PSYCHOLOGY OF ALCOHOLISM—PAGE 1 The Psychology of Alcoholism PSYCHOLOGY OF ALCOHOLISM—PAGE 2 Hindsfoot Foundation Series on Alcoholics Anonymous History PSYCHOLOGY OF ALCOHOLISM—PAGE 3 The Psychology of Alcoholism William E. Swegan with Glenn F. Chesnut, Ph.D. PSYCHOLOGY OF ALCOHOLISM—PAGE 4 The Psychology of Alcoholism Copyright © 2010 Mary Elizabeth Swegan and Glenn F. Chesnut Originally published © 2003 as On the Military Firing Line in the Alcoholism Treatment Program by Sgt. Bill S. with Glenn F. Chesnut PSYCHOLOGY OF ALCOHOLISM—PAGE 5 Dedication This book is dedicated to my friends who were either killed or wounded on 7 December 1941, in the attack on Pearl Harbor and Hickam Army Air Base. As one of the first people subjected to the horrors of that war, the loss of my comrades and fellow airmen was devastating. The destruction wrought during the first three hours of the attack at the air base defied description. Many of the casualties were very close friends of mine, for we were a much closer unit during those years, and very few members of the Army Air Corps were teetotalers. Five of us in particular drank together constantly at the NCO Club and a local beer garden which we had dubbed “the Snake Ranch.” The other four were all killed that day, and I, the only survivor, was left with an indelible impression of the horrors of war. Because of the security measures which were immediately clamped down, my own family did not know whether I had lived or died for several days afterward. Although many Americans are unaware of this, the casualty rate that day among the Air Corps personnel at Hickam exceeded even that among the Navy people at Pearl Harbor next door to us. In addition to the dead, two hundred and eighty-two individuals who survived re- ceived either Purple Hearts or Silver Stars. No one who was not there that morning could ever imagine what we felt when we heard the sound of the airplane engines overhead and heard the thump of the exploding bombs, and realized instantly that one of the deadli- est wars our country would ever be involved in had just broken out over our heads. So this book is dedicated to the memory of my buddies: those grievously wounded, and those who did not make it. I will never forget you. PSYCHOLOGY OF ALCOHOLISM—PAGE 6 DISCLAIMER The following interpretations of the A.A. program and its therapeutic benefits do not represent the official position of Alcoholics Anonymous. They are the opinions of the authors and in no way are meant to infer or imply that they have been endorsed by or empowered to represent Alco- holics Anonymous as such. We also make brief mention of problems with drug addiction in a few places in this book: Narcotics Anonymous is a program of recovery with principles and activities which are patterned closely after A.A., but we wish to stress that it is a separate program which is in no way organizationally linked to Alcoholics Anonymous. The A.A. principle of “singleness of purpose” requires their groups to confine their discussions and suggestions to alcohol problems alone. — Bill S. and Glenn C. A SPECIAL NOTE OF THANKS I am deeply indebted to Glenn Chesnut, the co-author of this book, for his dedication and writing skill, and insisted on including this note of thanks. Those who have reviewed this volume prior to publication in- clude both professional and lay people who have a profound knowledge of the problem of alcoholism and the workings of Alcoholics Anony- mous. Their response has been overwhelming, both in their endorsement of the contents and their compliments on the skills which he contributed to the clarity and strength of their presentation. I am most grateful to you, Glenn, for your interest, your dedication, and your ability to turn ideas and feelings into words that communicate with the heart. Thank you for your humble and skillful devotion, which turned the publication of this book into a reality. — Bill S. PSYCHOLOGY OF ALCOHOLISM—PAGE 7 Table of Contents 1. Introduction 2. Childhood in Niles, Ohio 3. From Lindbergh to the Depression Years 4. High School Years 5. Discovering Alcohol 6. Joining the Army Air Corps 7. The Attack on Pearl Harbor 8. Sabotaging Every Success 9. First Tragic Marriage 10. My First Encounter with A.A. 11. The Blonde in the Merry Circle 12. Getting Sober: July 5, 1948 13. The Road to Maturity 14. Beginning the First Military Alcoholism Treatment Program 15. The Effects of Alcohol on Our Emotional Development 16. Kent State University and Sister Ignatia 17. Lackland: the Fully Developed Treatment Program 18. Recovery through the Twelve Steps 19. Another Generation and Another War 20. The Silver Dollar Afterword Notes About the Authors PSYCHOLOGY OF ALCOHOLISM—PAGE 8 CHAPTER 1 Introduction Veterans Hospitals did not take alcoholics: 1945 I would like to begin this book by telling two stories about things that happened to me during the 1940’s. The first story took place during the latter part of 1945. I had been discharged from the Ar- my Air Force in August. During my period in the service, I had somehow lived through the bullets fired by the airplanes which were strafing Hickam Army Air Base in Hawaii on December 7, 1941, as part of the Pearl Harbor attack, and then had sweated in the jungles of New Guinea and the equatorial island of Biak as part of the war against Japan. I had contracted dengue fever, from which I had recovered, but also malaria, from which I was still suf- fering. I was also drinking uncontrollably, and had quickly lost my first civilian job after my discharge because I kept showing up for work drunk. The Second World War was over, and I had somehow escaped death by enemy bullets during those years, but I was now in the local town hospital, in bad shape. I was only twenty-seven years old but already a doomed man. A friend I had known for many years tried to gain admission to a Veterans Hospital for me. They PSYCHOLOGY OF ALCOHOLISM—PAGE 9 refused to admit me—the V.A. Hospital would have been willing to treat the malaria, but the fact that I was also a drunk meant that I was barred from all medical aid. This had been the doom of alcoholics in the United States since the founding of the republic. Hospitals refused them admittance, and no one really knew how to treat them. There were a few ex- pensive private facilities where drunks whose families had money would send them periodically for “drying out,” but there were al- most no lasting cures. Many alcoholics died in alleys, others were sent off to long imprisonments in state and federal penitentiaries for things they had done while they were drunk and out of control, while others were labeled “dipsomaniacs” and sent off to rot in mental institutions with the other maniacs. Drunks and lushes like myself—the term “alcoholic” had only recently been developed, and was still not in common usage—were regarded either as mor- ally defective people who were to be scorned and cast out by all decent folk, or as simply insane. Most medical doctors regarded us as hopeless and doomed, and refused even to treat us at all, even when we were clearly dying. In all fairness, they did not really know anything to do anyway: if they kept us from dying this time, we would simply go right back out and start drinking again. We were going to die, and nothing could be done to save us from even- tual death. And we embarrassed people and made them feel un- comfortable, and some of us were argumentative and violent, and caused trouble. After the end of the ill-fated experiment of National Prohibition (1920-1933), the federal government had abandoned practically any national attempt at alcohol treatment and awareness, and the military dealt with alcoholism by purely punitive measures: when drunks like me got too far out of hand, we suffered reductions in PSYCHOLOGY OF ALCOHOLISM—PAGE 10 pay, demotion, imprisonment, or were kicked out of the service. As far as most decent folk were concerned, there was no help for peo- ple like me, and we were simply abandoned to our fates. So there I was in the hospital. I was sick, very sick. A judge granted my wife a divorce. My beautiful little daughter I was not to see again for forty years. I was a veteran of the Pacific campaign, but the United States government had cast me off. The Veterans Hospital refused to admit me on any grounds. This was America in 1945, if you were an alcoholic. PSYCHOLOGY OF ALCOHOLISM—PAGE 11 Three years later, my talk on alcoholism at a military base: 1948 But a revolution was taking place—in fact had already begun quietly in the latter 1930’s among a small group of recovered alco- holics—and three years after being refused admittance to that Vet- erans Hospital, I found myself on the forefront of this revolution. I had reenlisted in the Air Force, because I had not found any civilian job I could handle. I was eventually sent to Mitchel Air Force Base on Long Island, New York. My drinking had contin- ued. But on July 5, 1948, I was able to stop drinking for good after I began attending the meetings of an Alcoholics Anonymous group on Long Island and actually taking the program seriously.