MetaFilter posts tagged with alcoholism

How I Met My Dead Parents

the man of twists and turns — Sat, 20 Apr 2013 20:43:53 -0800

Going through my parents' stuff didn't make me suddenly miss them, but I became more intrigued by them every day. I wanted to know more and more about them, to solve their mysteries. At the same time, I felt a corresponding, if conflicting, urge to speak, or write, about what many people seemed to think was unspeakable: my ever-present lack of grief. So I decided to combine these seemingly divergent impulses into an Tumblr blog called My Dead Parents, which I kept anonymous both out of respect for my family and because, after years of writing fiction, I wasn't sure if I could handle revealing so much about myself in writing.

Anya Yurchyshyn writes about rediscovering her parents through their letters, after their deaths.

Barbet Schroeder's "Barfly"

Egg Shen — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 17:27:25 -0800

Roger Ebert on the set of Barfly. Cannon Films' Menahem Golan said that Barbet Schroeder threatened to cut off his own finger if he did not receive financing for the film. In Charles Bukowski's novel about the making of the movie, Hollywood, which is dedicated to Schroeder, he has Schroeder saying: It is 80% true but: 1) It was never my intention to cut more than the end of the left little finger. I just did not have the time to go to a lawyer, that is why I had to choose the firm Black & Decker. 2) My plan was to do eventually do a press conference holding the finger and then go to the hospital to try to have it sewn up again.

28 seconds. Living to write about it.

kneecapped — Tue, 21 Aug 2012 17:15:21 -0800

Ex Ontario Attorney General Michael Bryant (previously previously previously) reveals struggle with alcoholism, and his thoughts on cyclist's death in new memoir, 28 Seconds. CBC radio "The Current" interview, and CTV tv interview. Allan Sheppard, the deceased's father, asks people to scrutinize Bryant's story.

It Ain't All Pizzas and Cream

jillithd — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 11:44:15 -0800

'Everyone Has a Name' Project Everyone has a name. And everyone has a story. This photo project is dedicated to promoting dignity and to enlightening society's view of the homeless. A project by Charlie O'Hay.

People sometimes ask how I convince the homeless to let me photograph them. Of course "the homeless" represents a large and diverse group, and some individuals in fact do not allow me to take their portrait. Others allow me to photo their hands or backs, but not their faces. Some have told me they're concerned about outstanding warrants, and I respect that. But even with those few exceptions, I have found street people to be generally receptive to a portrait and a few moments of conversation. Oddly, it's the working stiffs who give me the most trouble.

Charles O'Hay's blog of cynical, wry humor and blunt realities includes poems, stories of his life as a recovering alcoholic, a parent, an atheist and a poet, and happenstance meetings with people on the streets of Philadelphia over the years.

People sometimes ask me, "How do you talk to the homeless?" "With my voice," I say.

Some examples of portraits and short stories: Lemuel David - Imagine living on a cash job, week to week, no savings, and the job disappears. Then the apartment goes with it. Where would you go? Bob - Bob wanted to see his portrait after I'd taken it. "It's been years since anyone's taken my picture," he said. Ian and John - Ian told me to be sure to get his name on this image. I said, "That's the whole point of the project. To put names to the faces of the homeless." Tommy - ... "I killed 57 gooks in Vietnam," ... Joseph - ... I had given Joseph a buck and was about to walk away when he said, "Alcoholic." with a shrug. "Me too," I said, "15 years sober." ... Gail - Gail's 26YO husband was diagnosed 9 months ago with Lymphoma. ... This is Chelsea (NYC) A portion of all profits from Charlie's book of poems, Far From Luck, will be donated to Project H.O.M.E. in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Previous similar projects: Bob Arihood, Lee Jeffries, LA County, Church Under The Bridge, When I Came Home)

Prohibition

VikingSword — Sat, 07 Jul 2012 11:22:58 -0800

Iran confronts its alcohol problem. 'After years of denying the prevalence of illegal alcohol in Iran, officials are addressing the issue, while continuing to treat drinking as a sin and a crime.' 'Recently, two men in a northeastern province were given rare death sentences for drinking, as part of the country's three-strikes law. Each man had been convicted of drinking twice before.' 'More than 200,000 people in Iran are estimated to be involved in bootlegging, and about $800 million is spent annually on smuggling. The country's leading economic newspaper this year quoted border police as saying that the amount of confiscated alcohol had risen 69% in the last year.' 'In Iran, drinking has long been a deeply rooted part of Persian society, from the upper-class elite who hold discreet parties in their Tehran apartments to the blue-collar workers who drink the sometimes toxic homemade brews. The Islamic Revolution in 1979 attempted to squelch the custom, as part of a greater effort to erase the Persian culture in favor of an Islamic one.' 'Today, young people are increasingly turning to alcohol as an escape from their lives, which they feel are boxed in politically, socially and economically.' 'Alcohol's health toll in Iran is worsened because many people can't afford to buy what's smuggled in. A bottle of French wine can go for about $40, whereas a bottle of Iran-made alcohol sells for less than $6. Many rely on what's made in people's basements or gardens in unsanitary conditions. While drinking or making the alcohol, people have suffered from alcohol poisoning, blindness or death. The alcohol content of the homemade liquor is often higher than normal, supplemented with drugs or contaminated.' '"In the absence of other forms of leisure and amusement'", says Shahin, a sociologist, '"drinking alcoholic beverages is a way to vent your disappointment at the country's injustice, lack of jobs and decent life and future, and political disappointment."'

Can't we all just get along?

radwolf76 — Sun, 17 Jun 2012 10:04:41 -0800

Rodney King, victim of a 1991 police brutality incident that became the catalyst for civil unrest and rioting a year later, was found dead by his fiancee at the bottom of his swimming pool. He was 47. In the years since his time in the public eye, King struggled with his addiction to alcohol, running afoul of the law several more times, prompting him to seek help for his alcoholism. In his own words, "What I've learned to do is to arrest my addiction. Arrest it myself, so I don't get arrested." He appeared on Season 2 of Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew, and returned on an episode of Season 3 to address the new group of celebs seeking treatment [auto-playing video, 5:25 minutes]. He also participated in the first season of that show's spin-off, Sober House, one episode featuring him revisting the site of his beating to read a letter of forgiveness intended for the officers involved. Earlier this year, he had published his story in a book titled The Riot Within: My Journey from Rebellion to Redemption.

Erin Go Barf

Renoroc — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 07:20:53 -0800

How NOT to celebrate St. Patrick's Day

Caroline Knapp's "Drinking: A Love Story"

Trurl — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 20:06:53 -0800

Drinking: A Love Story, Chapter Six: Sex - by Caroline Knapp

Yes Dad.

jbickers — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 06:40:01 -0800

“I remember so much of your childhood," he says. "I remember running you around the leaves in the wheelbarrow. Or the time you were so sick we took you to the hospital. I remember walking in the fields.” I nod, because the moment’s not about me. “Yes Dad,” I say. “There were a lot of good times.” No, there weren't. Which is why we both escaped: He into the bottle; I into the nerd.

God told the church to go fuck itself

newrambler — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 06:03:16 -0800

But I kept all of my gay theology books hidden in a box in the top of my closet, and I tore the book covers off in case someone should walk in while I was reading them. Gay man leaves fundamentalism, finds alcoholism, and is rescued by Anglicanism.

Nunavut

thewalrus — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 22:09:17 -0800

The Trials of Nunavut: Has Canada created a northern Haiti? Despite hundreds of millions of dollars a year spent via Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, the Nunavut government, and many other federal agencies, we have the following situation: The rate of violent crime per capita here is seven times what it is in the rest of Canada. The homicide rate is around 1,000 per cent of the Canadian average. And the number of crimes reported to the police have more than doubled in the dozen years since the territory was formed. If it were an independent country, Nunavut's crime statistics would place it in the realm of South Africa or Mexico. Even more than Nunavummiut harming each other, they are hurting themselves: Inuit males aged 15 to 24 have a suicide rate 40 times that of their peers in the rest of Canada, and children are abused at a rate 10 times the national average, even as 50 per cent of social-worker positions stand vacant. Beyond physical violence, on the 12th anniversary of its founding, Nunavut is struggling on all levels just to meet the basic needs of its 33,000 inhabitants. Seven in 10 preschoolers grow up in houses without adequate food. Within Confederation, Nunavut ranks last in virtually every measure – education, general health, substance abuse, employment, income and housing. .... More in the full article.

"Everyone is going to keep drinking, it's probably going to kill them, and no one's going to talk them out of it"

Burhanistan — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 11:28:15 -0800

The men at this St. Paul 'wet house' don't want your help, or your hope. And they won't get better. It's a place where the most hopeless of alcoholics can drink away their final days at less risk and cost to the public. [via] Conversely: How some homeless alcoholics are drinking their way to good health More on wet houses: A proposal for San Francisco. Short clip (NSFW language) from the 2002 documentary "The Wet House"

#72

zarq — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 09:48:57 -0800

How 'The Fridge' lost his way. A profile of William 'The Refrigerator' Perry.

Original manuscript of AA's "Big Book" to be made public

Joe Beese — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 13:53:41 -0800

For millions of addicts around the world, Alcoholics Anonymous's basic text - informally known as the Big Book - is the Bible. And as they're about to find out, the Bible was edited. After being hidden away for nearly 70 years and then auctioned twice, the original manuscript by AA co-founder Bill Wilson is about to become public for the first time next week, complete with edits by Wilson-picked commenters that reveal a profound debate in 1939 about how overtly to talk about God.

We Are Going to Know a New Freedom and a New Happiness

netbros — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 15:58:21 -0800

Secret of AA: After 75 Years, We Don’t Know How It Works. "There is evidence that a big part of AA’s effectiveness may have nothing to do with the actual (12) steps. It may derive from something more fundamental: the power of the group. The importance of this is reflected by the fact that the more deeply AA members commit to the group, rather than just the program, the better they fare." "As dependence grows, alcoholics also lose the ability to properly regulate their behavior. This regulation is the responsibility of the prefrontal cortex, which is charged with keeping the rest of the brain apprised of the consequences of harmful actions. But mind-altering substances slowly rob the cortex of so-called synaptic plasticity, which makes it harder for neurons to communicate with one another. When this happens, alcoholics become less likely to stop drinking, since their prefrontal cortex cannot effectively warn of the dangers of bad habits. This is why even though some people may be fully cognizant of the problems that result from drinking, they don’t do anything to avoid them. “They’ll say, ‘Oh, my family is falling apart, I’ve been arrested twice,’” says Peter Kalivas, a neuroscientist at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. “They can list all of these negative consequences, but they can’t take that information and manhandle their habits.” The loss of synaptic plasticity is thought to be a major reason why more than 90 percent of recovering alcoholics relapse at some point. The newly sober are constantly bombarded with sensory cues that their brain associates with their pleasurable habit. Because the synapses in their prefrontal cortex are still damaged, they have a tough time resisting the urges created by these triggers. Any small reminder of their former life—the scent of stale beer, the clink of toasting glasses—is enough to knock them off the wagon." In Alcoholism: The Frontal Cortex, Jonah Lehrer discusses one of the most important changes that occurs in addicts having to do with how they process "prediction error" signals. "AA, it seems, helps neutralize the power of these sensory cues by whipping the prefrontal cortex back into shape. Publicly revealing one’s deepest flaws and hearing others do likewise forces a person to confront the terrible consequences of their alcoholism—something that is very difficult to do all alone. This, in turn, prods the impaired prefrontal cortex into resuming its regulatory mission. While it’s (the brain) on the mend, AA functions as a temporary replacement—a prefrontal cortex made up of a cast of fellow drunks in a church basement, rather than neurons and synapses."

The Legend of Black Superman

reenum — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 14:58:54 -0800

Billy Ray Bates, in his words, was "an average player who can do fantastic things. After flaming out in the NBA, he became a legend in Phillippine Basketball Association. After battling his demons for many years, Billy Ray hit rock bottom in 1998, when he robbed a New Jersey Texaco at knifepoint.

Help the homeless, go to jail!

empty vessel — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 11:36:34 -0800

Dan du Vaul turned his family ranch into a homeless shelter and started making a difference. For this he ran afoul of the county and ended up in jail. Additional video here.

Is cannabis the answer to developed countries problems with alcoholism?

VikingSword — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 11:05:50 -0800

Substituting cannabis in place of more harmful drugs may be a winning strategy in the fight against substance misuse. Research published in BioMed Central' open access Harm Reduction Journal features a poll of 350 cannabis users, finding that 40% used cannabis to control their alcohol cravings, 66% as a replacement for prescription drugs and 26% for other, more potent, illegal drugs. "Substituting cannabis for alcohol has been described as a radical alcohol treatment protocol. This approach could be used to address heavy alcohol use in the British Isles -- people might substitute cannabis, a potentially safer drug than alcohol with less negative side-effects, if it were socially acceptable and available." "The economic hardship of The Great Depression helped bring about the end of alcohol prohibition. Now, as we are again faced with economic struggles, the US is looking to marijuana as a potential revenue generator. Public support is rising for the legalization of recreational use and remains high for the use of marijuana as a medicine." Would it work? The research has been ongoing, but as yet not everybody is convinced.

Hitting bottom

Kattullus — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 11:33:54 -0800

On 200 mg a day of baclofen, in an important meeting with several associate deans of my college and three new department chairs (I was made chair of my philosophy department just a few weeks before I tried to commit suicide), I fell asleep with my head on the conference room table and, for 40 minutes, everyone was too embarrassed to wake me. Somnolence is the most obvious and inconvenient side effect of baclofen. I reduced my dosage to 100 mg a day, and started taking it only at bedtime. A few days later, a colleague asked if I had changed my medicine. ‘Yes,’ I told her. ‘Why do you ask?’ She is German, an analytic philosopher, and therefore very direct: ‘You are drooling less than you were.’

My Life as a Drunk is a searingly honest essay by novelist and philosophy professor Clancy Martin about his experiences with alcoholism, AA, valium and baclofen.

The arena of the unwell

fearfulsymmetry — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 03:43:55 -0800

Novelist Chris Paling diary of his time spent on 'Beirut', a high-intensity hospital ward for the treatment of digestive diseases - where a third of patients are there due to the effects of long term alcoholism.

The unfortunate burden of genius

deusdiabolus — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 16:36:15 -0800

Medical studies have indicated that high intelligence is often synonymous with the likelihood of alcoholism and suicidal tendencies. Animal studies have suggested that being smarter can actually be bad for animals...and it's not always an advantage for humans either. There should be a point here, but I'm a little fuzzy on what it is.

Goodbye to the 12-Steps?

Azaadistani — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 13:06:42 -0800

French Doctor Finds Cure for Alcoholism in a Pill, Causing a Stir. Having himself suffered from dipsomania, Dr. Olivier Ameisen, claims in his book, Le Dernier Verre (The Last Glass), that the muscle relaxant bacloflen suppressed his craving for alcohol, curing his alcoholism. A top cardiologist in France, and doctor to a former French PM, Ameisen has called for clinical trials to verify his bold claim, while causing some in the field to accuse him of irresponsibility for suggesting alcoholism can be cured by a pill, although other pills are in the works.

Coming Home

hadjiboy — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 06:57:28 -0800

Homeless people are just too lazy to work, aren't they? Besides, they panhandle to get by, so what's the big deal? What does it mean to be homeless [previously] anyway? How do people find themselves in these sorts of situations, and why can't they get out of them? How do they feel about it? And are there any alternatives that we can supply them with?

Animal Planet investigates alcoholism in monkeys

finite — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 16:32:42 -0800

"Significantly, the percentage of monkeys and humans who avoid alcohol is the same." [YouTube]

Good Luck.

Cyrano — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 10:57:26 -0800

Craig Ferguson of The Late Late Show gives Britney Spears some advice. (12:30m YouTube. It's a monologue. And it's not really about Britney all that much.)