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My mother returned from the South Pacific in 1945 an alcoholic. I think she may have gone to AA for a very short time but then stopped going to meetings and stopped working the steps. She stayed abstemious from alcohol for most of her remaining life, except for the last year or few, but she wasn't happy about it during that 30 plus years. When an alcoholic can't drink, but they haven't learned the devices by which to live a functional existence, then they become even more dysfunctional, if that's possible, and it is. This phenomenon is called a "dry drunk". Meaning the person isn't drinking or drugging, the "dry" part, but their behaviors and actions are those of an active addict, the "drunk" part.
Jane then became addicted to speed and Valium during the 1950's, '60's and '70's. Many housewives did the same thing at the time. Doctors didn't realize the side effects and so prescribed those happy, little pills with reckless abandon to any and all housewife who asked. But Jane really had fun with them. She had an absolute ball.
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