Drinking alcohol begins at a young age as a way to express our new right, freedoms or rebel against the world.
It’s a culturally-influenced action accepted as a way to relax the mind and body after long, stressful work — or a anxiety-riddled life. Gettting drunk is nearly a required rite of passage into adulthood in the U.S. and many other countries.
Once you know how much is too much, logic suggests we don’t get drunk twice. But special events, pride, stress and underlying trauma — as well as stubbornness — can return us every day or every week to the point of drunken stupor when walking is unpredictable.
And driving a motor vehicle is a life-or-death risk. When a crash happens, law enforcement and medical personnel often check the blood alcohol level of the driver and look for evidence of a possible DUI event.
That can cause a young or more mature person to be found guilty and lose driving privileges or perhaps face manslaughter, etc. Charges. They may end up in jail for years also.
But what is the root cause of drinking alcohol in excess? Why do we lose control and still demand to drive when many of our friends know it’s a fool’s game?
The bottom line is: DUI’s happen when the consumption of alcohol is an almost-involuntary, a coping mechanism to significant emotional pain that needs soothing now — right now. That trauma is often triggered into an urgent desire for relief that alcohol, we are taught by society, may help.
When that triggering motivation kicks in, there is not enough alcohol available to soothe the often long-held, emotional wound that is at the heart of angry and or humorous outbursts.
Every DUI case should include therapy to explore and transform the emotional trauma that lurks in the heart of a troubled individual. The person with a DUI is not a bad person; they need guidance to resolve 1-2 troubling events.
Then they can avoid future DUI and a need to be intoxicated for life the therapist specializes in root cause transformation; many do not.
Public intoxication and DUI convicts are productive, often thriving members of the community. However below that, pain resides and can explode again and again in drunken rage, violence, crime, abuse and thousands of auto accidents annually.
Our awareness can prevent this national epidemic and reduce the number of lives taken dramatically. It’s teamwork, coordination with law enforcement, the legal and medication experts.
Prison is not the ultimate solution for alcohol addiction or those struggling with the aftermath of a DUI death.