ABSTRACT
This chapter narrates about Lawrence's first experience of detoxification at hospitals in London, where he was on the editorial staff of a national newspaper. Alcohol, being socially acceptable, is available everywhere and carries with it the stamp of sociability. Lawrence had stopped drinking, but he had not fully realised the change in orientation in every aspect of life that is part of the process of recovering. Lawrence was highly intelligent, but it was his emotional awareness that gave him the needed impetus to carry his decision through. He finds helpful to hear that other people in the group talking about their uncertainty about drinking or not drinking, using drugs or not using drugs. According to therapists, they have seen that some people use the impossibility of finding a definitive answer to the question as to why they became addicted in the first place as a reason for postponing the decision to stop indefinitely.
