There are moments of clarity in the lives of all chemically dependent persons, moments when the stream of rationalizations come to a screeching halt. This article incorporates the personal statements graciously offered by a recovering physician. His hope is that his perspectives may encourage other professionals to confront their own denial, seek help and avoid some of the serious consequences of addiction.

“If I could impress upon my fellow professionals what I have learned through painful lessons and save them from the disaster that has been my life, I’d embrace the opportunity to do whatever I could. Maybe this will trigger something in someone. I have finally been humbled into submission. Being handcuffed in a squad car after a 0.22 Breathalyzer was the slap my head needed.”

These moments of clarity  are often when impaired people are jolted into an acute, painful awareness of the destructiveness of their alcohol or drug use. For the impaired professional, these moments can be especially disturbing.

Doctors, lawyers and other professionals are role models. They are highly trained, licensed and monitored. We rely on them to protect our health and well-being, our safety, our lives. We regard them as far removed from the stereotypical world of the skid row drunk, wino or crack addict. And still, these highly revered professionals are no less vulnerable to addictive illness than the general population.

“Drinking and driving is beneath a respected, highly educated leader in the medical community. Doctors don’t drive impaired. That’s the territory of other people, not intelligent enough to be in control.”

It is sometimes said in Alcoholics Anonymous that a person can be “too smart” to get recovery. Recovery from chemical dependency requires letting go of control, acceptance of limitations, and a willingness to ask for help.

Letting go can be extremely difficult for the professional who has been trained to rely on the intellect, who has achieved success in life by not giving up and not admitting defeat. A chemical dependency problem puts their reputation, license to practice and livelihood at stake. Professionals are “supposed to know better.” Secrecy and shame drive the addiction.

“Finally, I can look at myself, humbled, broken, and see what I am. I’m a drunk. No better than any other alcoholic. I’m better educated, sure. I’m more accomplished in the world’s eyes, sure. But different? Hardly. All that buys me is arrogance, an inability to ask for help, and a poor prognosis for my illness.”

While full recovery from chemical dependency requires major thinking, behavior and lifestyle changes, the “way in” to recovery is through surrender. The only way to get treatment is often to break the secrecy and asking for help.

“I was told many times that my greatest obstacle to recovery was my insistence on complicating it. I wanted so badly to out-think alcoholism. I thought I was much smarter than some stupid disease.”

Proper treatment ensures that the initial “slap on the head” that prompts a person to seek help will provide him with the necessary skills and resources to carry out a long term commitment to ongoing recovery.

There are many resources available to provide help and support options for impaired professionals who want to begin or resume their journey toward recovery.