"Alcoholism Self Help is Waiting Inside
You…Waiting to Be Unleashed"

By Clifford Kuhn, M.D.
The Laugh Doctor

Alcoholism self help is a huge concern to countless millions worldwide and, since you’re reading this article, I will assume it’s a topic you’re interested in too. I’m going to assume you have a drinking problem, someone in your family does, or you know someone. Believe me, I know first-hand what you are dealing with and going through. Whether your desire is to stop drinking and hurting yourself, or it’s to help someone else stop, I believe this article will shed some helpful light on alcoholism and self-help.

Any article on alcoholism self help would actually be detrimental without mentioning twelve-step fellowships first. Whether you best identify with the alcoholics in Alcoholics Anonymous or the family members in Al-Anon, if you are not already attending meetings I urge you to do so. Finding a meeting is as simple as looking the organization up in your local phone book and calling; you’ll find these meetings provide the first, and most important, aspects of self help for an alcoholic or anyone related to one.

A Quick Side Note About What I Mean When I Say “Humor”

Perhaps it might sound odd to say that humor can be a vital self help resource for an alcoholic. But I don’t advocate that anyone must learn to laugh out loud and constantly cultivate audible chuckles (although those are good things for your health). You don’t need to become a great joke teller or learn to make anyone laugh to use humor for alcoholism self help.

No. I’m referring to humor as a sense of lightness or taking yourself less seriously. Used this way, you will be amazed at how powerfully humor assists you!

Why an Alcoholic Drinks and Can’t Stop Drinking

Before we discuss how humor can provide a self help resource to an alcoholic, let’s discuss the mechanisms of alcoholism. What we’re talking about here is actually the mechanisms of conflict. And this conflict is between the alcoholic’s desire to stop hurting herself and others versus her desire, her need, to keep drinking.

Where does that conflict come from? It is an inner conflict between the alcoholic’s conscious and unconscious mind. When you drink alcohol you anesthetize your conscious mind (which is the one saying, “Don’t drink”) and shut it down. Now your unconscious mind no longer has any opposition.

When either the conscious or unconscious mind is silenced, the inner conflict goes away. The lack of inner conflict feels like sweet relief to the problem drinker and thus alcohol becomes a twisted form of alcoholism self help.

Of course the other way to stop the inner conflict is to “tough it out” and force the conscious mind’s will over the unconscious. This is what alcoholics call “white knuckling it” and it only works for a little while. Sooner or later, during a moment of weakness, the unconscious mind will have its way.

As you already know, stopping the internal conflict by shutting down one of your two minds does not constitute as self help. If you anesthetize your conscious mind with alcohol, you slowly kill yourself and ruin your life in the process. If you tough it out and white knuckle it to shut down your unconscious mind, you will inevitably return to drinking.

Why Humor is an Invaluable Ally for an Alcoholic

The true alcoholism self help is found in mending the conflict between the two minds. I’ve already mentioned the twelve steps, which are a perfect vehicle to resolve the inner conflict. Many alcoholics find self help in therapy as well. And of course there are many books written about spirituality which can provide self help to the alcoholic, helping find ways to mend the conflict between her two minds.

Throughout the process, or processes, you choose, humor should be your ally every step of the way. Nothing will derail an alcoholic’s efforts at self help quicker than taking herself too seriously!

I am in no way suggesting that alcoholism, the ravages it causes, and the recovery process are “funny”! Only in retrospect can that be true. Alcoholism produces tragedy and wreckage and no one should be laughing at that.

Instead I am prescribing that the alcoholic take herself lightly. As I always say on this website, in my writing, and during my talks, I do not prescribe that the alcoholic learn to laugh, nor learn to make other people laugh. The drinker does, however, need to learn to tap into her inexhaustible source of incredible natural medicine called “humor” so that she can avoid putting too much pressure on herself.

Taking herself more lightly, which the natural medicine of humor naturally and simply allows you to do, keeps the recovering drinker from putting too much pressure on herself. This practice allows alcoholism self help to do the greatest good for the problem drinker.

Start Using the Natural Medicine of Humor Today

I have worked with many alcoholics throughout my career and I cannot recommend the natural medicine of humor highly enough! I invite you to read my personal story of alcoholism self help to understand why I am so intimately familiar with how helpful and indispensable humor can be.

If you are an seeking alcoholism self help, or know someone who is, I urge you to utilize your innate, God-given, and immensely powerful natural medicine of humor. It will keep you afloat during those darkest hours, when all hope seems lost. Humor will remind you not to give up five minutes before the miracle happens.

Use my Fun Commandments, my Fun Times newsletter, and all the free resources on this website to cultivate the humor that you need. And when you’re ready, make sure you learn my Fun Factor prescription so that you can take your recovery to the next level as so many others have done.

And the miracle will happen. I’m living proof of self help for the alcoholic. Soon you will be too!