It is, I believe, desirable to warn the alcoholic of certain pitfalls. While we cannot say that such a caution is synonymous with prevention, nevertheless knowledge of motives and reactions is certainly of great help in the science of controlling the emotions.

These ideas, which might be called a mental defensive preparation, are not necessarily linked together except as they apply to the central theme, nor are they set forth in order of importance.

It would hardly seem necessary to devote space to the discussion of "systematic drinking" at this late period in the book if, an attempt to utilize the treatment as a means of drinking moderately had not actually been put in practice by an unusually intelligent and sincere patient.

At the time, to be sure, his reasoning was unconscious, and so there was no reversal of policy toward drinking as an accepted way of life, but when the smoke of a temporary explosion had cleared away, it would seem that the philosophy evolved was as follows: "I have learned how to stop drinking and am happy without it. Two or three times a year, however, I should like to drink moderately during the evening. I am so satisfied without liquor and have such a good system for directing and controlling emotional thinking that I am sure I shall be able to restrict my indulgence to the amount stated."

This was a beautiful theory, and those who are not aware of the insidious power that alcohol has over certain organisms might be disposed to find it logical.

The trouble with this "reasoning" was that the results were very different from those intended, for the patient frankly and voluntarily admitted that after a six months' trial it was a complete failure and that his drinking was more of a fiasco than it had ever been before.

The alcoholic cannot make plans and set limitations for the use of alcohol, for once he has taken a drink he ceases to be himself in a much deeper meaning of the phrase than would be applicable to the average man under the influence of liquor.

To be sure, this does not always show at the beginning of a "party," In fact, it is perfectly possible that on occasions the alcoholic may take his normal drinking friend home and put him to bed.

But the behavior on succeeding days proves the truth of the statement that alcohol for inebriates acts as a mental-nerve poison in a manner that it does not for the normal drinker, regardless of the comparative condition of the two in the early stages of what is to be an evening's dissipation for one and a debauch for the other.

As has been mentioned before, alcoholism is a disease of immaturity, regardless of the actual age of the individual suffering from it.

The drunkard is not only a child, but a spoiled child. He has far too keen a sensibility for likes and dislikes, chiefly the latter.

By trying to avoid everything unpleasant and make what he can not avoid artificially enjoyable, he reaches a state wherein he likes nothing when sober. He must be reeducated in a manner that will show him that, while a diversity of interests is desirable, it is not necessary to like everything, nor is it possible to escape entirely from unpleasant duties.

Many of these tasks could perfectly well be done automatically -- that is, without endowing them with any emotional consideration whatsoever.

They are not important enough to either like or dislike.

As far as the pleasures go, if an ex-alcoholic finds under a sober regime that he dislikes certain things that he enjoyed while drinking, he need not be surprised, but may feel certain that these same things have no genuine interest for him or it would not be necessary for him to whip up an agreeable reaction to them with alcohol.

For instance, if, at the age of thirty-five or forty, he finds that he does not like dances when sober, all well and good. Dances are not a criterion of intelligence or necessary as a diversion, and he does not have to attend them.

If he objects that staying at home leaves him "out of things," reflection, when he regains his sense of relativity, should show him that he is not "out of" very much, and that a mind functioning soberly over a sufficient period will unquestionably provide a substitute which will make life more interesting and vital for him than formal social activity.

Naturally "the more means people have of amusing themselves" the better -- and this most certainly includes a social life!

But where pleasure cannot be enjoyed unstimulated, and for its own sake, it may be eliminated without self pity or disparagement.

It is most important that a person who is conscientiously endeavoring to reorganize his morale should understand that 100 per cent results are not necessarily expected.

Lapses are bound to occur, but these are seldom serious if immediately checked. (When I say "lapses," 1 do not refer to actually taking a drink, but rather to a careless, lazy form of behavior.)

The worst that can be said of the great majority of such slips is that they tend to create a precedent for future conduct. A whole day or even a week may be wasted because of such an idea as this; "I have made a bad beginning, this morning, so I might just as well wait until tomorrow to turn over a new leaf."

We all know people who are always waiting for New Year's Day or the first of the month to make a fresh start. They have good intentions, but they never accomplish their purpose.

If a slip is checked instantly, however, and a vigorous attitude intervenes the minute the error is recognized, no harm has been done. If a laissez faire policy is adopted for the rest of the day actual drunkenness may result before nightfall.

Of course, this theory of the harmlessness of a lapse in conduct must not be used as the basis for deliberately creating mistakes, or a very different light would be shed on the picture.

The initial mistake is inconsequential only if it is immediately checked and when it has not been premeditated. For an individual to feel that he could err in small ways whenever he happened to feel like it would be flying in the face of common sense but such twisted ratiocinations are not uncommon to the most intelligent and sincere.

Victories over temptations lead of course to ultimate success, but they must be watched carefully or they may be turned into temporary defeats of a most unexpected, discouraging, and bewildering nature.

One man, attending a class reunion, apparently enjoyed the first two days completely sober. He was delighted to find that he did not want to drink, and, in fact, was having "a damn good time without it."

Toward the end of the third day, he suddenly and for no good reason, as he thought, became hopelessly drunk. Another man went through an entire New Year's celebration without a drop, only to find himself getting drunk alone on the second of January when all his friends had finished their carousing.

Both of these men were very much upset and amazed at their behavior, though they had heard of others who had done the same thing.

The causes of this apparent strange reversal of conduct are in reality not so obscure and peculiar as they seem at first glance. In the first place "these individuals" whose new habits were by no means crystallized, were undergoing a great deal of concentrated alcoholic suggestion, and they used little constructive reasoning to counteract its effect.

In the second place "they were putting up much more resistance of the tense, repressive type than they had any idea of. After the victorious fight was over, they completely dropped their guard; but their opponent was still on his Feet" and before they knew it they themselves were taking the count.

An alcoholic who has won a victory may congratulate himself all he wants to but let his success make him particularly careful of his subsequent behavior.

Liquor is always obtainable, and if a man really wants to drink he does not care a hoot whether it is New Year's or any other day.

Because of the power of suggestion a person should not expose himself to too strong and lengthy temptations during the first six months or so of his treatment.

Some people retire from social activity completely but this is not recommended unless it is proved necessary since there is a happy medium between complete retreat and overexposure.

If the individual in process of ridding himself of drinking attends wet parties, he must give himself plenty of positive suggestion before, during, and afterwards, lest what he has seen, heard, and smelt shall cause him to reverse his conduct when such an "excuse" for drinking as there might have been in the beginning has passed away.

In addition to negative suggestion and fatigue, overconfidence can also enter into the situation in a destructive manner. A cured alcoholic may well take satisfaction in his "achievement" but he cannot afford to become "cocky"" about his temperance until it is a settled question of many years' standing.

As a matter of fact, at that time he will not bother to become "cocky" about it. When he thinks of his drinking career he will merely wonder how he could have been such a fool.

He will be glad that he gave it up before it was too late, and he will expend his pride on those things that he achieved as a result of his sobriety.

It is important to add that these preparations can be carried to such an extreme that the occasion itself receives the concentration of attention rather than the preparation. Imaginary dragons should not be created for the purpose of slaying them, for they may possibly slay their creator.

If parties cannot be approached with confidence, with such a statement as "Of course I shall not be such a fool as to drink" being said and meant, then the inebriate must stay away from them until he has trained his mind sufficiently so that he can say it with conviction.

When a man feels that he cannot spend a few hours in sobriety with others who are drinking, he has lost all sense of proportion.

He may have to attend a large dinner now and then for business reasons. If it proves to be a rather wet occasion what of it?

What are two or three hours out of a lifetime? At worst he will be bored, but that is nothing to unbalance a properly adjusted comprehension of reality, If he drinks he is a fool, but if he remains sober he is neither a bum nor a Martyr, but just an ordinary mortal using the most elemental common sense.

It is much easier, having recognized thoroughly the situation, to react to it as a fleeting fraction of a lifetime, unimportant so long as it is passed in sobriety than it is to conceive of it as a battleground upon which an exhausting combat is to be waged.

Excessive drinking is so generally thought of in terms of wickedness or weakness that its most salient characteristic is completely ignored.

This is its supreme stupidity. For a man deliberately to seek pleasure by methods which he knows are going to bring only suffering is such a farcical performance that the drinker himself (for drinkers have an unusually good sense of humor) would be the first to hold his sides laughing if he saw a parallel waste of energy on the part of anyone else outside of the field of alcohol.

Just as all normal boys are anxious not to be considered incompetent in athletics, so to be thought stupid is the last thing that a full-grown man with any pretense to normality wishes.

This is one of the chief contributions to the inferiority complex which is such a marked characteristic of excessive drinkers. In their hearts they cannot hide from themselves their own crass stupidity.

Even in prisons drunkards are held in low repute by criminals because they are where they are as a result of an inferior intelligence rather than a distorted moral point of view. The others have at least a certain misguided skill and courage.