From the author: A series of articles is posted on the website of the Antis center. The first thing that interests people when talking about alcohol addiction is how to help a person who has become dependent. In order to effectively help , it is necessary to have an adequate understanding of what alcoholism is - a disease, promiscuity or a bad habit? Usually, if we get sick with something, we try to find out everything about the disease, the degree of its danger, and methods of treatment. For alcoholics, it’s the other way around - they don’t want to know anything about their illness. If alcoholism is a disease, then how is it treated? What is the difference between drunkenness and alcoholism? Why does an addicted person say that he has no problems, although this is completely obvious to everyone around him? Why do addicted people refuse help? Why are they not stopped by the severe consequences of drug use - illness, social losses, or even the instinct of self-preservation? Why do those close to them always control these adults? There are actually a lot of questions, and I will try to answer them in a series of my articles about alcoholism. The illusion with which people addicted to alcohol live and die is that one fine day I myself will stop drinking. And they sincerely believe in this, despite the fact that such attempts have been made repeatedly and have not been successful. Why shouldn’t they think so if parents, wives, all close people say: “Pull yourself together, stop going with the flow, don’t be a wuss, etc.” Most people consider alcoholism to be weak-willed, and therefore they hope that a miracle will happen, and the alcoholic will gather his will into a fist and stop drinking. To be fair, it must be said that any addicted person can stop drinking, but only for a while. Just because you don’t drink for a while does not mean that you are independent or simply healthy. Here we are faced with four main myths that exist in society and, accordingly, in the minds of alcoholics: Myth 1 - in order to solve the problem of alcoholism all I need to do is quit drinking; Myth 2 – I can maintain sobriety with the help of willpower; Myth 3 – when I don’t drink and have no cravings for alcohol, then I am independent or simply healthy; Myth 4 – I can solve the problem of alcoholism myself, without anyone's help. Why is quitting drinking not enough to become a person independent of alcohol? For quite a long time I worked as a psychologist at the Minsk City Narcological Dispensary, and I want to share my experience and observations with readers. One day a patient comes to my appointment and says: “Doctor, help me stop drinking." I asked how long he had been sober. It turned out to be about two weeks, to which I rightly noted that he had already stopped drinking. My statement of this fact caused confusion in the patient. I asked him to voice what was bothering him at this moment in time. He replied that he was doing well now, but was afraid of relapse in the future. To which I suggested that if he is afraid of falling, then apparently at this moment in time he is hanging on something, like on a crossbar, which perhaps causes some sensations and feelings. He spoke of anxiety and tension. I asked how long he could actually hang on the bar. But after a rather long pause, he only asked: “So, am I bound to lose it?” In response, I told him an anecdote about how two friends met: “Let’s have a drink!” “No, I don’t drink.” “So how do you relax?” “And I don’t tense up.” We laughed together. This is where our cooperation began. From this example it is clear that the sober life of an alcoholic looks quite tense. What is the difference between an ordinary healthy person and an alcoholic who does not drink (he “stopped” himself), or “got into trouble”? What are the symptoms of addiction during sober periods of life? When a healthy person is asked how you feel, he talks about what is in his soul: anxious or calm, happy or sad, wary, irritated or peaceful, and so on. Dependent people cannot answer this question. Best case scenario.