The stress and long hours associated with being a CPA can be difficult to handle. Health.com recently listed accounting as one of the top 10 professions with high rates of depression. Throughout my career, I’ve also seen a lot of folks struggle with alcoholism. I was one of them.

I drank for 31 years — the last 17 years, every day, and the last two years, all day. I was never arrested, but I was often impaired. Controlling the drinking and avoiding “one too many” was the focus of my life. I was a drinker! Wives came and went. Jobs changed every three or four years when the initial resolve and the glow of being the “new man” would fade. I could not keep a commitment. My work was erratic … genius on Tuesday ... a missed delivery date on Thursday ... and serious conflict with a co-worker on any day.

That was my life — one disappointment after another. For years, I justified my behavior and its consequences as being misunderstood, unappreciated or unlucky, or any other excuse to avoid looking at myself.

“Controlling” the problem
Like me at that time, many CPAs who struggle are admitted “problem drinkers” and waste lots of time and energy attempting to control their alcohol consumption. Rarely does “controlled” consumption turn out to be successful, since the first one or two drinks cloud judgment and weaken resolve.

Others may not identify alcohol consumption as a problem until the role of alcohol in some embarrassing event is undeniable and painful - loss of a client, conflict with a valued employee, divorce, or front-page coverage of an alcohol-fueled folly.

How is it that otherwise bright and perceptive professionals do not recognize the symptoms of alcohol addiction?

One reason could be that alcohol addiction is generally slow to develop. More than one CPA with personality traits common to alcoholics has been heard to say, “That’s just how I am.” Such an excuse may be offered for unreasonable outbursts of anger, extreme procrastination, or totally disorganized work habits, all commonly associated with addiction.

When those develop over time, it’s easy for all involved to accept them as “normal” for an individual until, finally, that “embarrassing event” hits and everyone asks, “Why didn’t we see this coming?”

Getting help
I am one of the fortunate fellows who found help. After losing two jobs in 18 months, I was already in conflict with new associates. A client was instrumental in convincing me that I might have an alcohol problem. He put me in touch with an organization that offered help. The rest, as they say, is history.

Twenty-seven alcohol- and drug-free years later, I have a stable marriage, a profitable practice and the respect of my peers. None of that would be possible without the intervention of a caring friend. None of that would be possible without help from others who taught me how to live “clean and sober.”

There were very few Employee Assistance Programs 27 years ago. One employer after another simply quietly eased me out the door, and I took my troubled life to a new venue. Today, some large accounting firms have Employee Assistance Programs.

Several state CPA societies have programs that offer help to understand and treat alcoholism before careers and families are destroyed. Texas and Ohio have independent foundations that put recovering volunteers in touch with troubled professionals, their employees or family members. In Minnesota, Accountants Concerned for Accountants (ACA) is here to respond to requests for help from MNCPA members, their families and colleagues.

All of these outreach programs have one purpose: to help the CPA, or a CPA’s family member, or a CPA’s employee or colleague address and deal with behavioral compulsions and addictions. In every case, referrals are confidential. And literature and information about treatment alternatives is readily available from those who dedicate time to help another person break the chains of addiction.

The overriding message is, “You are not alone.” Help is only a phone call away. If you think you, or someone close to you, might have a problem, make the call. You have nothing to lose.

E. Lynn Nichols, CPA, is a practicing accountant tax consultant and cofounder of Nichols Patrick CPE, Inc., a developer of continuing education programs for CPAs. He is also a regular contributor to Bisk Education’s CPE Network audio and video updates. You can reach Lynn at lynn@npcpe.net.