[BostonCard]

I had a friend, probably the best producer ever at 60 Minutes, who ultimately died from acute acholol poisoning. Had a great family, mucho respect from colleagues, a fabulous track record and a very close friendship with a few of us. Serious worker and fun to be with. Off the charts smart. Was a friendly drunk but had a dark side that repulsed numerous rehabs. To this day I can’t comprehend how he threw it all away, especially with a couple of friends and a spouse who stood behind him all the way through his disease and who tried to sponsor his rehabs from near and afar.

Sometimes I guess, there is no answer.

As part of my medical school training, during my psychiatry rotation, I sat in on an AA meeting.  The recovering alcoholic described how he had relapsed.  He had been sober something like six years, and one day was at a party.  He didn't even have a real drink; he had asked for a non-alcoholic beer.  But even "non-alcoholic" beers have somewhere between 0.1% and 0.5% alcohol by volume (a typical beer is 10-fold higher).  Anyways, he kind of really liked the non-alcoholic beer, so he asked for another, and then another, and then he asked for "the real thing".  That in turn led him to waking up in a ditch 6 months later, before finally hitting rock bottom again and (re)-entering AA.

The story really enabled me to understand that alcoholics' brains really are wired differently, and that while you and I might have trouble understanding how someone with so much could throw it all away, the truth is that for an alcoholic in the midst of addiction, that no amount of cost in terms of career, family, friends, etc, is enough to overcome the power of alcohol.  It is very sad.

BC

[BostonCard]

I had a friend, probably the best producer ever at 60 Minutes, who ultimately died from acute acholol poisoning. Had a great family, mucho respect from colleagues, a fabulous track record and a very close friendship with a few of us. Serious worker and fun to be with. Off the charts smart. Was a friendly drunk but had a dark side that repulsed numerous rehabs. To this day I can’t comprehend how he threw it all away, especially with a couple of friends and a spouse who stood behind him all the way through his disease and who tried to sponsor his rehabs from near and afar.

Sometimes I guess, there is no answer.

As part of my medical school training, during my psychiatry rotation, I sat in on an AA meeting.  The recovering alcoholic described how he had relapsed.  He had been sober something like six years, and one day was at a party.  He didn't even have a real drink; he had asked for a non-alcoholic beer.  But even "non-alcoholic" beers have somewhere between 0.1% and 0.5% alcohol by volume (a typical beer is 10-fold higher).  Anyways, he kind of really liked the non-alcoholic beer, so he asked for another, and then another, and then he asked for "the real thing".  That in turn led him to waking up in a ditch 6 months later, before finally hitting rock bottom again and (re)-entering AA.

The story really enabled me to understand that alcoholics' brains really are wired differently, and that while you and I might have trouble understanding how someone with so much could throw it all away, the truth is that for an alcoholic in the midst of addiction, that no amount of cost in terms of career, family, friends, etc, is enough to overcome the power of alcohol.  It is very sad.

BC