Finding Sobriety Without Religion: Atheist Recovery Coaching

Alcoholism is a disease. In my opinion, it's a widely misunderstood disease, but still a disease. Comedian Mitch Hedberg once joked:

"Alcoholism is a disease, but it's the only disease you can get yelled at for having. Damn it, Otto, you're an alcoholic! Damn it, Otto, you've got Lupus! One of those... doesn't sound right."

I've loved and appreciated that joke for a long time. Some years after I first heard it, Mitch died of alcoholism.

Why is it important to understand that Alcoholism is a disease? Because most alcoholics will experience judgment — from the people who love and care about them the most — judgment that feels like moral condemnation. When people are in the grip of their disease, using alcohol or drugs to excess, it is baffling to their loved ones. Why won't you stop? Can't you see the damage this is causing in your life? You promised you wouldn't do that again! This is exactly why Online Atheist Recovery Coaching in Arizona exists — to provide judgment-free, science-based support for those who are ready to get sober without the pressure of religious belief.

It is true that when we are trying to use chemicals to help ourselves — to self-medicate — we often end up lying, keeping secrets, and breaking promises. And those are immoral acts — the two most fundamental immoral acts are Killing and Lying. (Cheating and Stealing are the other two, but those are just forms of lying). They are the basis for every religion's moral system, and most countries' legal systems.

But dishonesty is not the primary effect of the disease of alcoholism — it's just a side-effect. The primary effect of Alcoholism is Discomfort.

More About Alcoholism

News Flash: Alcoholism has nothing to do with alcohol.

Wait, what? I thought alcoholism is widely understood as a dependency on alcohol!

Yes, that is how it's widely understood. But that's wrong.

Alcoholism is a heritable disease that people are born with. Its primary effect is discomfort. People with Alcoholism report feeling, from an early age, "uncomfortable in their own skin." That when they were young, they felt like "they didn't get the manual" to life — that they were frequently baffled by expectations in social situations. They felt isolated, even when surrounded by people who loved them — or "alone in a crowd." The three most common symptoms of untreated alcoholism are feeling "restless, irritable, and discontented."

If any of this sounds familiar, I'm glad you're here. Many people go their whole lives without being exposed to this description of the disease. It's relatively common in AA — where they say "we came for our drinking, we stayed for our thinking" and "alcohol was but a symptom."

Oh yeah, smart guy? Then why is it called Alcoholism — why is Alcohol right there in the name?

Simple! Because alcohol is the drug that, historically, most alcoholics used to treat their discomfort.

Alcohol has been widely available for millennia. And nowadays, most of us are never further than a few miles from a place that sells booze. Alcohol is omnipresent, and it sure LOOKS like the problem to family members, friends, and co-workers of an active alcoholic.

But It's not the problem. For alcoholics, alcohol and drugs were the SOLUTION to the problem of DISCOMFORT.

The Chemical Solution

Most people with the disease of alcoholism eventually get uncomfortable enough in their own skin that they seek out and find a chemical that reduces their discomfort. For most alcoholics, finding a chemical that brings relief is an almost religious event. Whether it's wine, beer, vodka, Xanax, Percocet, cocaine, meth, heroin or any of the hundreds of readily available options doesn't matter. It's all the same disease.

For the first time, we feel a kind of ease, comfort, and relief that we never knew was possible. For some this happens in adulthood, for some in adolescence, and for others, in childhood.

Getting Sober

I'll go further into the story of what happens next in another post, but suffice it to say that self-prescribed chemicals always fail us eventually. For many, that failure is catastrophic — loss of respect, jobs, family, possessions, etc. — but it doesn't have to get that far. If you already know that you have a problem, I can help. I provide Online Recovery Coaching and expert support for getting sober, and I don't demand that you rely on a supernatural power to do so.

Schedule a a free consultation today!