==> A hush fell over the room when Mhs:jane Kelley@1:138/240 said to Harriet 
Levy <== 
 JK> Dunno about where you live but around here we have very competent
 JK> folks who run inpatient treatment centers and are more than willing to
 JK> share with the rest of us any new information obtained any place
 JK> concerning recovery.  This is done by lectures to the general public,
 JK> folks who don't have the time or the resources to go to treatment.
Gee Jane, I got sober in the rooms of AA.  Perhaps, since I didn't need
to be in an inpatient treatment center I'm not a *real* alcoholic.  I
seem to remember you accusing me of that a couple of years ago....
 JK> I am sober because a counselor at Shadel Hospital in Seattle, the
 JK> first tretment center around here, got me to work there in 1969.  I
I'm sober because a dear friend 12-stepped me in AA.  It was *there* that
I learned if I didn't pick up the first one, I wouldn't get drunk.  It 
was also in AA that I learned that I had a choice as to whether or not
to pick up the first one.  
Lest you think I've been slacking on my recovery, I've been the therapy
route, and have discovered certain neurotransmitter problems that may
or may not have been a predisposition to my drinking....however, I
don't think that since those have been taken care of (chemically) I
can feel free to drink like a non-alcoholic.  
Therefore, it occurs to me, that whatever the cause, be it emotional,
mental or physical, once the pattern of alcoholic drinking is set,
there can be no return to non-alcoholic drinking.
I'm not sure what your point in these messages is.  Are you espousing
therapy, inpatient rehabs, nutrition or what?  Also, I've not noticed
anything regarding the spiritual aspect of AA in any of your posts?
Do you actually work this program, or are you doing a variation of
it that is of your own devising?
 JK> Unless, of course, you know more than the folks who put Dr.
 JK> Silkworth's letters at the beginning of the first edition, or the
 JK> beginning of the First Step of the program.  
Funny thing, but I never questioned that.  What I got from Dr. 
Silkworth's letters is that there is *something* about my makeup
that prevents me from drinking like a non-alcoholic.  That's about
all I need to know.  The end result is the same, I don't drink...
no matter what.  Personally, my life is too full these days to
ponder the greater questions of the universe, like *why* I can't
seem to drink like a non-alcoholic.
As far as the first step of the program, that I've taken it is pretty
obvious, as I've been sober for almost 7 years.  
For me, that is due to the fact that I've:
a.  Not taken a drink
b.  Attend meetings regularly
c.  See to my spiritual condition on a daily basis.
d.  Maintain regular contact with my sponsor in order to *reality* check.
e.  Continue to sponsor other people, which serves as a reminder *to me*
      of the tools that maintain my sobriety.
Lest you think that I'm a complete idiot, I'm college educated, am a 
licensed health professional, and am considering doing graduate work
in the mental health field.  All this notwithstanding, when I'm in a
12-Step recovery forum, I talk about recovery via the 12-steps.
... Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends....
___ Blue Wave/QWK v2.20 [NR]
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