SALT LAKE CITY – Millions of people around the world struggle with alcohol addiction. Randall Carlisle was one of them.
Carlisle is a media and community affairs specialist at Odyssey House of Utah. He was an alcoholic for 40 years and is now sober.
The effects of alcohol on physical health
According to a new study in the New York Times, no amount of alcohol is good for physical health. Not even a glass of red wine. As convincing as that sounds, Randall says it’s not enough to stop alcoholics from drinking. The same goes for any other addiction.
“So many people who come to Odyssey House and are addicted to fentanyl know exactly what’s going on because they’ve read all the articles about people dying of overdoses and still going,” he said.
The experience of a recovering alcoholic
Randall described the transition from moderate drinker to heavy drinker as a progressive disease.
“I started doing it in college just having fun at parties and things like that, and alcoholism runs in my family on my father’s side … It just became a daily occurrence and then it just increased over the years,” he said.
When asked why he drank, Randall gave several reasons. On bad days, he drank to relieve stress and frustration. On good days, he drank to celebrate. It was only when he felt more and more depressed toward the end of the day that he asked himself, “Is this how I want to live the rest of my life?”
The answer was no. He didn’t want to continue like that. So he entered an intensive outpatient program at the University of Utah, now known as the Huntsman Mental Health Institute.
“I went through this program twice and have been sober for 13 years now,” Randall said.
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