Can alcoholics recover and drink normally again? Pioneering new book
seeking publisher will reveal the truth
If you were to try putting the question "can alcoholics recover and
drink normally again?" to members of your family, friends and
neighbours, they would probably come up by way of response with the
tired old clichés from Alcoholics Anonymous like "once an alcoholic,
always an alcoholic" or "just one drink sets up the compulsion". But
if you try keying in the question "can alcoholics recover and drink
normally again" on one of the main Internet search engines like
Google, MSN, Yahoo, Lycos or AskJeeves, you will come up with a very
different answer.

(PRWEB) September 21, 2004 -- If you were to try putting the
question "can alcoholics recover and drink normally again?" to
members of your family, friends and neighbours, they would probably
come up by way of response with the tired old clichés from Alcoholics
Anonymous like "once an alcoholic, always an alcoholic" or "just one
drink sets up the compulsion".

But if you try keying in the question "can alcoholics recover and
drink normally again" on one of the main Internet search engines like
Google, MSN, Yahoo, Lycos or AskJeeves, you will come up with a very
different answer.

The top result listed on all the major search engines will link you
through to one of the websites run by Murdoch and Lilian MacDonald,
two former alcoholics who have recovered from alcoholism so
completely that they are now able to take a drink quite normally and
safely again, if and when they so wish.

Murdoch (58) and Lilian (60), a married couple from Ayrshire in
Scotland, have set up their websites to tell their story to the
world. Because until now they believe that alcoholics have had a raw
deal, as the quasi-monopoly enjoyed by Alcoholics Anonymous has
effectively denied them any real choice about their own treatment.

"We are not against anybody going to AA if that's what they want,"
says Lilian. "But we say that lifelong sobriety is not recovery from
alcoholism, as AA prescribes. That is only treating the symptom
rather than the underlying cause, and as such is merely a damage-
limitation exercise."

"Alcoholism is not a disease, as AA and other 12-Step programmes
maintain," argues Murdoch. "Alcoholism, like other so-called
addictions, is a behaviour problem stemming from childhood. There is
no reason why anybody who is prepared to identify and address these
issues from the past cannot make a real and full recovery and drink
safely and normally again, if and when they so wish. We know, and we
do.

"Nobody is incapable of changing their behaviour. And that is one of
the fundamental differences between Alcoholics Anonymous and us. AA
disempowers people – the first of the Twelve Steps says: "We admitted
we were powerless over alcohol" – but we are fighting to give them
that power back."

Ten years ago the couple had hit rock bottom, sleeping rough for two
weeks on the streets of Cambridge, where a quarter of a century
previously as an undergraduate Murdoch had received an honours degree
in English Literature. They had moved there from Ayr with the idea of
Murdoch doing research for a doctorate (PhD), but reverted to their
old habits, started binge drinking, and were thrown out of their
lodgings.

After a fortnight, and when they were just about at the end of their
tether, two nurses on their way home after a Saturday night out took
pity on Lilian and Murdoch, bought them a cup of tea and found them a
place in a homeless hostel.

The couple spent the next twelve months there getting to the roots of
their alcoholism. They tried AA one last time, before concluding that
it was a quasi-religious cult whose ideas on alcoholism were
inadequate and outdated.

Instead, by reading psychology, they decided that the causes of their
alcoholic behaviour lay in problems experienced during childhood. And
that once these problems were realised and addressed, there was no
longer any need for escape through alcoholism, and they could even
drink normally like other people again.

Ten years after selling newspapers from a stand in Market Square,
Cambridge, so that he and Lilian could get back on their feet
financially, Murdoch now writes his own regular column in the local
weekly paper and also runs his own public relations consultancy.

And Lilian is so keen to pass on the benefits of their experience to
others who still have problems with alcohol, that the couple are
building a website www.alcoholicscandrinksafelyagain.com to spread
their message of hope.

They also have a community group website at
http://groups.msn.com/AlcoholicsCanDrinkSafelyAgain which includes a
chat room and message board where members can exchange thoughts,
ideas and experiences.

Lilian and Murdoch have completed the first draft of a book about
their experiences, and London literary agent Andrew Lownie is
currently looking for a suitable publisher.

Contact details:

Andrew Lownie Literary Agency
17 Sutherland Street
London, SW1V 4JU
Tel: 0171 828 1274
Fax: 0171 828 7608
E-mail: lownie@...
Website: www.andrewlownie.co.uk

Lilian and Murdoch MacDonald's web links:

Community websites

http://groups.msn.com/Alcoholicsdontneedtostayonthewagon

http://groups.msn.com/AlcoholicsCanDrinkSafelyAgain

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/AlcoholicsCanDrinkSafelyAgain/

Main website in course of construction

http://www.alcoholicscandrinksafelyagain.com

Other links

http://www.alcoholicscandrinksafelyagain.com/newpage15.html

http://www.pressbox.co.uk/Detailed/17770.html

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2004/6/prweb130243.htm

http://www.pressbox.co.uk/Detailed/15000.html

http://www.pr-scotland.com/releases/040409-02.htm

http://www.alcoholicscandrinksafelyagain.com/newpage4.html

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2004/7/prweb144035.htm

http://www.pr-scotland.com/releases/040726-01.htm

http://www.pressbox.co.uk/Detailed/16150.html

http://www.alcoholicscandrinksafelyagain.com/newpage0.html

Issued by:

Fame Publicity Services
10 Miller Road
AYR, Ayrshire
Scotland KA7 2AY

Telephone: +44 (0)1292 281498

Website: www.famepublicity.co.uk

E-mail: FamePublicity@...