Alcoholism is an illness, in just the same way as diabetes, neuro-muscular disease, fetal disease and any other disease is an illness. It's an illness because the person smitten with it is unable to stop drinking without very considerable help.

The question; is it possible to cure alcoholism? is no. There is no absolute cure. There's an advertisement on television that states categorically that if you travel to their institution, then all will be well, and they'll cure you so that you'll never drink again.

A book came out not too long ago, saying that they can cure alcoholism to the extent where you may thenceforth drink normally, that the desire has left you. Both these claims, most especially the latter, are wrong. Dangerously so.

It's an extremely complex illness, because while one person may drink quite happily and stop whenever she/he wishes to, another person will drink and become hooked. I know what I'm talking about, because I am myself an alcoholic.

I started when I was eighteen, and for the next twenty years of my life, to all intents and purposes, I was useless. I haven't had a drink for over 33 years now, but that's not to say that tomorrow I won't have one.

I was hospitalized three times. The first couple of times were useless, and it wasn't long before I was back to the bottle again. The third time was a first class clinic, where I had excellent treatment. I can remember the day when I knew, as far as any alcoholic is concerned, that I'd never drink again. This was a most remarkable feeling, as though a great weight had been lifted from my shoulders.

But I was under no illusions. I knew perfectly well, that caught left footed in the wrong circumstance, I could still slide back. I'm not cured, and I still don't fool myself into thinking I am.

I remember allowing myself to enter into an argument with one of these characters who told me it was all a matter of willpower, that I didn't have the moral fibre to stop drinking and was too weak minded. I still regret decking the fellow, but that sort of talk is so terribly wrong.

So how do you know if you're an alcoholic? Really and truly when you can't leave the bottle alone. You find the effects so pleasant and calming, that you want them to go on. Even at work, you can't take your mind off the next drink. Eventually, it consumes your whole being. You wake in the morning, in the early days, and think to yourself; Just a 'quickie' before I leave for work. It won't hurt me. This builds up until finally you fall out of bed and have to have a drink to be able to function.

The chances are that you've lost your job by then. So much spousal abuse is caused by alcohol. People drink, and the more they drink, the worse becomes their temper. Apart from the time that I had the altercation with that man, alcohol simply made me mellow. I'd tend to slide down the wall in a happy heap and watch everyone else from where I landed.

On the other hand, I knew a man who could drink a bottle of Scotch a day, everyday, and be none the worse for wear. He could simply stop drinking whenever he felt like it, without any withdrawals or longings at all.

The only advice to someone who's never had a drink? Don't start. You don't know when the serpent will turn round and bite you.