Love is like a butterfly: It goes where it pleases and it pleases wherever it goes. ~Author Unknown
To hit “rock bottom” is a phrase commonly used in Alcoholics Anonymous. It describes a loss so extraordinary, so painful, that it becomes a turning point.
As the recession continues, a typical “rock bottom” loss has become all too ordinary: a lost job, lost savings or a lost home. At the same time, alcohol treatment centers are reporting an uneasy lull – for now.
“The industry as a whole has seen a decline in people getting treatment,” said Franklin Lisnow, an addiction counselor and the executive director of the Center for Dependency, Addiction and Rehabilitation in Aurora, Colorado.
“It only means that we’re going to see sicker people when they do get in [treatment],” Lisnow said.
By accounts of the liquor industry, Lisnow’s expected patients are likely now drinking quietly at home.
Frank Coleman, spokesman for the Distilled Spirits Council, said that while sales of liquor are still on the rise, they are growing at a slower rate than before the recession began. Coleman said decreases in restaurant sales are primarily to blame.
Even in good times, experts said 8 to 10 percent of those people who have an alcohol addiction are properly recognized and get into treatment. More often than not, though, they are the lucky ones who have jobs, families, and most important, money and health insurance to cover counseling.