Interview

** To respect the interview subject’s right to confidentiality, the person’s real name will not be mentioned. This is a true story about a young woman who defeated her drinking and is willing to share her experience with you. The person is now successful in many different aspects of her life. Anna, not her real name, is a college student and member of the Lakota Nation. **

June 17, 2001

Question: How old are you?

Ann: 27 years old

Q: Where are you from?

Ann: South Dakota

Q: How old were you when you first your first drink of alcohol?

Ann: I was staying at my grandparent’s house, and they decided to go into town or something. So they let me go with my friends. That was when I took my first drink at the age of 13 years old, and it was Budweiser. I had about 2 beers, and I got pretty buzzed.

Q: Did you enjoy being buzzed or drunk?

Ann: At that time I enjoyed being buzzed. It wasn’t until I was 18 years old that I started to get drunk. So there was a 5 year span between the two, but I did all that time.

Q: How often did you drink?

Ann: Well, it depends. I started drinking only on the weekends when I was about 16 years old with my friends. During the winter times in school, I didn’t drink all that much because I was in sports. Drinking was more like a summer thing.

Q: Did you stay with beer or did you go onto something stronger like whiskey?

Ann: I stayed with beer until I was 17 or so. Then I started out on Vodka because you couldn’t smell it on your breath. I use to drink screwdrivers and stuff like that. But as I got older about 20 years old, I started drinking straight whiskey or whiskey and coke.

Q: Now at that time, was it more than just on weekends?

Ann: I stayed pretty much on weekends. Except during school. I was in college and they had a college night, and it was on Wednesday or something. So that was the night that everyone went out. Even though it was just on weekends, my first year of college, my grades really suffered for it. I didn’t do any studying on weekends and Mondays were recovering days. So even if I didn’t drink on weekends, my grades really suffered.

Q: Did your family know of you drinking?

Ann: Yes, my family knew of my drinking, but they didn’t care. Both my parents were drinkers as well. At that time I would go drinking with my mother at bars. It didn’t bother them; it was a normal way of life. We all thought that was a normal way of life. I didn’t get into trouble for my drinking.

Q: Did you think you had a drinking problem at that time?

Ann: No I didn’t think I had a problem. It wasn’t until a year after a fight with my sister that I started to think about things. What made me think about it was when I got into a physical fight with my ex-fiancé. I was put onto probation and had to go onto anger management classes. That’s when alcohol became an issue. This is also where I began to realize I had problems. When I first started drinking, it was fun, but toward the end it wasn’t fun anymore. I had black outs, and I didn’t like the feeling of not knowing what I did.

Q: At this point, did you start looking for treatment yourself, or did someone tell you about treatment?

Ann: Actually I didn’t go to alcohol treatment. I went to co-dependence. It’s like alcohol treatments but it dealt with a lot of the issues as alcohol did.

Q: What made you want to stop drinking?

Ann: Two things. I was engaged to this guy who had a little girl, and her dad asked her “what do you want to be when you grow up?” And she said I want to be like her. That is when I really took a look at myself, and I wanted to be the best person I could be for her and my future children. I was sober for about 2 months before she said that, but after that I didn’t take a drink again. The other was when I saw my mother so happy after she sobered up. I wanted to be like her. To have the same contentment and peace she had. That is what motivated me to quit.

Q: When you finally did go to co-dependence treatment, did you use culture treatment?

Ann: Yes I did. The Oglala tribe owned the treatment center and so that was a large portion of it.

Q: What type of treatment did you use?

Ann: Mainly sweat lodges and talking circle.

Q: Did this culture treatment in co-dependence help you keep sober?

Ann: Yes it did. It helps me to stay sober. It helped me see a different way of life. Something different from your dysfunctional family. Helped me to take a step back and see that it’s not normal to live like that. The Great Spirit helps me to stay sober and puts people in my path to help me.

Q: How long have you been sober?

Ann: I’ve been sober 4 years and 3 months. I was 23 when I quit.

Q: Did you think having support is important?

Ann: Yes, having family support and role models is very critical.

Q: Do you think a person can quit drinking on his or her own without treatment?

Ann: Yes I think a person can quit drinking, but it doesn’t work for everyone. Some do need alcohol treatment. Treatments help because it helps you to resolve the issue of why you drink. Most people drink to medicate themselves for their issues. Depends on who the person is!

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