Understanding Addictive Thinking.

"No I only drink socially" the man said. Who by the way was a skilled cardiologist who drank heavily for years. As time and drinking went on, he began to experience morning after effects. Although he got to the hospital daily, he felt very sick until quite late in the mornings. Still he knew that he was "only a social drinker." He believed something was wrong with the way his stomach absorbed alcohol - too much alcohol was remaining in his stomach overnight.
The doctor remembered a procedure that he had learned in med school with a friend who was studying the digestive system. He was given measured amount of food, and forty five minutes later a tube was passed through the nose to the stomach. His stomach contents were emptied and submitted to a laboratory for analysis.
"I had become very adept at passing a tube down my nose into my stomach" the doctor recalled, "and "it occurred to me last night that this technique could be the answer to my early morning misery." Before going to bed at night the doctor would pass a tube into his
stomach and empty it's contents. As he expected, he woke up the next morning feeling much better. He continued this practice every night for six weeks. The only reason he stopped  was because the tube was irritating his throat and almost closed off. He was 'afraid' that he would need a tracheotomy to be able to breathe.
"But not even once" the doctor said "not once in those six weeks did it occur to me that a social drinker doesn't pump his stomach every night!"
This instance is a good example of the denial and insanity in an alcoholics mind. He will find any reason for his ill health, loss of his job and consequently his depleted bank account. Eventually his family might leave him or tell him to leave but the alcoholic will always be able to validate his own insane thinking as to why "this has happened to me"
In the field of addiction we say that the meaning of 'insanity' is repeating the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Because "next time for sure it will be different"
Some excerpts taken from Addictive Thinking: By Abraham Twersky M.D