There has been a lot of comment back and forth about whether extinction works the same if you only drink once or twice a week or whether you drink every day.

The consensus of opinion has been to drink just the way you normally drink - so if you only drink on weekends then continue drinking only on weekends.

I wonder about the soundness of this advice.

On page 23 of "The Book" Eskarpa is explaining about the Pavlovian experiments which first uncovered the concept of extinction.

He says that extinction is not like learning at all.

"Extinction is a separate mechanism from learning and obeys different rules. For example. learning works best when there is a lot of time between each trial, but extinction requires "massed trials." If Pavlov had only rung the bell once a week without giving food, there would have been little or no reduction in the amount of salivation. Instead, he had to ring it over and over again in a short period of time.

I read this to mean that if you only drink once or twice a week you are going to have a difficult time achieving extinction and it may not conform to the classical extinction curve.

Therefore, better to try to adjust your drinking patterns to a little each day.

Here is a post from a topic I started with cites to Eskapa
viewtopic.php?f=7&t=321&p=2957#p2957
Some binge drinkers (e.g. Potao) have found success without altering drinking patterns -- it may take longer.

i actually started off being the binge drinker.. alwasy blacking out on weekends, but really only drinking twice a week. the i came to have a bf and he drank everydya,, so i did to. so now im an everynight drinker-even drinking during the day often.. and i rarely black out due to my tolerance increase.. i miss the binge drinking days almost..its horrible.

I think the term "binge drinking" can be misleading. My normal pattern, and many others I suspect, is to drink 'till I'm drunk some nights a week and have some nights AF. I've been doing this for years with not too much variation, and it has sort of works for me to manage my problem drinking. I used to drink every night when I was younger, mostly because I had no lifestyle demands that would make everyday drinking impossible. But now I have work, relationship, child, ambitions, and many other things that make it necessary for me to take a few nights off a week just to keep my life together.

I don't consider my AL nights to be a binge, per se. They are just nights I have allowed myself to drink. Many times these nights turn into more drinks than I had wanted (nature of the beast), but the overall pattern is still one of managed alcoholism.

But sometimes I start to string AL nights together, or AL nights become AL days, with excuses made to clients, kids, family members. And after a few of these it becomes hard to stop, due to depression, physical withdrawal, habit, and what have you. This is what I call a binge: when I have become unable to manage my life, and fall into a days-long drunk. If this didn't happen to me, I probably wouldn't think I had a problem at all.

Since I have been doing TSM, I have had a lot less "binge" periods, and quite a bit more managed drinking. Somehow the pattern of continuous drinking gets broken before it gets a hold on me. Now my goal is to cut down the amount I drink per session, and maybe even try to have more three-or-four drink nights. From what I understand, a few drinks more often (with Nal) would contribute more to extinction than many drinks all at once. Please correct me if I'm wrong!

I believe more accurate terms might be: "everyday drinkers" vs "periodic drinkers" vs "binge drinkers".

Bottom line: there are a lot of different ways to get into this mess, but TSM will work to get us out of it, regardless; some patterns may just require more time to correct than others.

Apparently it won't work if you suffer from chronic anxiety or mania, if you are prescribed by a licensed physician to take benzos.

Bob, What's happening with you ? Don't get down on this , I've seen your damning posts and hope it was just expressing a fleeting doubt more than a rethinking of the whole process . I hope you still stick with your own earlier key observation that there really is no sense in quitting this , and if did where go ?! I think the logic still holds regardless of any pill complications which may only reduce effects and / or lengthen the process . get back , get on , post soon .

"Fleeting doubt" and an emotional irrational response were the reason for the past few days. I got disillusioned and my drinking was out of control, then Dr. Roy hit me with the "benzos hamper TSM" post.

After some reflection, I have decided not to give up because the opiate receptors are still blocked, therefore extinction must occur, regardless of the meds in my bloodstream.

So, I am not quitting and I am back to Nal + Drinking = Cure.

Bob

Bob, I am with you on this. Someone also gave me some info. that was hopeful with the combo of the benzo's and Naltrexone. It just may take longer. I have some other really great news of my own. Yesterday I had a 10 craving and so I took my Naltrexone and actually only waited l/2 hour and poured a glass of wine and sipped on it. By the time I finished that glass I was done! I would have been forcing another! I had a meeting came home to prepare supper and is my habit poured a second glass of wine. Don't even think I really wanted it, but did drink it very slowly. I corked the bottle and that was it for the night, no further cravings, it did taste good but it was not the high I usually get. I was done for the night and that my friends is a first for me!!!!!! I am very excited about this in lieu of this recent rock in the road!!!! Wanted to share this with any of you who are having a hard time right now.

I also want to say to Bob that maybe he could think of himself like me. I am not taking benzos but I am not a daily drinker so I suspect it will take longer for me. I think it will take longer for both of us. We have slightly different reasons why but nonetheless. The result may be the same. The only reason it may be different is if information comes up that says so. Other wise I think it may be the same. Not 100% sure tho.