We've bounced back after scraping the bottom of the bottle




By ALEX MILLIGAN


A NEW book sets out to prove that alcoholism is not a disease or
illness, but a self-harming behaviour problem rooted in childhood.

Phoenix in a Bottle, published next Tuesday, will show that
alcoholics can correct their behaviour and drink responsibly again if
and when they so wish.

The authors are former alcoholics Lilian and Murdoch MacDonald, a
married couple living in Ayrshire. Murdoch edits the Ayrshire
Business page which appears in the Standard and our sister papers,
the Irvine Herald and the Ayrshire Post.

Lilian and Murdoch's lives were devastated by alcoholism, but they
have now recovered so completely that they now not only lead normal
lives again, but are also able to drink in a perfectly sociable
manner once more. That goes against the teaching of Alcoholics
Anonymous and many other alcoholism treatment centres.

But Lilian, 61, and Murdoch, 58, believe that lifelong sobriety is
not the solution to alcoholism, as this only treats the symptoms and
not the causes of the problem, and is merely a damage limitation
exercise. The couple argue that alcoholism — in common with other
self-harming disorders like bulimia, anorexia and self-mutilation —
often stems from problems experienced in childhood. And if these
problems can be identified and properly addressed, then the problem
behaviour can be cured.

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, undergraduate, Murdoch had received an honours degree in
English Literature from Magdalene College.

They had moved to Cambridge from Ayrshire with the idea of Murdoch
doing research for a doctorate, but had reverted to their old habits,
started binge drinking, and had been 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.

They spent the next 12 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 out-dated.

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 is now a business and financial journalist and
also runs his own public relations consultancy.

And in order to pass on the benefits of their experience to others
who still have problems with alcohol, the couple have written their
book, Phoenix in a Bottle.

Eminent American addiction expert Dr Stanton Peele PhD, who has read
the book, commented: "Phoenix in a Bottle is a modern version of The
Days of Wine and Roses, and tells the true story of how two people
who entered a period of desperate drinking stayed with one another in
a close loving relationship, and emerged from their alcoholism able
to drink responsibly again.

"Both a wonderful love story and a challenge to conventional wisdom
about how people can recover from drinking problems, Phoenix in a
Bottle gives people hope, and helps them to confront their own
demons - alcohol or otherwise."

Phoenix in a Bottle is published on May 31, by Melrose Books, priced
£16.99.



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