If it is difficult not to drink for several days in a row or, when circumstances require it (taking medication, the need to work), many understand that they have an addiction, and begin to look for a way to get rid of alcoholism on their own.
Psychology of dependence on alcohol
To understand how to quit drinking alcohol yourself, it is necessary to study the nature of addictive behavior.Any type of dependence has two components, including alcohol.On the one hand, there is a mechanism of cellular compensation, when periodic poisoning of the body alcohol leads to a change in metabolism (the body adapts to work in the new conditions).This process is perceived by a person as a need for the next dose of alcohol.Therefore, the alcoholic feels physical relief when it satisfies this traction.
On the other hand, the reason for the development of alcohol dependence is the lack of an emotional balance: the feeling of the inner void that a person is trying, one way or another, to fill in something from the outside.A means of compensation can be some kind of activity distracting attention or taking the consciousness of substances.
Important!Physiological addiction plays far from the main role in the development of alcohol dependence.
The behavioral (psychological) addiction is that a person is looking for a reason to return to the emotional state that was once caused by alcohol intoxication.To break this associative connection between the intake of alcohol and the occurrence of psychological relaxation is very problematic, which causes the main difficulties in an independent struggle against alcoholism.
Is it possible to quit drinking alcohol on your own
The harder the stage of alcoholism, the more difficult it is to stop drinking without the help of doctors.If at the first stage, when there is no physiological dependence and withdrawal syndrome, it is relatively easy to abandon alcohol, then at a later date an attempt to cope with this task without special medicines often fail.
Important!A sharp rejection of alcohol with severe binge is associated with severe physical suffering and fraught with a high risk of health complications up to death.In this case, alcohol detoxification is necessary gradually and preferably under the supervision of a doctor.
Nevertheless, hope for a way out of a vicious circle exists.This is evidenced by examples of lucky ones who have found a way to overcome a pernicious habit.The causes of alcoholism
The causes of alcoholism
Three factors can be distinguished that contribute to the development of alcohol addiction:
- Genetics.The risk of developing the disease in people whose biological parents abused alcohol is several times higher than in children of the teetotalers.
Pay attention!Despite the fact that in some cases a tendency to alcoholism is due to hereditary factors, no one is doomed to become an alcoholic from birth.
- Negative environmental factors (problems in personal life, career, death of loved ones).Attempts to drown grief in a bottle often lead to alcoholism.Someone starts to drink for courage.
- Cultural values.Drinking is part of our identity.Alcohol became a synonym for "good rest."“Blag” is still fashionable.Among young guys and girls, the ability to pour huge doses of alcohol is often considered a special sign of adulthood and steepness.The first steps to dependence are taken by most people at a rather young age.First of all, men fall into the risk zone, since male alcoholism in society is much more tolerant than female.
Where to start getting rid of dependence
After the decision is made to abandon alcohol independently, first of all, it is necessary to take control of not behavior, but to balance emotions.
Training in relaxation methods
Supervisor sometimes for years to drink and breaks up with the fact that the main reason for the occurrence of dependence on alcohol is not eliminated an emotional imbalance.The basic principles of the recovery program should be the creation of comfortable sobriety, teaching more healthy methods of relieving stress.Just remove alcohol, remove the only “crutch” on which the psyche was based when falling into critical situations is wrong.
Before throwing drink, you must learn to relax and cheer yourself up without the help of alcohol.To do this, you can try the following techniques:
- Meditation.The easiest way to quit drinking yourself is to introduce meditation into your daily routine.There is nothing complicated in this practice.You just need to retire, take a convenient pose and close your eyes.Within 15 minutes, you should try not to think about anything, focusing only on your own breaths and exhalations.Meditation helps to stabilize the emotional background, to gain greater control over its thinking and actions.
- Muscle relaxation techniques.For example, consistent tension and relaxation of 10-15 seconds of various muscle groups.You can start with the head of the head, ending with your fingers and vice versa.Regular performance of the exercise helps to reduce physical and nervous stress, eliminates the attacks of fear and panic.
- Technique of peaceful visualization.Universal images of the sea with calm waves, the sky with slowly floating white clouds are considered.To enhance the effect, you can listen to audio files with a recording of nature sounds.
Working with negative emotions
A person who finds a way to feel satisfied and happy most of the time, very quickly begins to feel the loss of interest in alcohol.He naturally has a desire for other things and classes.Thus, the need for hard self -control, the application of willpower disappears.
In the fight against dependence, it is important for a person to be able to find peace in where he is at the moment.Treat yourself with understanding and sympathy.When the habit of abuse of alcohol is declared war, they hate her, arrange a hunt for her, she refuses to give up without a fight.The struggle with its own subconscious is meaningless.Unconsciously working psyche programs can only be tried to bring to the area of awareness and gently transform.
It is necessary to break the connection of the habit of drinking with emotional experiences.Change the chain "Negative event - the departure from negative emotions - intake of alcohol."Emotional pain, like physical, is the signaling system of the body that informs of some kind of violation.For example, every random touch to a hot plate would end with a serious burn if pain impulses had not forced him to pull his hand in time.Negative emotions are also not something bad that you need to evade.
Negative emotions help to quickly determine errors in your own thinking.So, derogatory thoughts aimed at other people or oneself are always felt as sadness, wine, irritation, anger.They are so unpleasant precisely then to make us abandon the messages that called them.
Pay attention!Stress is easier to warn than to remove.
Seeking a more kind and optimistic outlook on life, we experience positive emotions.The need to go into an alcoholic binge or somehow drown out your feelings in some way.
Search for proper motivation
If getting rid of alcohol dependence is felt as an obligation, and not a personal desire, then the chances of being able to stop using significantly decrease.For this reason, it is so difficult to reach close to loved ones suffering from alcoholism.
A person has the forces to quit alcohol only when he begins to fully realize the risk of losing something very significant for himself (family, respect, career).At the same time, he often reaches for a bottle when he loses the meaning of life.Therefore, in order to independently get rid of alcohol dependence, you need to find in your present or the future the same thing for which it is worth remaining sober and healthy, which is more valuable than the joy of crap oblivion.
Additional information.It will be useful to listen to the audiobook of Allen Carra “easy way to quit drinking” or study the work of Claude Schneiter “Treatment of Alcoholism”.
How long does the period of weaning last
In people who have long abused alcohol for a long time, the recovery process occurs quite painfully.In the muscles there is aching pain, migraine, nausea torment.These symptoms indicate the beginning of the restructuring of the body.
The human body is a very flexible tool.If you manage to keep itself and not drink alcohol for at least five days, the body will begin to actively look for a new way to balance itself and stop sending impulses to the brain about the need for a new dose of alcohol.The desire to drink will decrease.Therefore, in the first week, you need to collect all the willpower into a fist and try not to break.Then it will be much easier.
Pay attention!It is possible to reduce the craving for alcohol with “lapel” recipes based on herbs only in the absence of medical contraindications.
As a rule, on the fifth day after refusing alcohol, a person begins to feel a steady improvement in well -being.However, food is still poorly tolerated.Vomiting may occur.Significant changes in physical condition occur a month after refusing alcohol.Problems with digestion are eliminated, mental processes are restored.
However, this is just the physiological side of the issue.Mental restoration and getting rid of behavioral addiction can take much more time.After all, you have to learn to cope with life problems without the help of alcohol.
Pay attention!It is necessary to distinguish between withdrawal syndrome after binge with psychological symptoms, which can be caught by surprise during the first year after abandoning alcohol.
Many, having ceased to drink alcohol, are faced with severe anxiety, insomnia, irritability, and depression.Sedatives and antipsychotics at this stage can become an auxiliary tool, but they do not replace work with the psyche.Complete weaning occurs 6-12 months after the last glass of alcohol.
How to organize your time after refusal
As a rule, alcohol dependence is widely supported by the way of life that a person leads.For example, in the minds of many people, an indispensable attribute of holidays and celebrations is alcohol, dinner should not do without a glass of wine, watching a football match without a couple of cans of beer.
Even if a person dares to lead a sober life, his own friends and colleagues can knock him down from the way, breaking through the use of a glass or two at every joint event.Others can still be respectfully treated to a woman’s abandonment from alcohol.But how not to drink alcohol at all?Often, alcohol is present at business meetings, commemoration and in many other situations, when refusing to drink is not quite correct.It is best to lie that you are allergic or you are driving than to go into detailed explanations.Also, to comply with the rules of etiquette, it is sometimes enough to moisten your lips and set aside the glass.
The first weeks and months after the rejection of alcohol can be found that he has touched on all areas of life.Therefore, important steps on the path of liberation from dependence are a change in the usual routine, a ruthless deliverance from the environment pulling down.It is advisable to plan detoxification for the time of vacation and conduct it away from the usual situation.It is important to enlist the moral support of home.After all, members of one family are sincerely interested in each other's health.When the connection of the habit with the way of life is eliminated, she has nothing to rely on.