Atheist jailed for denying ‘higher power’ in Calif. drug rehab gets $2M

[Warren DeMontague]

67. Also I'd add this, regarding "the only sometime successful mitigation is psychological"

There are two things, and two big hurdles for any alcoholic, as far as I am concerned- one is getting sober, and the other is staying sober.

Related, but not identical- and in some ways very different. The physiological processing issues with alcohol only come into play once the alcohol is introduced into the system- once the alcohol has left the system and the brain chemistry has stabilized, the physiological stuff is not the issue, as long as the alcohol stays out of the person's body. However, with alcoholism, there is generally a psychological component as well- like I said, the addiction itself warps the decision making processes.

The psychological mitigiation- whatever form it may take, and not everyone needs AA or RR or even "a program", but they help some people- comes in as far as staying sober, not getting sober. In fact, with advanced alcoholics, getting sober (i.e. detoxing) is something which can be life-threatening and should be handled in a medical environment, oftentimes with sedation and other medical assistance (hardly 'psychological mitigation'). AA meetings (or other abstinence-based support group/networks) are for helping sober people stay away from that first drink, not for the guy who is in the throes of DTs and seizures.

Of course, once that first drink goes in, the physiological syndrome starts up again. Which is why I think with alcoholics who do have a physiological thing going on, at least, MM type approaches are doomed to fail.

Also, the points here I'm trying to make in this thread have to do with sobriety and getting and staying sober, so MM isn't really relevant, because the point of MM isn't sobriety. If someone isn't interested in sobriety, I would wish them all the luck in the world with something like MM, but it's a different animal.