Alcoholism Support Group

it's said that emotional growth is stopped when one allows the disease to take control. Once the disease is arrested and a program of growth is initiated it is again said that for every month of working your healing program a year of emotional growth is regained.

I think I've dealt with some of this too. I started drinking in my 20's and there are many areas of my life where my thinking is no different then it was back then. In other words, I would have become more mature in many areas of my life, but my drinking stopped me from dealing with these issues - I just put it off.

Drinking was a form of trying to keep that "fun loving party guy" that I thought I was in college. The problem is that a 40ish guy who acts that way is kind of pitiful. We'll probably catch up, but not before we begin facing all of life's issues with sobriety - I think it will take some time.

Be patient.

Some medical comments here:

http://alcoholism.about.com/od/bra...

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/ar...

I cant speak for others, but I know for sure my emotional development stopped when i started drinking. The childish ways I would conduct myself was shameful. I have grown alot in the last several months. I am looking forward to catching up. It has not been easy but things that use to baffel me are now so easy to handle.

It's true that emotional growth comes to a halt when drinking. Because we alcoholics get consistently drunk as to not feel. Or trick ourselves into thinking we are "feeling." Some points of the drunk is to block the pain,discomfort or awkwardness. If we don't acknowledge our feelings (good or bad), we don't grow.

I've heard that even after drinking has stopped, it takes a full year for the brain to heal and function normally or rather to the full capacity as it was before we started drinking heavily. The cool part is all of that can be healed and changed once we stop polluting our Grey Matter! LOL :)

Sorry you are having a not so good day girl.. Peace & Love!

{{{{{piper}}}}}

Piper,
I believe you have identified the essence of a sober life. In sobriety you begin to actually think and feel and grow emotionally. It has been an incredible experience for me and I can look back at my drinking days and realize just how strange and meaningless my life had become.
The gift of living and feeling didn't happen instantly and required committment and willingness on my part, but I am finally becoming a real person. (The Velveteen Rabbit)

Lot of good comments that I agree with. I started drinking in my 20's also and now I'm 36. Emotionally, I'm dealing with things from back then and it's weird to feel those feelings.

I heard the same thing about a year for the brain to recover. Thank goodness that it does recover!

Wow...I didn't know this..when you think about how the alcohol affects the brain as well as the central nervous system though I guess it would make sense.

I'm sure it does. I thinks it affects us in many ways that we are not even aware of. I know that I have struggled a lot with social gatherings because I "just don't know how to act" I can remember making people laugh only to have my wife assure me that they were laughing at me not with me.

emotional growth is stopped once you start drinking alcoholicly