More on Gibson and the idea that his real personality was revealed
Addendum to last month’s myth, “Alcohol is a revealer, not a creator of human behavior.””Alcohol is truth serum.â€
This variation of Myth # 63 in Alcoholism Myths and Realities (“His real personality comes out when he drinksâ€) was repeated ad nauseam in regards to Mel Gibson in the days following his arrest. It was repeated even by psychologist Joyce Brothers, who is quoted as saying, “We are much more likely to tell our own feelings when we are drunk.”While this may be true for non-alcoholics, it is flagrantly false for alcoholics. I even heard the myth bandied about by recovering addicts, who surprisingly often don’t understand their own disease. They are, in fact, the greatest perpetrators of the myths that “alcoholism requires a loss of control over use,””I drank because of stress/problems/etc.,””I drank to escape,””I drank because of a loss of spirituality.”This is nonsense. Alcoholics drink addictively because the drug makes them feel powerful and even invincible, and because they can drink without ill-effect to far higher blood alcohol levels than can non-addicts. It hadn’t dawned on me until the Gibson arrest and its aftermath that Myth # 63 was so pervasive, or I’d have greatly expanded my discussion in the book. A good friend of Gibson’s, producer Dean Devlin, was quoted as saying, “I have been with Mel when he has fallen off [the wagon], and he becomes a completely different person. It is pretty horrifying.”Because of damage to the neo-cortex, the seat of reason and logic, when alcoholics drink Mr. Hyde makes an ugly appearance in all his glory.