Expert: Joseph Lee O. - 11/11/2007

Question
I understand alocholism/addiction is a disease and that it affects the brain, what I don't understand though is if the brain craves these substances, how does this craving stop? Also,how long does it take for the addict's brain to regenerate and how long before they are capable of independent thought and judgment, because the frontal lobe of the brain affects several areas of daily functioning. Which type of therapy approach works best for the alcoholic/addict?

Answer
Greetings to you, Terry.

You have written:

>> I understand alcoholism/addiction is a disease ...

Some folks do say that, but something like "two-fold malady" is actually more accurate:
)1 a physical "allergy" due to some abnormal body chemistry that makes it impossible to control one's drinking after her or she begins;
2) an emotional/mental obsession that drives him or her to nevertheless take the first drink.
It has only been within the past fifty-or-so years that alcoholism has come to be called a disease so money could change hands during alleged "treatment" - doctors used to admit they could do virtually nothing for the alcoholic - and that change has not been good for the alcoholic.  Where our common human "dis-ease" related to spiritual depravity (and as merely evidenced by the alcoholic's drinking) used to be recognized, acknowledged and addressed, the alcoholic's drinking is now viewed as the actual problem to be "treated".  And of course, that is at least one of the reasons today's AA and "treatment industry" so miserably fail the true alcoholic.

>> I understand alcoholism/addiction ... affects the brain ...

More precisely, and rather than any reason or issue behind one's drinking, it is actually the alcohol that can do damage to a brain.

>> ... what I don't understand though is if the brain craves these substances, how does this craving stop?

The physical craving or "allergic reaction" of one drink taking another is stopped by way of total abstinence ...

"This phenomenon, as we have suggested, may be the manifestation of an allergy which differentiates these people, and sets them apart as a distinct entity.  It has never been, by any treatment with which we are familiar, permanently eradicated.  The only relief we have to suggest is entire abstinence." (Doctor Silkworth, in "Alcoholics Anonymous", the book)

... and the emotional or mental craving for the first drink and followed by the workings of a spiritually-depraved mind is stopped by having one's natural instincts satisfied through right fellowship and worship:

"When I need a mental uplift, I often think of another case brought in by a physician prominent in New York.  The patient had made his own diagnosis, and deciding his situation hopeless, had hidden in a deserted barn determined to die.  He was rescued by a searching party, and, in desperate condition, was brought to me.  Following his physical rehabilitation, he had a talk with me in which he frankly stated he thought the treatment a waste of effort, unless I could assure him, which no one ever had, that in the future he would have the 'will power' to resist the impulse to drink.
"His alcoholic problem was so complex, and his depression so great, that we felt his only hope would be through what we then called 'moral psychology,' and we doubted if even that would have any effect.
"However, he did become 'sold' on the ideas contained in this book ('Alcoholics Anonymous').  He has not had a drink for a great many years.  I see him now and then and he is as fine a specimen of manhood as one could wish to meet.
"I earnestly advise every alcoholic to read this book through, and though perhaps he came to scoff, he may remain to pray." (William D. Silkworth, M.D.)

>> Also, how long does it take for the addict's brain to regenerate ... because the frontal lobe of the brain affects several areas of daily functioning.

Alcohol can ultimately "pickle" a brain, and neither a pickled cucumber nor an severly-alcohol-damaged brain can "regenerate" to its original state.  I have seen people with "wet (pickled) brains", and there is no "coming back" for them.  Like trauma victims, however, certain functions can sometimes be re-gained if the brain of an alcoholic is still able to shift some things around and adjust ... but time is not necessarily the primary factor there.

>> ... how long before they are capable of independent thought and judgment ...

Again, the passing of time would not be the deciding factor there.  Rather, and if the individual still has a working (or at least workable) mind, right thinking and good judgment can follow spiritual reconciliation and transformation.

>> Which type of therapy approach works best for the alcoholic/addict?

From "Alcoholics Anonymous", the book, page 25:

"There is a solution.  Almost none of us liked the self-searching, the leveling of our pride, the confession of shortcomings which the process requires for its successful consummation.  But we saw that it really worked in others, and we had come to believe in the hopelessness and futility of life as we had been living it.  When, therefore, we were approached by those in whom the problem had been solved, there was nothing left for us but to pick up the simple kit of spiritual tools laid at our feet.  We have found much of heaven and we have been rocketed into a fourth dimension of existence of which we had not even dreamed.
"The great fact is just this, and nothing less: That we have had deep and effective spiritual experiences which have revolutionized our whole attitude toward life, toward our fellows and toward G-d's universe.  The central fact of our lives today is the absolute certainty that our Creator has entered into our hearts and lives in a way which is indeed miraculous.  He has commenced to accomplish those things for us which we could never do by ourselves."

Please know you are welcomed to write again,

Joseph Lee O.
Email: leejosepho@hotmail.com