Healing of alcohol dependency

I. B. (63), Verviers (Belgium)

At the age of 30 in 1970 I got a job in a cafe and drank alcohol there every day (about ten glasses or more a day of beer, whiskey, martinis, etc.). At 40 I changed jobs and worked in a large factory. After work I would often go to a café to drink a few glasses (beer and other alcoholic beverages). After going home I would continue drinking. My alcohol consumption increased over the years. When my son married and moved out I was 46 years old and my alcohol consumption again increased.

Around a year later I stopped on the advice of a doctor because he made me afraid of getting liver cancer. But I started again around a year after that. After I had been working at the factory for 14 years I became the caretaker and was given a flat there. From that point on I drank an especially large amount. As early as the ten-o’clock break I would drink one or two bottles of beer. At around two o’clock in the afternoon I would drink six or seven bottles of beer and in the evening whiskey-half a bottle and sometimes a whole one. After a few years I stopped the whiskey because I was disgusted with myself. From then on I drank beer (around half a case a day) followed by wine (usually one bottle).

No day ever went by without alcohol

Despite the dependence, I was able to handle my work as caretaker. However I was very aggressive, irritable, nervous and opinionated toward my co-workers and often used swearwords. My alcohol consumption remained constant during these years. No day ever went by without alcohol. Socially I kept my drinking down so that no one would know that I was an alcoholic. I would usually go on drinking alone in the evenings. I have no idea why I drank. The alcohol gave me a pleasant, happy feeling but I often also had to cry until I went to bed exhausted. The next morning I would sometimes feel nauseous and have a headache but was able to carry out my work. The only ones who knew about my dependence were my two sisters and my brother-in-law.

At a lecture we learned of Bruno Gröning

I never went to a doctor or a counselling centre. Although I had already been aware that I was dependent on alcohol and that I couldn’t go on like that, I never undertook anything to get away from it. That was my condition shortly before I became acquainted with the Bruno Gröning Circle of Friends. My sisters and I had been attending lectures on positive thinking for some time. We learned of Bruno Gröning from another participant and were introduced to the teaching in April 1996.

At the introductory lecture to the teaching of Bruno Gröning I didn’t experience anythng special except that I found what I heard interesting. After the introduction my sisters, my brother-in-law and I regularly attended the Community Hours and absorbed the Heilstrom daily at home. My sisters also did einstellen for me daily with the special request that I become free from alcohol. While absorbing the Heilstrom at home and at the Community Hours my hands would often swell up with warmth and energy. I would often feel pain here and there in my body which would then disappear again after the tuning in. I also had to cry a lot which was, however, very pleasant. I always had the feeling that something was loosening up in me.

All of a sudden I no longer had any need

However my drinking behaviour didn’t change. I even drank before attending the Community Hours and then also drank the usual amount of alcohol at home afterward. It went on like that for two years. In the final weeks before my healing my alcohol consumption had increased even more so that during the last days I was drinking up to a case of beer and one or one and a half bottles of wine daily. One evening in April 1998 as I was taking my usual ration of alcohol I wouldn’t have suspected that it would be for the last time. All of a sudden I no longer had any desire or need to drink alcohol. I was surprised and wanted to first wait and see if it would stay that way. Then after I hadn’t drunk anything for a few months I knew that it was the healing and was very happy. Since then I have been free from alcohol.

In August 1998 I drank two beers during a holiday drive in Austria because I wanted to convince myself that it wouldn’t make any difference to me. Not only didn’t the beer provoke any yearning for more alcohol in me-it didn’t even taste good. Since then I have never again taken any alcohol. I also had no withdrawal symptoms of any kind. I am very grateful and happy about that. My behaviour has also changed for the better in many ways. I am much calmer, no longer irritable and aggressive and feel a great joy in life.

Psychologist's commentary:

Ms. B suffered from a dependency syndrome. For 27 years she always drank large amounts of alcohol and was dependent on it at least 9 of these years. She drank the alcohol alone and became bossy and aggressive. However, she was still always able to manage her work.

Two years after her introduction into the teaching of Bruno Gröning she spontaneously stopped drinking and has been sober ever since. Her prognosis is especially good, since she has been free for more than 6 years, has no more need at all for alcohol and can even drink 2 glasses of beer without suffering a setback. Usually the need remains even after withdrawal treatment and the ex-alcoholic cannot touch a drop of alcohol anymore. This course does not match the conventional experience and cannot be explained through the present state of knowledge in psychology.

P. W. L., Psychologist