tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-194600066391868656.post5694903012306307968..comments2024-02-01T06:35:18.039-08:00Comments on Emotions for Engineers: Addictions - Alcoholism, Sex AddictionTony Khttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11688318289784215712noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-194600066391868656.post-89832463031978221142011-08-08T08:20:56.991-07:002011-08-08T08:20:56.991-07:00Thanks very much for sharing your story.Thanks very much for sharing your story.Tony Khttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11688318289784215712noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-194600066391868656.post-5647223636569795662011-07-24T10:41:14.132-07:002011-07-24T10:41:14.132-07:00As a recovering alcoholic with over 24 years of co...As a recovering alcoholic with over 24 years of continuous sobriety, the only place I've heard of a good definition of compulsion, is in AA. I was a daily blackout drinker who also boosted by addiction with benzodiazepines, stimulants, and pain killers. The one thing I will never forget is the feeling I got 5 to 10 minutes of taking my first drink of the day. It was if a toggle switch in my brain had been flipped. All my resolve; fear of consequences; memory of consequences; or any other consideration was instantly replace by one thought- drink more.<br /><br />I've yet to read of a mechanism that explains that phenomena.<br /><br />I can also attest to my delusional thinking. I wasn't just in denial. Denial implies some awareness and acknowledgement of reality. I had carefully crafted my own separate reality that allowed me to justify my actions. In fact, every time I studied Goodman and Gillman's "The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics", the basic text of pharmacists (which I was), I always mentally inserted the clause "except for me" after many of the side effects.<br /><br />AA gently introduced me into reality and gave me the gift of self-awareness and albeit slowly, the ability to recognize reality.<br /><br />Curiously, the biggest tool I received in my road to recovery was not, from AA, but from my Chemical Engineering professor. He gave me a tool called "critical analysis" and that has allowed me to question all my assumptions in any situation and allows me to ask myself "what do I know?" versus "what do I think I know?"Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com