Addiction in Society

I went to a therapist a few years ago when I was having marital problems. Turned out she was an addictions specialist and instead of helping me with the relational problems I brought up, she spent three whole sessions trying to convince me I was an alcoholic. I was 27 and did not have children and so I did go out on the weekends and sometimes I drank too much. The point, however, was that my drinking was not a problem for me or anyone in my life at that time, and I had already begun to cut back due to my age ( it just wasn't as fun anymore). I remember she asked me if I could stop drinking if I became pregnant. I responded, "of coarse." There was no question in my mind and yet she argued with me for a half an hour that I would drink while pregnant because I wasn't being honest with myself. I am 31 now and rarely drink. It wasn't a problem to really change my drinking patterns since they have always been a social response to my life at the time. I hope to have a baby next year and there is no way in hell I'll drink while pregnant or breast-feeding and I doubt I'll be going out much with an infant. It just struck me as odd that I had to argue about my own will to quit rather than have it embraced!

My mom quit smoking each time she was pregnant with one of us. Unfortunately he would start up again once we born. Now mind you this dates back to the forties and fifties. Not much impetus to quit back then. However in the sixties, news had just came out about the link between cigarettes and cancer. Her doctor, Norman Jarvik (father of Robert Jarvik) saw her one time during a bout of bronchitis. He turned to her and said, "I want you to stop smoking immediately." Terrified by the thoughts that ran through her mind, she quit and never picked up a cigarette again. One day she asked him why he had told her this - he said "It was irritating your cough." You never know what will make a person quit, but if they really want to they can.