Archie
SP Nation and I Ruin things
- Since
- Jan 27, 2010
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The drinking is terrible and will continue to ruin steves' life and/or kill him eventually if he doesn't stop. But can he stop drinking without getting his brain sorted out. I sorta assumed that the drinking was a coping mechanism, but maybe you're right. Or maybe it's both.
The internet seems to think that bipolar can trigger alcoholism and that drinking can trigger bipolar. Or possibly the same brain chemistry that leads to bipolar disorder also makes one susceptible to alcoholism. Fun.
yeah with comorbidities of substance abuse and mental illness it's cyclical and at some point what came first ceases to matter as they work in a ying and a yang to support one another. The chicken and egg no longer matter, because it just becomes a fried egg on fried chicken sammie situation.
no situations are identical, there are an infinite range of triggers and etiologies some more biological and some more sociological but near the bottom the worst cases all find shockingly similar environmental situations which then become a new co-vehicle along with the biological dependence and mental illness.
that environment can look different but will mostly contain in some forms: social isolation, regular threats or acts of trauma perpetrated against the individual (emotional/physical), lack of stability for physical needs (food,water,sleep,shelter)
Steve, your best bet long term is to remove yourself from the huge parlay of things that you need to go right, without a set-back and/or a support network that can catch you when something in life inevitably goes array.
Is staying with a family member or long-time friend not an option? These are desperate times and mending bridges to make that happen would be your best bet to gaining real independence and freedom from the bottle and your demons.
family and a program
good luck