I'M AN ALCOHOLIC...
Increased stress and the feeling of not being in control in a problematic situation increases the risk of relapse. The story: This person is insecure and feels social pressure to join friends in drinking. The person has heard that because of a business slowdown her job might be eliminated and has reacted by starting to drink.
Alcohol addiction has two kinds of cognitive and emotional responses
One is conflict and guilt the other is self-blame. An
alcoholic who breaks abstinence for the first time may
continue to drink after the lapse in order to relieve the
conflict and guilt related to the first drink. The individual
may also reduce the conflict between the drinking
behavior and the goal of avoiding relapses by thinking:
"This just proves I'm an alcoholic. I can't control my
drinking once I start it." Rather than attributing the
lapse to the difficult situation, people who use these
cognitions are likely to blame themselves for lack of
willpower or inability to resist temptation. Such
thoughts increase the probability that a single drink may
snowball into a full-strength alcoholic binge and a total
relapse.
One of the primary goals of the relapse-prevention program is to train the
individual to recognize the early-warning signals that
may precede a relapse and to plan and carry out a series
of intervention or coping strategies before it is too late
to do anything about it. The relapse-prevention technique
holds promise not only for alcohol abuse but also
for drug use, smoking, and other problems of self control
such as dieting.
Abstinence versus Controlled Drinking
A sometimes intense and angry dispute about the necessity for
abstinence began in the 1960s when studies reported
that some former alcoholics could continue to drink
moderately, advocates of controlled drinking are
behavioral or cognitive-behavioral therapists who see
alcohol as a bad habit or a personal or social
problem of abstinence, including "Alcoholics
Anonymous" and many medical and mental health
professionals, believe that loss of control is inevitable for
an alcoholic once drinking starts. They tend to regard
alcoholism as a disease whose progress can be arrested
only by removing the poison that causes it.
Critics of the disease approach argue that while
abstinence can work well for some individuals, it is very
hard to live up to; moreover, recovery from alcoholism
may not require such a drastic step new study that suggested
that alcohol abusers can change without abstinence.
The Study
Over 900 individuals with severe alcohol problems
were studied for four years after they had been admitted
to one of eight federal alcoholism treatment centers.
The researchers found that at the end of four years
almost half of the subjects were either abstinence from
alcohol or drinking in a controlled manner. The
most interesting findings was that alcoholics over age 40
who were highly dependent on alcohol when they were
admitted to the program had lower relapse rates when
they abstained completely. In contrast, those under 40
who had low levels of dependence when they entered
the program were less likely to relapse if they practiced
controlled drinking rather than abstinence
Another longitudinal study also found that some
alcohol abusers can return to drinking on a controlled
basis without abusing alcohol (Vaillant and Milofsky,
1982). However, subjects who were alcohol dependent
and/or had many alcohol-related problems generally can not do this.
For Treatment:
www.theliberatormethod.com/Welcome.html
Alcohol addiction has two kinds of cognitive and emotional responses
One is conflict and guilt the other is self-blame. An
alcoholic who breaks abstinence for the first time may
continue to drink after the lapse in order to relieve the
conflict and guilt related to the first drink. The individual
may also reduce the conflict between the drinking
behavior and the goal of avoiding relapses by thinking:
"This just proves I'm an alcoholic. I can't control my
drinking once I start it." Rather than attributing the
lapse to the difficult situation, people who use these
cognitions are likely to blame themselves for lack of
willpower or inability to resist temptation. Such
thoughts increase the probability that a single drink may
snowball into a full-strength alcoholic binge and a total
relapse.
One of the primary goals of the relapse-prevention program is to train the
individual to recognize the early-warning signals that
may precede a relapse and to plan and carry out a series
of intervention or coping strategies before it is too late
to do anything about it. The relapse-prevention technique
holds promise not only for alcohol abuse but also
for drug use, smoking, and other problems of self control
such as dieting.
Abstinence versus Controlled Drinking
A sometimes intense and angry dispute about the necessity for
abstinence began in the 1960s when studies reported
that some former alcoholics could continue to drink
moderately, advocates of controlled drinking are
behavioral or cognitive-behavioral therapists who see
alcohol as a bad habit or a personal or social
problem of abstinence, including "Alcoholics
Anonymous" and many medical and mental health
professionals, believe that loss of control is inevitable for
an alcoholic once drinking starts. They tend to regard
alcoholism as a disease whose progress can be arrested
only by removing the poison that causes it.
Critics of the disease approach argue that while
abstinence can work well for some individuals, it is very
hard to live up to; moreover, recovery from alcoholism
may not require such a drastic step new study that suggested
that alcohol abusers can change without abstinence.
The Study
Over 900 individuals with severe alcohol problems
were studied for four years after they had been admitted
to one of eight federal alcoholism treatment centers.
The researchers found that at the end of four years
almost half of the subjects were either abstinence from
alcohol or drinking in a controlled manner. The
most interesting findings was that alcoholics over age 40
who were highly dependent on alcohol when they were
admitted to the program had lower relapse rates when
they abstained completely. In contrast, those under 40
who had low levels of dependence when they entered
the program were less likely to relapse if they practiced
controlled drinking rather than abstinence
Another longitudinal study also found that some
alcohol abusers can return to drinking on a controlled
basis without abusing alcohol (Vaillant and Milofsky,
1982). However, subjects who were alcohol dependent
and/or had many alcohol-related problems generally can not do this.
For Treatment:
www.theliberatormethod.com/Welcome.html