Alcoholism

[William Gaatjes]

I used to think this way...but medicine and biochemistry disagrees.

It can provide the same type of brain re-wiring as any other addictive substance, which will lead to its own set of physical withdrawal symptoms when trying to quit.

It is not simply "a desire" that someone has. To clarify, someone that "drinks a lot" may not necessarily be an alcoholic.

If you need a few belts of scotch just to wake up, get through to lunch, then get yourself to afternoon, where you pass out on the floor and sleep for the next 8 or 10 hours....you are addicted.

Maybe this will help for some ? What a lot of people do not understand (And there is nothing wrong with not knowing how the body works in detail, just to clarify) is how the body functions.

It is all about using gratification and your reward system against your wrongly rewired brain. You need to properly reroute your brain and it can be done with determination. The brain will adapt to any kind of situation. But just as neurons can reroute connections to start using different nerves for motor control. The same can be done for certain states of mind and the accompanying feelings. For this to work, the Pavlov system is the answer. You effectively condition yourself to recognize the trigger. And you condition your body in such a way that you feel bad and have feelings of disgust when you start to think about the consequences. And that you will feel good when you decide not to use. Now, nobody can force this upon you. You have to make the decision yourself. Free will may suck at times. But it is for the best forever.

The whole point is to learn your triggers and learn your brain to respond to those triggers. What kind of mindset you had at the moment you start to use/abuse any kind of drug to be able to function daily. What kind of mindset forced the growing desire...(You can add your own situation here)

For most people it is stress related. Stress those people up, you will get them to use/abuse. Some will stress themselves up. Especially if the local environment teaches (predisposed or not) that alcohol is good for the nerves. I have heard many interesting stories. Some claim their body just took of while their mind was blank. Others get this agitating feeling they need something. Again others cannot celebrate without alcohol. The list goes on. But there is always a trigger. Towards a mindset. Certain emotions. Certain memories. As if their mind was caught up in an endless loop. This cycle must be broken. End the first way to do so is to stop thinking and start feeling. Feel your brainstem, your spinal cord, your body to your gut. And you breathe while using your abdomen. Not the upper part of your chest. When you breath out, pull your abdomen towards your spine and activate the muscles. Primarily as if you are lifting up your knees towards your chest. That is most important. For some it will seem as if you are helping your bowls.

You have to start to relax while only feeling pleasant and not thinking. Now you can start thinking again. Then you start to ask yourself (in your thoughts of course not out loud) what was the trigger and how you can recognize it. Trace back your memories and the event. If you do this for a few weeks, you will notice you will be able to recognize it. When you can recognize it, you will see it becomes a choice. A difficult one, but you will start to realize the benefits of not using/abusing (enter the name of your drug here) .... compared to using. Most important, go to the bathroom or some other place to momentarily isolate yourself. You will start to notice that your brain chemistry starts to change over a period of months of not using. Because you will feel pleasant when you decide to not use and you will feel horrible when you do. These distinct feelings will help you to get through. When you can no longer trust your mind, learn to trust your feelings. Your body does not lie. When it is drained of energy and minerals, it will notify you in anyway possible that your lifestyle is not good and you will age faster then you should.
There is one weakness in this system. No doubts you must have. If you do and desire consciously and made the decision to use/abuse. You will experience set backs. But you must never accept that you can never be free of your burden. If you do, you consciously decide that you wish to use/abuse.
And nothing can help you then.

 

[FDF12389]

So wait, above you say that alcohol can provide a "feel good feeling that people can become psychologically dependent on," but here you say that alcohol creates physical dependence without psychological dependence. Which is it?

I said "When YOU say "Addiction" YOU mean" in reference to the person I had quoted. I'll edit to try and make that more clear.

wrong. it is a physiological addiction. alcohol dependency very much alters your brain chemistry. no less than heroin or nicotine. this is how one classifies addiction.

You still don't get it. Porn affects your brain chemistry in that way too, but unless you're religious you probably wouldn't call porn an addiction. Would you? No, because the physiological changes are not not causing the psychological desire.

 

[xj0hnx]

Alcohol dependency and addiction are just two different stages of alcoholism. Addiction leads to dependency.

Yes, and not necessarily. One can be addicted a substance without being an dependent on it, while one can also develop physical dependence on a substance without displaying the characteristics of an addict. For instance there are a lot of people that use opiates to relieve chronic pain that are not addicts, and there are a lot of pot smokers that do display signs of addiction that are not physically dependent on pot.

 

[xj0hnx]

wrong. it is a physiological addiction. alcohol dependency very much alters your brain chemistry. no less than heroin or nicotine. this is how one classifies addiction.

Correct, it does alter brain chemistry and develop a real physical need, false that this is how one classifies addiction. There's a lot of overlap, but addiction at it's core is based on the actions of the person, not simply the physical symptoms.

 

[lord_emperor]

My father is a recovering alcoholic.

Your own father proves it is a choice.

 

[zinfamous]

Your own father proves it is a choice.

all drugs are a choice.

that doesn't mean they can't form addictions.