Linda Burlison (A Prescription for Alcoholics) worked in the industry and says that AUD sufferers are actually targeted by marketing.

It all makes perfect sense but when you think of the cost of alcoholism in terms of lives and suffering, it is still sickening to think that the industry works this way. I mean would they withhold a cancer pill that worked so they could still sell their chemo treatments? come to think of it, they probably would.

Of course they would withhold a cancer pill/treatment and have. While not what I'm alluding to just look at cannabis and how effective it is at treating cancer, seizures, etc.

The for-profit medical industry makes money off our being ill. This is only another example.

He writes:

"Let me back up a little. Since NTX reduces the impact of alcohol (which is itself a bit of a mystery, since NTX affects opiate receptor sites in the brain, and alcohol does not have specific receptor sites), it minimizes the effects of alcohol, making it less appealing to alcoholic and other drinkers. So they drink less. And that did happen for NTX recipients in this study. But it also happened exactly as much for those receiving placebos, whichever genotype the alcoholic was".

What a crock! I am not the only one here who got cured and at the same time cocky enough to think we didn't need Nal any longer. -And what happens? Right back to boozing. Then back to Nal and boozing ends. Placebo my ass!

I'll grant every addiction is different and there probably are people who need help beyond TSM, but for us functioning alcoholics, -there is no doubt in my mind of TSM's efficacy.

Just as racial issues will never be solved so long as people make big bucks over exasperating it, -addiction councilors don't at all like the idea of a cheap little bill taking away their rice bowl.

It's your life, not his. Forget him, live yours.

And take your Nal!

I read Mr Peeles book a few years ago. A lot of great ideas, a lot of support of moderation, mindfulness etc.

e.g.

"Let’s look at the word “sobriety.” In the real world, sobriety means not being impaired. In 12-step speak, sobriety means never taking any consciousness-altering substance, ever . This fixation on abstinence requires that people who recover through the 12 steps decide that their lives revolve around an empty space. Not only is that undesirable, it’s unsustainable. You can’t commit your life to nothingness, only to health, your goals and plans, and your belief in yourself." from "Recover!: Stop Thinking Like an Addict and Reclaim Your Life with The PERFECT Program" by Stanton Peele


In other words, the sort of things you wish you would've done when you started drinking or you never would've gotten to the state you found yourself in. There's no room for medication in his view of things, because you're getting better by understanding why you drink, finding alternate activities, and seeing that drinking to excess serves no purpose AT ALL

That made sense to me, and many of his thoughts and ideas are super helpful. Just because he's not a medication fan, does not mean he doesn't have something good to say. Jason Vale and Alan Carr are worth reading too. Unless you get rid of the notion that it's somehow good to be drunk, you're going to want to keep doing it !

There is a great deal of support in the TSM forum for drinking as you usually do, but just don't forget to take that pill one hour before. I believe Sinclair specifically said no behavior modification of any sort was necessary. That's OK, but you're not changing , you're expecting the medication to fix you.

Until my behavior changed, There was little result with TSM.

As it is now, I take no more than 12.5 of NAL , and that's maybe only half the time I drink anything. Doesn't matter, I'm hardly ever drinking, and when I do it's usually with dinner or at a function or whatever. The appeal of getting inebriated has gone completely out the window,

That's not the medication, that's due to indifference. Not losing control, feeling stupid, slurring my words, forgetting the night, living in constant fear of either getting caught drinking, or being drunk , is reward enough. There's a real joy to being clearheaded,

Anyways, I know this dpesn't resonate with what's being said around here. I accomplished all this before even finding this forum

There are strong cautions against ever drinking without NAL. Those I see doing that go right back to their old behavior, with the same result. GUARANTEED ! Really. I've been doing low dose , or no NAL for almost 2 years.

MY 2¢. YMMV.

BTW, his name is spelled "Peele"

I found a few more examples!

Addicted people seek refuge in any powerful, consuming experience that allows them to cope with a life that feels meaningless or out of control—a feeling that is both worsened and relieved by their addiction. The addiction further fills countless hours beyond those eaten up in altered states of consciousness or compulsions. Think of all the mental and emotional energy an addiction wastes: days planned around purchasing and consuming the substance or practicing the activity; fielding negative fallout (like angry co-workers, family members, and friends; mounting bills; health problems); making solemn promises to stop; remorse and guilt. Yet, as painful and self-defeating as these feelings are, their predictability sustains addicts and even lends a bizarre sense of purpose to their lives.

"Addiction is the mindless and relentless chasing of superficial urges and compulsions, a desperate grasping at fleeting satisfaction; mindfulness is its perfect, natural opposite and antidote. In fact, that is exactly what it was meant to achieve. Mindfulness is a respite from craving that you create through the practice of bringing your full awareness into the present moment, rather than allowing yourself to be led mindlessly by force of habit. The usefulness of the Marlatt team’s mindfulness-based approach to relapse prevention illustrates this principle. 4 Mindfulness may be the buzzword du jour , but for combating addiction it is a central, crucial practice."

"It is the AA worldview itself that actually makes your recovery so tenuous by imposing a perpetual state of spiritual dysmorphia"

"There is a great deal of support in the TSM forum for drinking as you usually do, but just don't forget to take that pill one hour before. I believe Sinclair specifically said no behavior modification of any sort was necessary. That's OK, but you're not changing , you're expecting the medication to fix you. "

I think it's safe to say that eliminating excess drinking (or even all drinking) brings a fair bit of change with it. Though it's fair to say that being mindful about drinking while using TSM generally results in a smoother ride, as well as practice in an area that will bring benefits beyond one's journey out of the bottle. The latest news is that the importance of mindfulness is going to be included in the next version of The Cure for Alcoholism. This should be even more helpful if people encounter underlying issues that might have contributed to AUD to one degree or the other, as they would already have something of an elevated awareness of their physical/emotional state and some tools to deal with residual problems as they come up. Though I don't think that mindfulness/awareness is going to replace Nal for our purposes, it certainly seems like a good way to augment it.

Did you see MD's thread here:

viewtopic.php?f=7&t=4760

It is sad to even think of all the people that could be helped by TSM that are being pushed away from it from "the industry leaders". Fort Lauderdale is full of big ass billboards pushing all sorts of cures and treatment centers - and all it takes is a little pill and an hour of your time.

There are all kinds of reasons why people drink so I can only speak for myself. But Peeles argument simply doesn't work for me. I never drank to fulfill some sort of loss in my life or "allows them to cope with a life that feels meaningless or out of control." In fact my life has been really rather normal and almost text book Americana middle class upbringing and adult life. I've always held a job, a house, two cats in the yard and that sort of thing.

I drank because I drank. What that means is that the only reason why I drank is because I drank the day before and as such it created a physical withdrawal that caused both physical and mental suffering unless I drank again. That's pretty much it in a nut shell and it was all driven by the model that Sinclair created and from the very first dose of Naltrexon that drive has been completely squashed.

So in my mind he is 100% wrong to assume that there is no medical treatment for alcoholism and that it is merely a set of psychological disorders, causes, reasons or what ever.

Where I will agree with him is that the addiction is two fold, especially after 25 years of continuously doing it. First it is a physiological phenomenon. Addicts become physiologically addicted to their substance of choice to where if they do not take it they will suffer physical pain and since the mind and body are connected the addict suffers emotional pain as well. And second as a result of many years 'experience' or in accordance to TSM 'learning' the addict develops all kinds of bad habits. For me personally as an alcoholic the bad habit would be feeling like I deserve a drink for getting pay raise, after a nice long bike ride, mowing the lawn, hanging out with friends and so on. That's where the ideas of Peele might be worth while in that one needs to change their behavior to rid themselves of bad habits and excuses to drink. But TSM provides the platform and foundation for which someone can then go on to develop those skills. Without TSM I would continue to drink, because I drank.



That's terrible but not surprising. I think they hit up young people too in order to get the hook in them. Just look at some of those high alcohol disgusting drinks they sell in 24oz cans that look like soda and are really sweet but pack a punch. It's really just bum wine marketed toward college students to go out and have a 'good time.'

I would care about this but I don't. TSM has worked wonders for me, and is the ONLY medication I've ever taken in my life. I was skeptical, but it works. I drank because I wanted to. and wanted to. and wanted to. Nal on!