Archive for December, 2005
Daniel writes:
Dear Doug,
I started dating a girl who's an alcoholic and then stopped seeing her before anything happened. She asked me to buy her vodka because she's underage. I asked her what that was for, and she said she just wanted it to drink by herself, and it wasn't for a party or anything. When I mentioned that it's a rather bad sign to want to drink a bottle of vodka alone, she said, "I have to drink alone because I have blackouts, and it's dangerous for me to drink with boys especially if I don't know what I'm doing." Wow, that was really reassuring, wasn't it? Also logical to conclude that she should drink alone rather than, say, NOT ...
Functional Alcoholism and Right-Wing Extremism
Michael asks:
What do you think of "functioning alcoholics?" For
example, my father always drank. He seems to have
slowed down since I was a kid, and since his DUI and
maniacal fights with my mother when they were married
during the 70's and 80's, he never appears to exhibit
any of the behavioral cues associated with alcoholism.
He still drinks, I'm sure, more than once a week.
Enjoys drinking "fraternities" such as the Moose and
Eagles. His current wife is not an alcoholic....maybe
she takes up some of the slack such as driving.
I theorize that my family is shot through with
"functioning" addicts. On my mother's side, I've
noticed pompousness and grandiosity in her one (over
achieving) brother, with arrested development in the
other. ...
Monster Boy example is instructive
My good friend, Bob Savewe, wrote the following response to "Dear Doug: Monster Boy":
"Monster Boy" was incredibly instructive. Here alcoholic behavior is
revealed in the behavior of a non-alcoholic, and he's only 5 years old.
Every shrink should read this.
“Just What Was he or she Thinking?” is a question we can ask of many alcoholics
Amazing Antics: Stories of Alcoholism-Driven Behaviorsâ„¢
The case of Duke Cunningham reminded me of some recent antics reported in Randy Cassingham's "This is True"that are perfect for posing the question, "Just what was he or she thinking?"In the first, we have proof of addiction and evidence of relapse; in the second, no proof but, well, "Just what was he thinking?"if he wasn't under the influence?
Stories from "This is True"by Randy Cassingham, with his "tagline:â€
"LEADING BY EXAMPLE: Florida state Sen. Mandy Dawson wanted to join fellow legislators on a trip to Africa. The others paid their own ways, but Dawson ordered an aide to solicit donations for the trip from lobbyists. When her aide told her that was against the law, ...
Can a Cruel Upbringing “Drive” One to Use Drugs Addictively?
"The young runaway's memories of her cruel upbringing drove her to drugs,"wrote columnist Patricia Towle in the November 21, 2005 National Enquirer, about Oprah Winfrey's surrogate daughter, 21-year-old Alexandra Molina. Oprah reportedly told Molina, "You've been through hell…All you need is somebody who believes in you….â€
Regardless of whether or not true depending on your view of the Enquirer, the article promulgates far-reaching myths about alcoholism. If behaviors weren't an issue, no one would bemoan the fact that someone had been driven to drugs. The implication in "drove her to drugs"is, therefore, "drove her to use drugs addictively."Upbringing does not drive anyone to use drugs addictively. The fact that Molina was raised in a cruel manner indicates that those who raised ...
Dear Doug: Monster Boy
Dear Doug:
My husband of 16 years and I have five well-behaved children. Everything was fine between our families until his brother married "Lenore"and they had a son, now 5 years old.
At family events, this little boy continuously bites, pulls hair and otherwise abuses his cousins. When we try to intervene, he goes after us. When we ask Lenore to use some discipline, she puts down her cigarette and tells him to stop. He laughs and continues abusing others.
The whole family has tried, but she makes excuses and insists that being stricter will bring on greater violence. When my husband finally told her that he will discipline the boy if she doesn't, she became irate, threatened us with legal action and ...
Redemption: The Stan “Tookie†Williams Story
This well-acted 2004 film, originally on FX TV, is available on DVD. Jamie Fox plays Tookie Williams, with Lynn Whitfield playing a charming and appealing Barbara Becnel, who asks Tookie to provide her with information for her upcoming book on gang history. While admitting she holds gangs in contempt, she gets Tookie's cooperation when she explains she intends to be objective and tell the truth about them, whatever the truth may be.
Tookie helped start the Crips to "protect the neighborhood."Responding to Becnel's comment that it was a criminal enterprise from the start, Tookie replies that the cops weren't protecting anyone. "Either I was going to be a victim or a victimizer."However, he failed to note that he'd been doing ...
Tookie Williams, Alcoholism and Possible Redemption
Stanley Tookie Williams: A Model of Alcoholism, Horrific Behaviors, Sobriety and Possible Redemption
Many recovering addicts do everything they can to redeem themselves. Does this mean they shouldn't pay the price for committing the ultimate crime?
In 1981 Stanley Tookie Williams was convicted and sentenced to death for the 1979 murders of four people in two separate incidents. After the usual decades of appeals, he is scheduled for execution December 13, 2005. His unique case was chronicled in a 2004 movie and has provided fodder for weeks of talk-radio debate and bombast.
Tookie, who grew up fatherless but with an apparent caring mother, began sniffing glue at age 13. He later became addicted to PCP, which causes extreme violence in some addicts, ...
George Best, Randy “Duke” Cunningham, and other “runners-up” and “under watch” for December ’05
Runners-up for top story of the month:
Venezuelan de facto dictator Hugo Chavez, calling Mexican President Vicente Fox "a lapdog"of the U.S. at the Summit of the Americas in Mar del Plata, Argentina, after Fox argued in favor of global free trade. The Mexican government, which considered the attack "over the top,"recalled its ambassador from Venezuela and booted out the Venezuelan ambassador to Mexico.
Actor Robert Blake, found liable by a civil jury for "intentionally [causing] the death"of wife Bonny Lee Bakley and ordered to pay her children $30 million in damages. You'll find the story of the criminal trial in the January 2005 edition of the Thorburn Addiction Report (http://www.addictionreport.com).
Prime Minister Tony Blair's father-in-law Tony Booth, criticizing the British ...