Thanks folks, for such a rewarding read. Powerful stuff.
Many moons ago, an old friend from uni, a recovered alcoholic, a mature-age student who successfully navigated various degrees in Psychology - undergraduate and post-grad. - and did extraordinarily well throughout, talked often about the "disease" model, free-will, and the "abstinence violation effect." His approach was to take possession of the problem, throughout his own recovery and beyond, so he naturally aligned himself with the "free will" way of thinking. The difference, he said was that one hands responsibility to an externality, a higher power, while the other retains control - the onus being on you then to get beyond the problem.
Both can be equally effective. Mario just happened to see himself not as a diseased individual but as one normal person who'd gone off the rails. Life spits out some very challenging adventures sometimes - strategies for dealing with those (mis)adventures will sometimes bring us unstuck. Culture, just as much as genetics, can be seen to influence our behavior, be it good or ill. "Addiction doesn't necessarily mean we're diseased." I happen to agree with him, wholeheartedly. And I like the fact that we can go beyond our addictions by exercising our own free will. This 'free will' deal can be hugely important no matter what you believe, really.
The memory of Mario's struggle, and his education, is now my Jimminy Cricket, who has helped me through some challenging times and continues to ride with me. I don't know where he is today but Mario's genius for psychology, and what he taught me all those years ago, rides like a big chrome hood-ornament above the engine of my conscience and all I need to do is give a little whistle every now and again to bring it all back.
One final thought; Throughout this maize maze of alcohol induced adventuring, addiction has left its mark - indicating at least one way out of the maze. I saw a doco on the history of Whiskey some time ago. (Poteen or Poitín was in the title, I think) And in it, the point was well made, that the most insufferable addicts in this story actually turn out to be our governments. But it's not the grog they're addicted to. It's the excise that flows from it, and everything else, that
they're hooked on - the scallywags.
Edit: This is that Poteen doco's opening, where you'll hear the narrator mention that on Christmas Day, 1661, the Irish began their illicit distillation of whiskey - the British Government introduced an excise on alcohol on that day in 1661 and very soon the tax was introduced into Ireland.
