That part about emotions is a philosophical issue that we can talk about later.
However on the drinking there are a few facts and figures I would like to drop in here for you.
The first is, quite simply, if you drink to “Deal with” stress, you are actually exacerbating your negative feelings seeing as this “Drug” is a depressant. When you drink and it seems like it helps, it is simply pulling you down into a low that removes your realization that your sad, but it actuality it's just making things worse. This is a fact, scientifically proven and undeniable.
Since I can't talk about my patients, one of my roommates has offered to let me talk about her issues instead. She use to drink to help with her stress, until she found out the truth and got professional help. She was spending well over $4000.00 a year in bars and on take home booze to help with her stress. She dropped out of collage and could not hold down a job. After realizing what the alcohol was doing and that it wasn't actually helping, she went to a a psychologist for six months. Inn those six months they figured out her problem and while she was not cured, she found out how to deal with her depression and stress in a healthy manner, all for about $900.00. And guess what, turns out that the drinking was the only thing making her stress so strong that after she stopped and picked up some good habits for dealing(Namely yoga and V-games) she got taken off her medication and is just fine. Well, she still suffers from chronic stress, but she deals with it in a positive way that helps her body rather than kills it.
I am not saying that this will be the case for everyone. I'm not claiming that for a second. However keep this in mind: The more you take something, the higher your tolerance gets, the more you have to take it to get the same effect. So, that $4000.00 would have been up to at least $6000.00 by the next year, year and a half. If you use booze to deal with stress for several years, you will have to spend more, and more, and more every year, not to mention your symptoms will get worse, making you drink more often, and not just cost you more and more money, but killing yourself faster and faster. That is a fact.
Yes, the health care system is f**ked up. I agree, but on the whole, it's the best way to go for your health and longevity.
Quote - “They do it because it's the only thing that makes life seem tolerable.
The key word there is seem. I know you don't share my truths about emotions, but I must say this – Anyone stupid enough to go with the quick fix, knowing that it is going to kill them, is a fool.
Want to know a sad fact? You know another way to deal with stress is cutting, right? Well guess what, cutting is safer than drinking. Sure, you wind up a bit scared, and yeah that means you have a more visible sign of your feelings just hanging out there, but at least you can recover from the cuts, and people will see them, and unlike drinking, it's considered unacceptable behavior more openly so you will have more people who have a sign that you need help.
Quote - “Sorry, but at that point, alcohol is cheaper.”
What value do you place on life then? I consider mine to be more precious than any temporary perceived relief that is actually just making me worse and killing me. You keep talking about drinking like the temporary lie is worth something, and in truth, it's not. Never will be, and it's foolish to think so. Drinking makes you worse, both in mind and body, and to think otherwise just screams of ignorance.
Quote - “But since that's not going to happen, I'm just trying to point out that there is another side to it.”
Yes, there is another side. I don't really care what people think it is, but the true other side is: I don't care about getting better, I'd rather pretend I feel better now while slowly killing myself in a socially acceptable way.
Quote - “As a psychologist, you probably already know all of this, which is why it's hard for me to understand how you can be judgmental about it. I'm not offended or angry, just confused.”
I am a psychologist. A Psychologist who spent his life from 5 to 19 going to my own Psychologist until we figured out how to help me. Now I only see one when I feel I need someone outside my family to talk to, which is once every few months. I am Bi-polar with ADHD and Schizophrenic tendencies. I went through many meds to figure it all out, even did some test meds to help out the mental health system. What to know what. . .How did you put it in the edit. . . .
Quote - "let me play Russian roulette with my brain for a few years, spend thousands on medical costs for counseling and meds, and maybe, just maybe, my life MIGHT improve by a few centimeters."
Yeah that. Wanna know my treatment? I'm doing it right now. My ADHD is treated by giving myself several things to focus on at once so my mind can stay occupied while I work on important things. My Bi-polar is treated, no joke, through reading, and video games. I am reading most of my day, from my work documents to my RP partner's replies, and I have at least 2 V-games going o at all times for me to turn to to vent or lift. My Schizophrenia is treated through my massive amount of RPs and the books I write. The voices, my characters. My uncontrollable urges, the scenarios I run in my books, stories, and RPs. True, at work I can only have one game up, if any, and often I am too busy, but all my symptoms subside when I'm working. My yearning to help others keeps me in check until I get home.
So, yeah, I'm a psychologist, and I agree the system is f**ked up, but here I am. I took a long time to find what works, for my own doctor to understand that my ever present book or hand held system was actually my non destructive self medication. But that's how it is. I now spend maybe 20$ a month on a new game or a couple new books. I spend my off time watching TV or Anime or YouTube, writing, playing games, cooking, and interacting with my online buddies, all at once, and I am fine with that. I am by no means say that this is “The solution” for other people, but it could be, for people like me. That's part of what makes the system so messed up is that the patients themselves are often unwilling to stick it out until they find what works, which means the system isn't being properly funded because the patients dropping out for the quick fix of booze or illegal drugs makes it seem like the mental health program is pointless. Which in turn makes everything mental health related more expensive just so they can stay in business. Vicious circle, no?
Oh, and you may have noted, helping people helps me, so don't worry about making me work when I'm off work. I'm always happy to help :P
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Now, I guess to a happier note. I don't think drinking is always bad. Getting drunk, yes, drinking, no. I myself get dragged out every new year and a few birthdays to social gathering s where there is drinking. I can drink everyone I know under the table, but I don't. I hate the taste of alcohol, I just have a naturally very high tolerance. But that aside, I will take a few shots in celebration. Never enough to mess up my perceptions, to release my inhibitions, and most certainly never enough to dull my wits or emotions in any way. I don't consider having a few drinks evil, in fact, on occasion, I can even see getting drunk as something funny, but only under the right circumstances.
My entire rant above is purely about using booze to try and “Help” yourself. My roommate, the one who use to drink to “Help” her stress and depression, almost every other work day her co-workers have a few drinks with her before she heads home. A mixer, or a couple beers. I don't disapprove, because she's not doing it for the buzz or for some false sense of feeling better. Couple beers, a chat, and she heads home. I have no issue with that. Her body has time to process and purge the alcohol before her next one, little to no damage done. And while I still think getting drunk is bad, when it happens in a safe environment that the worst thing you could do is accidentally break something, like, in your own home and away from sexual predators or other really drunk people who may either wanna fight, or convince you to go home and murder your cheating partner. I'm fine with it on occasion, but I don't demonize it.
Quote - “Every time I've been seriously intoxicated, I've had a good time and haven't done anything dangerous or stupid. I also haven't gone overboard, never had a hangover, and I do remember the experience.”
You've been a mix of lucky, and you've never really gotten shitfaced, which is how most people who have been drinking for a long time to “help” their emotions need to get to continue “helping”. People who medicate long term with booze have black outs and lose chunks of time due to the detrimental effects of long term intoxication. Also, you can tell long term drinkers from other people because when they are NOT drunk, their hands shake and they lose motor function.
So, yeah, I am not the 100% opposed to drinking that I may seem to be, but I insist on being responsible, and present the fact that using booze to “Treat” your emotional problems is inexcusably foolish.
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I dearly hope you don't hate me for my presentation of the facts. *Bow* I like RPing with you.