Tonight’s late night meeting in Weho was full of drama.  It’s a regular meeting of mine, and I enjoy it.  It’s a mixed gay-straight crowd and interesting people.  Today I met a software guy — like me!

I was assigned to read from Chapter 3: More about Alcoholism.  I love this chapter, because it says how the alcoholic is constitutionally different from normal people, and the belief that they are the same is delusional.  Of course I announce my name and that I am not an alcoholic or addict, and then proceed to read it with gusto.  “The delusion that we are like other people, or presently may be, has to be smashed.”  Of course this is pure brainwashing.  We are all the same.  Why do some people drink to excess?  Mostly due to a combination of anger and loneliness for men, and attention-seeking and loneliness for women.  This is just my hypothesis, but I think it’s worth a scientific study.  Here’s a start:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20409438

“Findings revealed substantially elevated levels of anger compared with the general population (98th percentile).”

WOW.  That’s angry.  No wonder they drink.  The study also says that AA is an effective treatment, but they don’t actually show any data to support this.  Pseudo science.

Anyway.  At the break the woman sitting next to me commented that I wasn’t an alcoholic, and was visibly disturbed by that.  I said true, but I am interested in studying alcoholism.  She said all I needed to know what in the first 160 pages of the Big Book.  I replied that the Big Book was outdated, and many of the stories in there aren’t true or relevant.  She said that she knows a researcher in Orange County who has demonstrated addiction in the brain.  She said that the Big Book has helped millions of people.  I said that the Big Book has created millions of alcoholics.  She said I should leave.  I said she should leave.  She left for the break, and when she came back, did not return to the seat next to me.  🙁

One guy at the meeting shared that he just got out of the hospital for 3 days of diabetes treatment.  About 5 years ago his wife and child were raped and killed.  He started drinking and he has been in and out of rehab since then.  AA is the only thing that worked for him and he is very grateful for it.

After the meeting he introduced himself.  I said I was very sorry to hear about his misfortune.  He said that before all this happened, he was a worker at a drug rehab center.  Now he is unemployed.  He also asked if he could crash on my couch for the night because he has a job interview tomorrow.   I declined.  I doubt the veracity of his story, and I hope it didn’t happen, but either way I did not feel comfortable at all letting him stay at my place.  Maybe one day we’ll learn the truth.  If anyone out there knows this guy, please feel free to post any non-identifying details.