Like many here, I've been told many times that I drink because I'm "self-medicating" because I'm depressed, or anxious, or stressed out - and I've believed it as I THINK I can see that in my own life. Now I just read this quote from Dr. Eskapa which says this is not the case:

Alcoholics do not drink for pleasure, nor to escape unpleasantness, nor indeed for any purpose – they drink because their brains have become wired to make them drink.

The belief that compulsive drinking is under rational conscious control has led to unsuccessful treatments for the disease and an untold amount of needless suffering and pain. Because of the assumption that abusing alcohol is a rational behavior chosen logically to maximize pleasure and minimize pain, the most common treatment has been to punish drinking.

Is this why TSM is said to "cure" our excessive drinking even without counselling or fixing up any of our problems?

I'd be interested in reading what others think about this.

I might even stop beating myself up for using alcohol to fix problems in my life. I might even start seeing the drinking as the problem not my life. This might lead me to relax a bit more and trust that TSM will help me. THEN I may see my problems in a more rational light. Make any sense???????

I've just been reading more in the section entitled "Questions and Answers about TSM" sometimes called "the missing chapter" of Dr. Eskapa's book. I had forgotten so much of what I'd originally read about TSM and I bet there are newbies here too who have been in such a rush to find help that they have not read all there is to read. The following is very significant to my mind and I'm going to do some thinking on it.


Q: Surely the Sinclair Method missed the point that drug addicts and alcoholics need to express pent-up emotions and resolve deep conflicts from their past which can only be addressed in the warm, safe, and compassionate environment of a formal therapeutic setting?


A: One of my mentors, Prof Arnold Lazarus, a leading clinical psychologist in the United States, once told an audience of two thousand psychologists at the Eastern Psychological Association that in working with patients “nothing moves me more than kindness and compassion.” He went on to say that no amount of compassion could substitute for active ingredients, techniques, or medications that were proven to actually work.

Alcohol addiction is primarily a physiological or medical condition with secondary psychological features by impinging on your life. The data from the NIAAA, the NIDA, and many others prove that 85% relapse back to heavy drinking no matter what kind of therapy is used. All the psychotherapy in the world, all the exploration of inner emptiness, expression of pain, or confession and remorse does nothing to cure the illness.

All the theoretical analysis, self-incrimination, blame, insight, and understanding about why you became alcoholic and have done regrettable things are worthless without the proper medical treatment.

I'm more convinced than ever that all my yammering about how unhappy I am, using that as an excuse to drink, may be backward thinking. Maybe I've used my "pain" as an excuse because that's what the culture tells me to do. I somehow can't just say ' hey, my brain is f___ed up and I drink because I can't help it." I have to come up with a complicated explanation about my childhood or my marriage and blame that.

I find this very liberating!!! Of course most people here may already understand all this!! But I'm just now thinking about it and it makes sense for me to just drink the damned stuff, take the nal and get better. What happens after that as far as me solving things in my life will become clearer then.

Comments?????

When I began drinking 40 yrs ago, alcohol made me "happy" and gave me courage to get on the dance floor and dance. 40 yrs later and the same drinking pattern, with the slightest feeling of anxiety, stress, depression, boredom etc, the need to drink became as strong as the need to breathe.

My brain, mind, nerve cells had adapted to need alcohol to soothe the slightest bit of agitation I was feeling. NOTHING could stop the cravings and purchase of alcohol until I started TSM.

I never counted or logged units. I just went with my FEELINGS about how I felt about alcohol.

I think counting drinks keeps you in the mind set of allowing you to keep drinking and counting on an endless cycle for some.

After about 6 pills and 6 months (I took half doses most of the time) my desire for alcohol is non-existant. I began to realize that most of my "anxieties" over the 40 yrs were actually induced by alcohol itself.

TSM has set me free.

I think it's a vicious cycle, as alcohol most definitely increases anxiety and depression as well. For me I don't know, personally. I come from a long history of bad mental problems, so I am likely to believe that I had those problems and thus found alcohol attractive early on...

Hey Jan 24,
Am I understanding you correctly that you took NAL about 12 times over 6 months and no longer drink? Can you amplify on this as I have been on again off again since 2010. I have put forth little effort except to take NAL an hour before drinking, and I stopped the NAL about a month ago due to side effects.
Thanks,
Retread

Hi Revert,

Interesting discussion! and something I've been thinking and reading a lot about recently. I started a thread a while back about a man called Stanton Peele, who believes that any compulsive behavior is under our control and that it basically boils down to whether or not we believe we can control ourselves or not. He says that addiction or any abuse of a substance or behavior is a normal process that most people do at one or several points during their lives and that most people stop or control that behavior alone. The ones who find it the most difficult are the ones who enter treatment as those people are taught powerlessness (AA). You can read more about him in my thread and the links I posted.

I think there is a great amount of self-fulfilling prophesy in our behaviors towards alcohol. We are taught that we can't control our drinking and that we must never drink, so when we do drink, we believe we can't control it so we binge.

Then of course, on the other end of the spectrum is Dr. Sinclair, and he has obtained the best results, ever.

I think that the answer is somewhere between the two. Nal does the chemical work, giving us the confidence to believe that we can control our drinking, so we do.

Curi

Wow CuriousOne that is really a thoughtful post. I'm going to think about this today and read your posts and see if I can find the links you mention. I can see how it works - we believe we are addicted and can't change so we don't change. We believe we can change so we do - and we do it naturally - doesn't matter what the trouble is, we stop because we bring forward our natural forces.

This is quite similar to findings after the Vietnam War when so many young men seemed to be hooked on heroin and cocaine. Almost all of them just stopped when they got home because they were in a different environment, had their friends and families around them again, and they had to get on with their lives - and couldn't do that when they were high all the time, or looking for a hit all the time.

For the few that were not able to stop, there were other things involved than just the using in 'Nam.

Every time we are reinforced in our belief that we are powerless, we learn that lesson and it becomes ingrained. And you're completely correct to say that naltrexone lets us take a step away - allows us a breathing space - so we can gather our resources and stop drinking - or have some obvious control - that sets up the pattern for success.

Good stuff. And I think Doctor Sinclair is simply applying this same principle - that habit can be erased when the actual brain pathways are restored to their pre drinking state. If we didn't believe we could change we wouldn't take naltrexone and follow the method.

And I wonder if the failures COULD be because those people didn't really believe THEY had much to do with the process - maybe they relied on naltrexone to the exclusion of seeing it reinforcing a belief in "self help" - that's not to blame them for their failure BUT it makes me think about my own case. Do I sit back and wait for the magic that may never come unless I push for it?????? Have i fallen into the AA mentality that I'm a victim of my genes and my family history???? What other bad habits have I overcome by working on them with the realization that my work was important - that it was necessary????

I think we are more complicated than lab rats, some people are more susceptible to addictive behaviours than others. We are also creatures of habit too, and will latch on to substances or behaviours which give us a high, or release.

Naltrexone helps relieve the physical symptoms of addiction, and this we then have the ability to break the cycle if we so wish.

Wow is right! This is a great thread you have going here. I have been struggling lately with anxiety, and as I have said in a previous post, it is one of those chicken-and-egg type questions. Do I drink because of anxiety, or am I anxious because of the alcohol.
And the point about Nal giving us the added "boost" we need to start taking more control is excellent. I just experienced a spike in consumption over the last 2 weeks, but yesterday I had the tiniest feeling of apathy toward alcohol...a decidedly new feeling, to be sure. There are days when I take my nal and count the minutes (I usually set an alarm so I know when the hour is up) but yesterday I think more than 2 hours went by, and for a moment wondered if I'd even taken it.
As of right now, I have 20 minutes left in the magic hour, and in an hour and 15 minutes, I have to drive my son somewhere. If I drink in 20 minutes, it would only be 1 or two, and I wouldn't be at risk for driving, but the bigger question is "why not wait until I get home?" I don't HAVE to drink before I go. I guess these are the little steps we can take to begin to break down the patterns we've all fallen into over the years.
As to Revert's idea that we drink because we have to, I agree. Our brains are wired wrong; or have become that way. I could not "get" the 12-step model; it just doesn't make sense to me. My brother did it and hasn't had a drop in over 25 years. I'm not saying it can't work, just not for me. If this works for me this time (3rd times a charm), I'm going to be shouting it from the rooftop. My wife is a social worker at a local hospital and part of her job is working at the "access" center (access to drug and alcohol help, that is). If TSM gets me down to moderate levels (or none) over the next few months, I'm going to buy 100 copies of Eskapa's book, and dump them off at the door (well, I can't really afford to do that, but you get the idea). I want this to work, and I am sticking with it. But CuriousOne is right, we need to take steps other than just taking the nal. Even little steps, like waiting until I get home tonight. That will be a big confidence booster, knowing that I was able to make that decision (of course my alarm just went off, so we'll see how I do).

Thanks for all the inspiration. You guys are awesome.

By the way, my mis-wired brain just told me, "but you LIKE to drink." Liar, liar.

Cheers,

NJ

Hey again,

Just wanted to report that I was successful in my attempt to postpone my first drink. I took the nal at 3:05, my alarm went off at 4:05, but I didn't have my first drink until at least 7:00. Yay. A small, yet significant step.

Cheers,

NJ