Researchers also suggest that mindfulness-based activities may help people abstain from drinking alcohol, such as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and meditation. Excessive alcohol use often coincides with other mental health disorders. Many people in recovery discovered that mental health disorders, such as PTSD, anxiety, depression, ADHD, etc., and trauma helped to fuel their unhealthy relationship with alcohol. In theory, setting one big giant goal of “never drinking again” makes sense. Unfortunately, immediately setting your mind to achieving this one and only hard-and-fast goal is why many people struggle to quit drinking or why they relapse early on in their recovery journey.
See yourself as a person who doesn’t drink
Alcohol causes changes in your brain that make it hard to quit. Trying to tough it out on your own can be like trying to cure appendicitis with cheerful thoughts. Engaging in physical activities, individually or in a group setting, can be a suitable distraction. Physical activities may help curb urges to drink and improve a person’s mood so they are less likely to consume alcohol in the first place. Replacing alcohol with healthy activities that do not encourage drinking can be a healthy alternative. People may also decide to speak with a doctor about effective strategies.
The Shocking Ways Alcohol Damages & Reshapes Your Brain
- If it’s all you’ve known and you give it up out of fear, your desire for familiarity will win in the long run.
- Whether you want to take a break from drinking or you’re quitting alcohol for keeps, bring in some pros to help.
- In a 2022 study, researchers investigated the perception of food and alcohol on both alcohol industry-funded websites and nonalcohol-industry-funded websites.
- Acknowledge what sparked your desire to drink and hone in on that trigger.
- These short-term mistakes cannot allow the derailment of the main goal to stop drinking.
Avoiding social events that involve alcohol may also help someone overcome the urge to drink. Avoidance can be temporary, and people can return to social activities when they can better manage their urges. However, self-affirmation exercises may be time-consuming. Structured self-affirmation exercises that take up less time, such as answering a series of yes or no questions, can also be effective in helping people reduce or stop drinking alcohol.
Addiction Treatment Programs
Even when you understand the benefits of quitting drinking, it still can be an intimidating prospect to actually kick the habit and know how to quit alcohol safely. The reality is there is no right or wrong way to give up alcohol. Tips for quitting drinking that drug addiction treatment work for another person may or may not work for you. One of the significant reasons to quit drinking is that doing so can help reduce depression and anxiety symptoms while enhancing self-esteem.
Potential alcohol withdrawal symptoms
Tapering off alcohol helps some people start their recovery journeys. It can also be a good idea for people who don’t want to, or can’t, attend any type of full detoxification program. Express your concerns in a caring way and encourage your friend or family member to get help. Try to remain neutral and don’t argue, lecture, accuse, or threaten. It’s much easier to avoid drinking if you don’t keep temptations around.
- Oar helps members cut down on alcohol or quit drinking completely.
- Part of learning how to quit drinking is understanding that there may be slip-ups and backslides along the way.
- Emotionally, you may feel some anxiety or sadness about ending a chapter of your life and nervousness about the future.
- You can seriously pursue your goals and invest in the type of life that you want.
- It is helpful for individuals to understand their motivations and goals behind it.
- You can change or withdraw your consent at any time by clicking the “Consent Preferences” button at the bottom of your screen.
However, if you are in pursuit of something new and better, you’re more likely to stick to it. This commitment puts the power back in your hands =https://ecosoberhouse.com/ to decide if you ever want to drink again, but once you experience the great benefits, you probably won’t want to. You will need powerful reasons to stay committed to it; otherwise, environmental and peer pressures will drag you off the wagon. This fear gives you a healthy respect for the process and ensures that you take it seriously. It doesn’t matter what you’re specifically afraid of, but you must acknowledge that you ARE afraid.
Tell family members and friends you want to get healthier.
- This can give you more brain space for work, and everything else important in life.
- Strong fears move you away from self-destructive behavior, while a strong why pushes you towards improving your life.
- Overcoming an addiction to alcohol can be a long and bumpy road.
- There are effective treatment approaches that can help you quit, so talk to your doctor or a mental health professional if you need more help finding options that will work for you.
- When you quit drinking you can refocus your attention on repairing these relationships without the barrier of alcohol.
Cravings may also occur due to stress or no discernable reason at all. In your mind, sobriety means giving up a large part of this social life and all of the people you drink with. You may not think about this constantly, but it’s in the back of every drinker’s mind. It’s one of the things that all recovering alcoholics warn you about. Are you trying to drink less or stop drinking completely?
Use resources by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)
The one that’s right for you depends on your situation and your goals. Many people find that a combination of treatments works best, and you can get them together through a program. Some of these are inpatient or residential programs, where you stay at a treatment center for a while. Others are outpatient programs, where you live at home and go to the center for treatment.
- In particular, she’s committed to helping decrease stigma around mental health issues.
- Milder cases — when people abuse alcohol but aren’t dependent on it — are as well.
- Your health and wellness is unique to you, and the products and services we review may not be right for your circumstances.
Medications
In the early stages, it’s a good idea to avoid situations where you may be tempted to drink. This could mean opting out of the weekly pub quiz for a while, or if you tend to drink when eating out, try going to restaurants that don’t sell alcohol or simply volunteer to drive. Firstly, if you think you may be dependent on alcohol, you should consult your doctor or another health professional. You could speak to your GP or a member of their team, or there are a number of national alcohol support services that you can confidentially self-refer to for advice and support. Mainstream advice recommends cutting down gradually to control your alcohol intake. Yet How to Stop Drinking they don’t recognise that cutting down is even harder than stopping.