Went from heavy everyday drinker in my early 20s, started the rounds of rehabs and became a frequent spree drinker in my mid to late 20's. Age 29, quit drinking for 4 years after taking Naltrexone every day for about 2 years. CURRENTLY: The past 7 years I would be classified as a periodic alcoholic, I have been having severe relapses after months of abstinence, sometimes more frequent (a few weeks) and other times pretty spaced out 10 months-year. Point is I usually don't drink although I believe if I lived alone and not with my wife and kids my bouts would be much more frequent, so it's hard for me to be honest with myself about my cravings.

I was detoxed in the ER last week and finished a Librium taper yesterday. I'm interested in giving TSM a go even though it feels very taboo and I'm not sure how it would work in a completely non-social drinker. I never drink in front of others unless I'm at a casino.

So am I supposed to go out of my way and for example drink 2 drinks a day for 30 days even though I don't feel like it to heal the brain? or should I not drink if I don't feel like it and wait, even though that may be weeks or months? What is the minimum frequency that you need to drink for the TSM approach to be effective?

I also have a cross addiction to gambling that was greatly stifled by my long-term use of Naltrexone in the past. The only game I will play now is poker, but I do tend to let it preoccupy my mind and sometimes go on binges when I have other responsibilities. I'm not sure how that would play into reaching true extinction because I would imagine that it complicates matters.

Hi and welcome to TheSinclairMethod.com, BuffMaltese!

Your current drinking habit isn't all that odd, most people that go for abstinence relapse multiple times within 5 years.

There's a Nurse Practitioner in the UK that does a home detox on his patients, then starts them up on TSM soon thereafter. His name is Paul Turner, his website is AlcoholHomeTreatment.com. I really don't know a lot of detail on his technique, but people tend to get control of their drinking pretty quickly from my understanding. You could also wait till you actually crave a drink, then start TSM. One drink per drinking session is all that's needed for TSM, so if you can do without the subsequent drinks, so much the better.

As far as a minimum frequency goes, I can't really say. Some docs tell their patients to drink every day for 2 weeks to get used to the side effects, some have their patients drink every day for 90 days. Core TSM has always been to wait until you crave a drink.

I don't know how the gambling would complicate things. Maybe if you had a drink while you played you'd kill them both at the same time?