No one can understand alcoholism unless they have it. No one can understand being an alcoholic until they have experienced it for themselves or with a loved one. No one can understand what a life altering "situation" it is until they have lived it or watched someone they love struggle with it. Not friends, not family, not even health professionals.

Thats why those of us who suffer from it are best able to help each other. No one on the outside gets it. Until someone has experienced it for themselves or through a loved one, or really opens their mind to what they read on the subject and tries to put themselves into our shoes, its impossible to understand.