The Medical Degree That Could Not Stop the Disease of Dependency – Doyle S.

About This Speaker Tape

1977, Jackson, Mississippi. A former drinking buddy, now an anesthesiologist, hands Doyle S. a small book with a plain cover. Doyle, a physician, thrums through the pages, noting the lack of graphs or pictures. He puts a question mark next to the claim that there is a solution. For years, he believed his medical degree and sheer willpower could whip the disease, but he spent his days hiding bottles in the nooks of a 25-foot motorhome and using a "measuring bottle" to trick his wife.

He describes the desperation as a train pulling away from a station; the harder he ran to catch it, the faster it disappeared. He transitioned from a fear of dying to a deeper fear of having to live another day in a living hell. Through the wreckage of a "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" personality, Doyle found a Higher Power to manage the life he couldn't. He traded the question mark for an exclamation point, discovering a spiritual awakening that no medical school taught him.

Topics

Timestamps

• 0:45 Doyle S. discusses his initial ego and hesitation about speaking at the event.
• 2:15 The story of the anesthesiologist friend who first handed him the Big Book in 1977.
• 4:30 Doyle discusses the 'average American' and his struggle to identify as such.
• 6:10 Laughter: Doyle describes provoking a group of doctors to reveal their professional resentments.
• 9:45 Doyle discusses the 'denial mechanism' and the search for someone in the book with a problem like his.
• 12:20 Doyle shares the story of the 'two-year-old' alcoholic and his mother.
• 14:10 The logistics of hiding bottles in a 25-foot motorhome.
• 16:30 The metaphor of the train leaving the station and the fear of living in a 'living hell'.
• 18:15 Doyle's experience with Step 1: powerlessness and unmanageability.
• 20:00 The story of the elderly man and the brothel.
• 21:15 Doyle discusses his spiritual awakening and the transition from a question mark to an exclamation point.