How Alcoholic People Change: A Different Paradigm
Instead of ‘how do we get someone else to change?’ we ask: ‘why hasn’t he or she changed already?”
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Author: C. Scott McMillin
A (Very New) Beginner’s Guide to the Disease Concept
We’re brought up to view a pattern of problems with alcohol or drugs as the result of a variety of other factors— psychological issues, or lack of willpower, or moral weakness, or some terrible past experience. That makes it difficult for most of us to switch over to the view of addiction as a chronic illness.
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Contracting
You should expect the alcoholic/ addict to test the agreement. It’s only natural. They need to see if you really mean it, or were just blowing smoke. If you stick to your guns, they’ll abandon the challenge.
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Defense: Denial
Repeated problems related to drinking or drug use force even the person in denial to acknowledge something is wrong–eventually.
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Consistency
It’s a much-repeated observation of psychology, that people feel an urge to act in ways that are consistent with their previous actions.
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