BULLETIN Lawyers Helping Lawyers By Dean R. Morley
What is Alcoholism? We don't clearly understand why some drinkers become alcoholics and others do not. As defined by the American Medical Association, alcoholism is "an illness in which there is a preoccupation with alcohol and loss of control over its consumption." Its development usually takes a number of years and offers warning signals as it progresses. First, a few drinks no longer give the desired effect - a sign that control over consumption is diminishing. Later warnings include changes in personality and arrest as a result of drinking and family or job problems. The line between problem drinking and alcoholism is crossed when alcohol becomes the center of the person's life. Drinking, either secretly or in public, becomes the focus of daily organization, with at least a subconscious knowledge of the destructive consequences. By this point. alcohol dependence has been established. In the final stages of the disease, the alcoholic suffers alcohol
Editor's Note: Dean R. Morley, of North Little Rock, has chaired the Arkansas Bar Association's Lawyers Helping Lawyers Committee since its inception in 1982. To discuss your drinking problem or that of a friend, family member, partner or associate, contact Morley at 4000 McCain, N.L.R .. AR 72116, or phone him at 771-2600. Those needing a referral to the Committee may also can tact the Association at 375-4605 or 1-800482-9406. Other members of the Committee are Vicki S. Cook, Donald R. Huff路 man, Philip K. Lyon, Margaret Reger, Richard L. Smith, Mary Beth Sudduth, Allyn C. Tatum and Royce Weisenberger, Sr. 361Arkansas Lawyer/january 1986
withdrawal in the morning instead of a hangover. The body is so dependent on the drug that it cannot operate without it. A drink in the morning stays the symptoms and the alcoholic can function again. In the most advanced depths, alcoholism prevents a person from performing in society at all. He is totally concerned with getting liquor, drinking and sobering up. A lawyer linds it dilficult to accept a condition that cannot be self-controlled. Denial is, therefore, much greater among professionals. Generally, doctors, lawyers, members of the clergy and other professionals take longer than nonprofessionals to admit the existence of a condition that they cannot overcome with路 out help. It appears that. because of their stations in life and their income levels, lawyers are also better able to conceal the problem until its later stages. Alcoholism can be overcome, but it cannot be "cured" in the sense of safe return to drinking. Its remedy is abstention. No other effective remedy has ever been established. Learning to accept total abstention as a necessity of everyday life does not seem easy but it can be done and is done every day by more than a million people.
What the Program Does The sale function of the Lawyers Helping Lawyers Committee is to encourage alcoholic persons to start down the road to recovery. Our elforts are confidential and the program is voluntary. In no instance does the Committee force action by disclosure or referrals where help is rejected. Experience has proven that merely sitting down and talking with a lawyer who has an alcohol problem does wonders because he or she becomes aware that help is possible and learns where to seek assistance without fear of disclo-
sure or stigma. Whatever its merits, our effectiveness depends almost entirely on the willingness of people to use it. Lawyers who have a partner or associate in trouble can turn to the program for guidance, not only for the afflicted person, but also for themselves. Spouses, clients and friends can do likewise. Most of all, the lawyer who has a drinking problem ought to be encouraged to contact us. Althoug h results cannot be assured, the odds are very good that positive recovery will be achieved. If you know a lawyer or judge with a drinking problem: 1. Do not hesitate to ask him or her, "Do you think you are drinking too much?" 2. Suggest that he or she contact the Association's Committee on
Lawyers Helping Lawyers at 375-4605 or 1-800-482-9406. 3. Do not make it easy for him or her to avoid the consequences of failing to keep appointments or honor commitments when you suspect the reason is
alcohol路related. 4. If you cannot conf.ront him or her personally. either because of position. monetary reasons, client protection or just plain reluctance to personally intervene, contact us. Your in路 quiry will be kept completely confidential and the person involved will not learn your identity.
In practice, our program works as follows: l. An afflicted person or concerned friend or family member calls or contacts the Association for a referral to the Committee. 2. Trained Committee members respond to the caller. Those re:sponding are lawyers. usually recovered alcoholics or those who understand the problem f.rom a personal experience. 3. These lawyers have participated in a professional training program modeled after programs offered by other states and organizations. 4. The interventions take many different forms. depending on the particular circumstances of each case.