RE: OK, my drunk secretary just had an
Janie, I just wanted to say that I completely agree with you, and your response was very compassionate. Both my parents were alcoholics and I have several friends who are recovering addicts and/or alcoholics. What they have all told me, and have demonstrated through their actions, and what I have read in every single biography or other account of addiction, is that sober people do have a choice about whether to drink or use drugs, but people who are already addicted to a substance, and are drowning in the depths of it, have very little "choice" about whether to continue drinking or using - once the addiction takes hold, their brain chemistry takes over and makes its own decisions. At that point, if there is "choice" involved, it's maybe like the choice we would have if we were sick in bed with pneumonia or food poisoning, at our very weakest. We could "choose" to ignore our symptoms and jump out of bed and run a marathon, but that choice seems impossible based on how horrible we feel - our bodies are screaming at us not to move a muscle, and every movement is excrutiating. I truly believe that addicts are equally powerless over their addictions unless they enter treatment.
Having said that, though, I wonder if it is the poster's role to step in. She might be the person who saves this addict's life, but it is also true that she might jeopardize her own career in the process. I think if it was me, I would do nothing, but someone who did step in and try to arrange an intervention would really be a hero. I just don't think I would be heroic myself!