Why Do Alcoholics Deny Their Problems?

Leading medical authorities such as the WHO (World Health Organization) and the American Medical Association now recognize alcoholism as a disease with definite and predictable symptoms.

Alcoholics Anonymous(AA) defines alcoholism as ‘cunning, baffling, and powerful’.

What makes the disease so baffling is the typical symptom of denial in an alcoholic. Ask an alcoholic if he has a problem with drinking, and he will most often deny, justify, or evade the issue.

Roots of denial

Drinking is an accepted behaviour in society. Unfortunately, in the case of two out of every ten persons who drink, alcohol slowly deviates from a harmless to a devastating activity. The person is then branded as a ‘drunkard’, and a social stigma is attached to him.

Ask an alcoholic if he has a problem with drinking,He will most often deny, justify, or evade the issue.

Though society allows drinking, the victim of alcoholism is stigmatized. He is looked upon as a bad, even evil person and is considered morally and mentally inferior, deserving of punishment and rejection. This sets the denial stage.

As the disease progresses, the alcoholic needs to drink more often, and the quantity of consumption also increases. He hides his bottle and sneaks drinks to protect himself from social stigma. Repeated ‘denial’ by hiding the bottle and drinking alone makes him lonely in his obsession.

Everything and everyone, which was hitherto important in his life, becomes secondary. The alcoholic starts to reject everything he thinks might stop him from drinking.

As his condition worsens, his self-image starts deteriorating. He cannot keep track of his drunken behaviour and loses contact with his emotional self. To survive, his defence systems must continue to grow in the face of increasing problems. The greater the pain, the stronger the defence systems become; this process occurs without conscious knowledge. Finally, he becomes a victim of his defences.

Denial is the self-deception that prevents alcoholics from admitting to themselves orto others the destructive nature of their addiction.

Not only is he unaware of his highly developed defence system, but he is also unaware of the powerful feelings of guilt, shame, and self-hatred buried underneath, sealed off from conscious knowledge but explosively active. Because of this, his judgment is progressively impaired.

These defences compound the problem by locking in the negative feelings that have created a mass of free-floating anxiety, guilt, shame, remorse, and fear that have become chronic over time.

He starts to deny the reality of the problem as a way to protect himself from the negative attitudes of society and the uncomfortable feelings of guilt and low self-esteem he has. It is a rejection of reality within and around the alcoholic.

Denial is the self-deception that keeps alcoholics from admitting to themselves or others how bad their addiction is.

Forms of denial

Denial takes many forms. Ask an alcoholic about his problem, and he will respond with any one or a combination of these defence mechanisms:

• Simple denial (“I don’t have a problem”)
• Blaming and justifying (“I drink because of stress at the office/home”)
• Rationalization and intellectualizing (“everybody drinks, it helps me think”)
• Minimizing (“I drink but it’s not so bad”)
• Diversion (“Tell me about your new car”)
• Hostility (“what right do you have to ask me?”) .and so on.

Some denial mechanisms

“I don’t have a problem.”

“I drink because of stress at the office/home.”

“Everybody drinks, it helps me think.”

“I drink but it’s not so bad.”

“Tell me about your new car.”

“What right do you have to ask me?”

Breaking denial is the beginning of recovery

Professional addiction counsellors at Hope Trust are trained to break these defence systems with the help of factual information gathered to facilitate intervention sessions in which the family also participates.

Treatment centres have well-defined protocols and straightforward strategies to break the denial. The door to recovery is thus opened.

Denial has to be overcome for recovery to begin. Because real, long-term sobriety cannot be based on falsehoods – it has to have a solid foundation of truth.

If you or a loved one is struggling with addiction, click www.hopetrustindia.com for an appointment with an expert.