processes alcohol, which in turn reinforces the idea that one drink is good but several more is even better. Thorburn then goes on to bust the myth that drinking doesn’t cause brain damage right away, too. Sad to say, but it begins when we first start drinking and the resulting destructive behaviors are evidence of the brain’s gradual deterioration.
Our culture even tries to hide or explain away the devastating and anti-social behaviors caused by alcoholism by spouting nonsense such as the individual must have “grown up in an abusive home” or “been under a lot of stress at work.” But Thorburn succinctly points out that if an abusive upbringing or work-related stress alone caused alcoholism, there would be even more alcoholics than there are in the general population — and it wouldn’t explain those persons who grow up in stable, loving homes with good jobs who eventually display signs of the disease.

By taking on these destruction myths our society perpetuates, Alcoholism: Myths and Realities offers hope that help and healing is possible. And a little practical knowledge on everyone’s part can go a long way in furthering this cause.