Greetings Everyone, Welcome to the podcast “Close to the Bone.” I’m Carl Vreeland.

This is episode #58, it’s called, “Dry Drunk.”

One way to describe the term “dry drunk” is untreated alcoholism. This means that even though a person puts down the drink, they still think, feel, and behave like an alcoholic. Now this doesn’t mean a person who is abstinent acts like a drunk, that they wobble and slur. No, it means they act like an alcoholic, in that they still say and do stupid things, that they still get inappropriately angry, and that they continue to quench their selfish desires without a concern of consequence, to name just a few common traits. That is to say, that even though they are no longer drinking, they continue to suffer from alcohol-ism. Unless of course they treat their alcoholism. Now what does this mean? What is alcoholism? Well, Alcoholics Anonymous, the authority on alcoholism, in my view, describe the symptoms of alcoholism, or untreated alcoholism, as such:

1) We were having trouble with personal relationships.

2) We couldn’t control our emotional natures.

3) We were a prey to misery and depression.

4) We couldn’t make a living.

5) We had a feeling of uselessness.

6) We were full of fear.

7) We were unhappy.

8) We couldn’t seem to be of real help to other people.1)

These symptoms are sometimes referred to as the eight bedevilments. Now this doesn’t mean one has to experience all eight symptoms to be an alcoholic. Although they usually do at one time or another. Looking at this list, number four in particular stands out: “We couldn’t make a living.” This is often used as a way to deny the problem. “How can I be an alcoholic? I have a secure job I get to everyday. I make good money. I provide for my family. Does that sound like an alcoholic?” I hear this all the time in the rooms of recovery, and I used to say it myself. See, the problem is most of us have an image of an alcoholic as a bum on the street, brown-bagging a bottle of wine, dirty, smelly, homeless. Although that image may be accurate, it is only one image. Many alcoholics (and drug users for that matter) hold high positions on Wall Street, they’re CEO’s in thriving corporations, they have their own businesses, and they are homemakers as well, for example. Yes, anyone can be an alcoholic.

All said, sooner or later, the situation will likely change. We may not get fired, but our lives will become unmanageable. Excessive drinking and drug use is not sustainable. Our physical