Alcoholism
Alcoholism, unfortunately can maintain a vicious and tenacious grip on the inflicted person. Sometimes, people with elderly problems might turn to a recovery program only after twenty or thirty years of addiction; others make an effort to seek an earlier solution and might be in the worst stages of their alcoholism for only a couple of years before addressing the problem.
People with elderly problems that aggravate their alcoholism are more likely to be long term alcohol dependants. Over many years of addiction, it is certain that some ugly character traits will have been developed by the alcoholic. When a person is in the grasp of addiction, their natural sense of right and wrong is blunted and sometimes completely obliterated in the pursuit of the bottle. In order to make permanent changes, the recovery process is necessarily lengthy and must allow those changes to establish a new routine in a life that has been ravaged by addiction.
Through self analysis it is possible that the recovering addict will be able to view his or her life more clearly, rather like peering through a magnifying glass and seeing one’s faults in a clear and illuminating way rather than being defensive and trying to deny the faults exist; a classic attitude adopted by addicts who are unable to admit their addiction along with all their other character flaws. Addicts with elderly problems might also view their addiction as somehow more ‘forgiveable’ than anyone else’s, due to their age. This, of course, is not so and in the process of reviewing their faults the alcoholic will discover their own culpability and hold their hands up in terms of blame and their responsibility for long term rehabilitation.
Faults might be small or large. What is important is that the alcoholic has begun to recognize his or her shortcomings and is prepared to correct them during a program of reform. Owning up to shameful past behavior is part of the process of reform and one which is both painful and embarrassing. An alcoholic is by nature susceptible to self pity, so admitting to personal faults comes hard to someone who has habitually blamed everyone else for their problems. It is a habit that is hard to break and even entering stage nine, the recovering addict might still need to address deep rooted tendencies to blame others for the situation in which they find themselves.
In the process of admitting responsibility and taking their own faults on board with a healthy resolve to change, a recovering alcoholic begins to provide inspiration to other sufferers of alcohol dependency and in turn gain an insight into their own problems and their own inclination to lay the cause of their dependency at someone else’s door. As with other life problems, alcoholism and its related symptoms might sometimes be more easily recognizable in others.
Elderly problems, both physical and emotional, might make alcohol dependency recovery more protracted but need not necessarily de-rail the addict’s efforts to review their faults and admit the need for permanent change.
Alcohol Recovery Stage Nine: Reviewing our Faults and Being Receptive to Admitting Them is part of Boomer Yearbook’s continuing series of baby boomers psychological coaching tips and how to alleviate elderly problems. We believe knowledge is power. We’d love to hear what you think.
Alcohol Recovery
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