The Heart of Addiction: A New Approach to Understanding and Managing Alcoholism and Other Addictive Behaviors by Lance M. Dodes M.D

Author:Lance M. Dodes M.D.
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2010-09-13T22:00:00+00:00

ADDICTIVE BEHAVIOR AS A REBELLION AGAINST A PUNITIVE CONSCIENCE

This idea is also in accord with my view of addiction, as may be seen in the following example.

Dr. Michael Durgin was a very competent veterinarian, but it had been a terrible day. Early in the afternoon a woman brought in her badly injured cat, hit by an automobile. He had taken the animal into surgery immediately, and was in the midst of an exploratory operation to check for damaged internal organs when the front door to his clinic rang three times in quick succession. He knew his receptionist would handle it, but he had a sinking feeling that nobody would beat on the doorbell that way unless there was another animal in serious distress. A minute later, the receptionist came into the operating room and told him what he feared. A dog had also been run over. Two emergencies. He rushed to put the little cat back together enough to hold while he went to see the collie. For the next forty-five minutes, he tended to the dog in a futile effort to save it. Then, when he returned to the cat, it was barely alive. He worked on it for an hour, and when he left it in the hands of an assistant to watch, the animal was alive but not doing well.

On his way home, Michael went over the choices he had made again and again. Should he have stayed with the cat, seeing that the collie was too seriously injured? Maybe he was right to try to save the dog, but certainly he should have given up sooner when any fool could see it wasn’t going to make it. But maybe if he hadn’t fussed at the end making sure the cat was stable he could have gotten to the dog more quickly, and saved it.

His thoughts went on and on as he drove home. He was sure he had screwed up. He couldn’t really see how, but a dog was dead, and the blame had to go somewhere.

Michael had suffered with alcoholism for many years, though he had been sober for two years. But on the way home, he went into the liquor store and bought a bottle of vodka. Over the next few hours, he drank half of it.

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