Col
Point noted.
Rather than set so much by a contextually inappropriate speech (I think you are stretching the point beyond reasonable application) perhaps the point should be that criticism is potentially justified in BOTH directions.
If nothing else I admit my faults, those of my style and logic and endeavour to fix them.

Your reiteration of your points to foxy appear still distort reality through your B/W filter.
No one is saying that AA, Al Anon aren't worthy organizations and worth the effort just that they aren't the only or necessarily the best way considering the individual’s involved needs. Specifically AA relies on submission to a higher authority fine if you’re religious. There ARE other problems/ short comings as well.

As an example many who returned from the Burma railway did so without a belief in God and had drinking issues…the root cause there was later to be called Post Traumatic Shock ( known then as ‘shell shock’). Under those circumstances how is the vet not a victim and drinking not a symptom?
PTS has many causes. Take a male victim of pack rape who subsequently turns to booze is this not a symptom of a deeper malaise rather than simply a lack of self control?
AA in these cases has a limited success rate the real solution was elsewhere.

Who is to say what is traumatic to the point of losing control…?
The key fault with rigid attitudes is that they impose unrealistic/unreasonable expectations on others who don’t have your abilities. In that context I can see how my seeming libertarian, left (sic) views are merely a reflection of my acknowledgement of the fallibility of people and myself. More specifically I reserve judgement until I have the facts and avoid unsupported generalizations.

Bronwyn,

Tell me more about this blood sugar problem?

Foxy “But the problem for us with my nephew is that
he doesn't accept responsiblity for his drinking
because he won't admit that he's got a problem”

My partner’s son is of the same temperament.

He blames the world for everything from his of money to the headaches and paranoia he suffers yet igores the drawbacks of his chosen habits.

Through Al Anon, my partner has found the strength, direction and resolve to decide how she needs to respond to him, to decide, of his behavior, what she is not prepared to accept and to resist the guilt trips she is placed under by her son.

Al Anon is an organisation set up specifically for the families of alcohol abusers by the families of alcohol abusers and parallel organizations exist for drug abusers too.

And your nephew is not the first alcoholic who lives in denial of his problem, Al Anon might not have all the answers but I doubt there is a scenario which they have not seen before.

Finally, as your comments reveal your personal concerns, Al Anon is designed to benefit not just your nephew but the entire family.

In short, it is there to offer support and help to the families who are being destroyed though the selfish actions of the alcoholics.

It is worthy of consideration :-) .

"Binge drinking - like other self destructives excesses - is not really the problem. It's the symptom of another deeper problem so find out what motivates this behaviour."

Wobbles makes quite a reasonable point.

Without having experienced it myself, I'm sure there are quite a few reasons why people start down the road to binge drinking. Here are a few possible reasons from everyday observation.

• Feeling traumatised, down or lonely and wanting the bad feeling to go away.
• Keeping up with the boys.
• Wanting to be accepted by a group.

Also, I recently read an article that suggested each time you eat a particular food, it leaves a specific genetic marker in the body's cells that may remain for up to 2 weeks. So by consuming the same food over many years, we humans can leave a strong imprint on our cells which may influence future consumption patterns and maybe even permanently affect our genes. From memory, the medical term for this research was epigenetics. It could explain why some people, as a flow-on effect of past consumption patterns and habits, feel a craving or need for certain types of foods or substances (eg drugs and the desire to sniff petrol etc).

So, for example, if society in the past had a role to play in making people feel lonely or wanting to disassociate with others, and this had the flow-on effect of inducing people to take certain substances, society also has a role to help heal the problems to the extent that it was responsible for causing them.

Houellebecq

"Bronwyn, Tell me more about this blood sugar problem?"

There are several types of blood sugar problems. The one I'm referring to, and the one I'm more familiar with, is where a person's blood sugar levels fluctuate from one extreme to the other.

They will spike up much higher than normal on the ingestion of sweet and/or high carb food or drink and then one or two hours later they will drop to abnormally low levels. This drop occurs because the pancreas produces too much insulin, and the end result is that the brain is starved of the glucose it needs to function properly.

The brain requires about 60% of all the available glucose in the body and if it becomes glucose-starved various cognitive and behavioural problems will occur. These include mental 'fog', depression, anxiety, anger, forgetfulness, insomnia, lethargy and more. Eventually, if left untreated, the condition (Hypoglycaemia) leads to insulin depletion (Diabetes).

There are several contributing factors. Heredity automatically makes some individuals more susceptible, and lifestyle factors such as emotional stress, inadequate nutrition and lack of physical activity can often lead to the development of Hypoglycaemia in these people.

Experiencing any three of the following four symptoms may indicate Hypoglycaemia.

1. Depression or moodiness
2. Lethargy or tiredness
3. Memory impairment or poor concentration
4. Sucrophilia or a preference for sweet foods and drink

A four hour glucose tolerance test will determine the true situation. It can be treated very successfully through the adoption of specific dietary measures and through nutritional supplementation.

Most alcoholics, if tested, are found to be Hypoglycaemic. They're usually zinc deficient as well. Alcohol gives them the energy to function, both mentally and physically, in a way they wouldn't be able to without it - unless of course they had had their Hypoglycaemia treated, which most aren't even aware they're suffering from in the first place.

Alcoholism is a proven bio-chemical disease state. It's much more than lack of self control.

http://www.hypoglycemia.asn.au/

Foxy, if it's any consolation, I drank like a sailor as a teenager. I more or less grew out of it.

(Though I must confess that on rare occasions I still drink a little more than is wise, however it's never to the stage of throwing up or impaired coordination, just feeling a little flat the next day).

It was my experiences as a teenager that taught me that drinking to excess usually leads to regrets.
There's a tipping point, where drinking stops being an enjoyable social activity and becomes something negative.
My experiences as a teenager taught me quite a lot about responsibility, regrets and how to help out others in these situations.

There's a certain irony in that my experiences drinking meant that on more than a few occasions I was in a position to be able to persuade others not to drive drunk. (Though on one occasion I had to steal their keys for the night. I'd do it again in a heartbeat).
Had I been a person who avoided alcohol entirely and had little experience in such matters, I doubt the people in question would have taken my advice seriously.

It's entirely possible your nephew will grow out of this and be in a better position to understand others with this problem.