Augusten Burroughs is the best-selling author of Running with Scissors and Dry, his story of finding recovery. He was first referred to treatment by his employers.

At the time, Augusten was an advertising agency executive, and one half of a creative team. He noticed that his team member, Greer, had started to get upset about his drinking: "You're late for work…you look disheveled…you're bloated…you're always impatient…" (Dry p. 11) But one morning, Augusten showed up at a client meeting reeking of alcohol, only hours after a night of heavy drinking. The next day, he missed a team meeting, arriving just at the end, wearing the same suit he had worn the previous day and still smelling like he had just been drinking.

A few moments later, Greer and I are in my office, "having a talk."

"It's not just about you. It's about me, too. It reflects on me. We're a team. And because you're not holding up your half of the team, I'm suffering. My career is suffering."

"I know. I'm really sorry. I'm just really stressed out lately. I honestly have cut way back on the drinking. But sometimes, well, I mess up."

Suddenly, Greer takes an Addy Award off my bookcase and hurls it across the room against the wall. "Don't you understand what I am telling you?" she screams. "I'm telling you that you are bringing us down. You are destroying not only your career, but mine."

"So I drink a little too much sometimes. I'm in advertising. Ad people sometimes drink too much." And then I actually point at her. "You make it sound like I'm some bum in the Bowery." Bums, I want to remind her, do not make six-figure salaries. They do not have Addy Awards.

She looks at me without any trace of uncertainty. She is unmoved by my comments. "Augusten," she says, "you're going down. And I'm not going with you." She turns and walks out of my office, slamming the door hard behind her.

(Dry pp. 15-17, edited for length and language)

The next day, Greer arranged a meeting with their two bosses and the agency's human resources professional. The group met to discuss options for Augusten, then called him into the room.

I have a feeling I know what this is about, but at the same time I think it can't possibly be what I'm thinking. What I'm thinking is too unthinkable. This can't be about my drinking.

Elenor rises from her chair and walks around her desk. She stands before and then sits back on the edge of her desk, clasping her hands in front of her. "Augusten, we have a problem," she begins. Then in a rather light and playful tone she adds, "That sounds almost like an insurance commercial, doesn't it?" Her smile dies and she continues. "But seriously, Augusten. We do have a problem. It's your drinking. You have a drinking problem and it's affecting your work. And you're going to need to do something about it immediately."

It's horrible, but I immediately think I can't wait to tell Jim about what's happening right now, when we have drinks later. Thinking this makes me accidentally smirk.

Greer gets off the sofa and stands next to Elenor. "It's not a joke, Augusten. It's serious. You're a mess. Everybody knows it. I knew the only way to get through to you would be to have an intervention." She is trembling, I see.

(Dry pp. 19-24, edited for length and language)

They suggest residential treatment. Augusten denies he needs "rehab," saying he can cut down on his drinking. But after realizing that he will lose his job if he doesn't, he agrees to go.

Augusten's first attempt at sobriety failed after about ten months. But his second attempt worked. Today, he is still sober after seven years.

Excerpted from DRY: A Memoir by Augusten Burroughs. Copyright by the author and reprinted with permission from St. Martin's Press, LLC.