How to quit drinking for life. Don't be afraid of a sober life. What happens if you don't drink alcohol at all?

Is it possible to stop drinking on your own?

It is possible if several conditions are met.

  • Realize that alcoholism is a disease of both body and spirit.
  • Choose the right goal.
  • Find compelling reasons.
  • Choose the right moment.
  • Apply the correct techniques.

People's bodies are infinitely diverse, so you shouldn't expect absolutely the same reaction to stopping drinking alcohol. And the stage of the disease affects the severity of the sensations when the intake of alcohol stops.
From a biochemical point of view, alcohol is a cellular poison. Receiving portions of this poison, the body fights it at all levels. Every cell in the body diligently neutralizes alcohol by breaking it down. Some of the breakdown products are toxins. The liver and kidneys, like “sewage treatment plants,” cleanse the blood of these harmful substances.

The nervous system fights in its own way: in response to the depressive, depressing effect of alcohol on nerve cells, moves to a hyperactive level of activity. As soon as the flow of alcohol stops, all structures of the body experience stress. Cells and organs, having lost the “analgesic” effect of alcohol, experience pain from the presence of unresolved toxins. The nervous system continues to remain in an overexcited state.
The complex of sensations experienced by a person when withdrawing from alcohol is commonly called alcohol withdrawal.

What happens if you suddenly stop drinking alcohol?

Manifestations of alcohol withdrawal syndrome begin within a few hours and last up to several months.

The following symptoms may appear from the nervous system:

  • mood swings from depression to increased agitation;
  • hallucinations;
  • anxiety;
  • insomnia;
  • anxiety.

On all systems internal organs The following violations may occur:

  • increased heart rate;
  • arrhythmia;
  • heart failure;
  • increased blood pressure;
  • headache;
  • nausea;
  • stomach upset;
  • tremor;
  • convulsions;
  • joint pain.

Stop drinking alcohol quickly. Is it possible and is it necessary?

Neither doctors nor patients have a common opinion. Organisms are different, stages of the disease are different. What is good for one is harmful for another.

One approach is to quit drinking abruptly, immediately reducing the amount of alcohol consumed to zero. Required condition This involves a preliminary examination of the body. Why? Yes, because the body must have a margin of safety to withstand alcohol withdrawal. If the examination reveals serious illnesses, you will have to start treating them first. At the same time, gradually reduce the amount of alcohol consumed. If the body’s condition is satisfactory, it is more advisable for it to stop drinking alcohol abruptly.

How to stop drinking alcohol using folk remedies?

  1. Develop alcohol intolerance.
  2. Stop the urge to drink.
  3. Remove toxins.
  4. Treat diseased organs.
  5. Take sedatives.
  6. Conduct general health improvement body.

Quick ways to sober up

  1. Rinse the stomach with a solution of salt and soda (1 teaspoon per 1 liter of water).
  2. Rub the tips of your ears, give them something to drink mineral water or water with salt and lemon juice.
  3. Brine of sauerkraut, pickled cucumbers or tomatoes.
  4. Tincture: 1 tsp. mint 250 ml. vodka. 30 drops per glass of water.
  5. Barberry. Fruits or fresh juice.

Breaking out of binge drinking using folk remedies

  1. Curly sorrel (root). Infusion 1 tbsp. root in 250 ml. water. 1 tbsp. every 2 hours up to 6 times a day.
  2. Lovage (root) and Bay leaf. Infusion 2 tbsp. lovage and 3 laurel leaves in 300 ml. water. Take a tablespoon five times a day.
  3. Marigold. A decoction of flowers (a tablespoon) in a liter of water. Drink five glasses a day.
  4. Apple cider vinegar and honey. For a glass of water - 1 tbsp. A glass after meals.

Alcohol intolerance is caused by

  • peony;
  • club moss;
  • sorrel;
  • thyme;
  • Bay leaf;
  • lovage;
  • red pepper;
  • European hoof;
  • oleander;
  • Lobel's hellebore.

All plants are poisonous. Form a gag reflex. An overdose is dangerous to life and health. They have many contraindications for various diseases.

Consultation doctor strictly required!

How to prepare medicines for drunkenness at home?

  1. St. John's wort. A decoction of two tablespoons of herbs in 0.5 liters of water. Drink before meals.
  2. KopytenEuropean And shellimmature walnuts (1:2). Make an infusion of grape wine. Drink before meals.
  3. Lovage(1 root), laurelsheet(1 pc.) Infuse for 2 weeks in 0.5 liters of vodka. Causes a gag reflex.
  4. KopytenEuropean. Infusion 6 tbsp. l. in 0.5 liters of boiling water. Drink 100 ml on an empty stomach in the morning, the same amount at lunch. The next time you drink alcohol, vomiting occurs.
  5. Flowersnut Tincture: fill the bottle halfway with flowers and add vodka. Leave for 10 days.
  6. Thymecreeping (thyme).
    Decoction 2 tbsp. l. in 250 ml of water. Before meals, 100 ml. After 10 minutes, rinse your mouth with vodka.
    Decoction 15 gr. herbs in 0.5 liters of water. Add 10 ml of vodka to 50 ml of broth. Drink twice a day.
  7. Laurel(leaf and root). Tincture of 4 leaves and 10 cm of root in 0.5 liters of vodka.
  8. Moss moss. Decoction 1 tbsp. shoots in 250 ml of water. Two tbsp. l. on an empty stomach.
  9. Pumpkinseeds. Grind a glass of peeled seeds into powder, pour vodka (0.5 l) for a week.
  10. Helleboreor a puppeteer. Tincture 10 g of root in 50 ml of water. The plant is poisonous, so the dosage is in drops. Add two drops to food three times a day.

Relieves cravings for alcohol

  1. Oatsand calendula. Add 100 g of calendula to a hot decoction of oats (1 kg per 3 liters of water), leave for 12 hours. Drink a glass before meals.
  2. centauryand azan. Decoction (1:1). Drink regularly.
  3. Sagebrushbitter, centaury, thyme. The ratio of herbs is one tablespoon. Three tablespoons of the mixture per 250 ml of water. For several months, drink a tablespoon 4 times a day.
  4. Honey. In any combination and reasonable quantities.
  5. Bearberry. Decoction 4 tbsp. l. in 0.5 liters of water. Drink 1 tbsp. l. up to 6 times a day, every 2 hours.
  6. Thyme. Tea: 2 tsp. per glass of boiling water.
  7. Apples. Stick several steel nails into the apples overnight. During next day eat at least 4 of these apples. You should choose sour varieties.
  8. Peony. Decoction 1 tsp. rhizomes in 0.5 liters of water. Take 150 ml before meals.

Detoxification

  1. Birch chaga and rose hips. Cook separately. For 0.5 liters of boiling water, a glass of raw materials. Mix the decoctions. Drink in equal portions throughout the day.
  2. Rowan and dandelion. According to one article l. for 0.5 liters of water. Infuse in a thermos. Drink in a day.
  3. Tea mushroom. Drink up to three glasses of a drink based on this mushroom per day.
  4. Celery juice (roots and stems). Take a teaspoon before meals.
  5. Dandelion (root). Decoction 1 tsp. raw materials in 0.5 liters of water. Drink as tea 3 times a day.
  6. Elderberry (flowers). Infusion 1 tsp. in a glass of boiling water. Add 1 tsp to the warm infusion. lemon juice and honey. Drink like tea.
  7. Milk thistle. Decoction 1 tsp. seeds in 250 ml of water. Take 3 times a day.
  8. Hibiscus (hibiscus). Brew like tea. Drink in unlimited quantities.
  9. Ginseng. Decoction 1 tsp. root per 250 ml of water. Drink a glass of decoction in the morning.
  10. Nettle. Use dry or fresh to brew tea.
  11. A collection of equal parts of birch buds, chamomile, immortelle, strawberry leaves and immortelle. For 0.5 liters of water, two tablespoons of the mixture. Leave in a thermos. Drink half a glass with honey 2 times a day.
  12. Lastoven. Take 0.5 g of dry root powder for 5 days.

Soothing folk remedies

  1. Motherwort.
  2. Chamomile.
  3. Melissa.
  4. Valerian(root).
  5. Soothingcollection: 5 g lavender flowers, 20 g passionflower, 25 g lemon balm, 50 g St. John's wort. Brew 1 tsp. 250 ml of boiling water and drink as tea.
  6. Pillowfor sleep with herbs. A tablespoon of herbs: lemon balm and sweet clover leaves, hop cones, lavender flowers, St. John's wort, chamomile, orange, rose.

Restoration of affected organs, general health improvement

  1. Mixturerecovery: for 1.5 liters of boiling water 10 tbsp. l. pine needles, 6 tbsp. l. rose hips, a piece of licorice root, a pinch of onion peel. Leave in a thermos overnight. Drink in a day. Course – 4 months.
  2. Mixturefor health improvement: per glass of water – 1 tbsp. l. apple cider vinegar, lemon juice (cherry, cranberry, lingonberry). Drink on an empty stomach.
  3. Additivein tea. Dry the peels of orange, lemon and tangerine. Grind in a coffee grinder. Add 1 tsp to tea.
  4. Cranberry. Grind 1 tbsp. l. berries Pour in green tea. Add honey. Drink in the morning before meals.

How to stop drinking alcohol for a woman

How female body differs from men’s, and alcoholism of different genders has its own characteristics.

  • The addiction to alcohol develops twice as quickly as in men (three and six months, respectively).
  • The chronic stage of alcoholism occurs nine years faster in women (seven years versus sixteen).
  • Physiological and psychological differences between the sexes also dictate a different approach to recovery from alcoholism for men and women.
  • If in the selection of drugs or remedies traditional medicine There is not much difference, but there are fundamental differences in the motivation of women to stop drinking.

"Women's motives"

  • Give a birth to a baby. Healthy!
  • Raise existing children yourself, and not doom them to orphanhood.
  • To love and to be loved.
  • Create a family.
  • Save a falling apart family.
  • To be attractive, beautiful, desirable.
  • Be financially independent by acquiring or regaining a successful career.

How can a woman stop drinking on her own?

Answer the questions : why do I want to quit drinking , what is my goal ?

For example: I want to quit drinking in order to give birth to a healthy child, return to creativity, sports, career, restore health, beauty and attractiveness, return or find love.

Both the goal and the desires must be very personal, very significant, in order to justify the unpleasant sensations of giving up alcohol.

Motives are very diverse and can relate to both material and moral aspects of life.

Physicalmotivation:

  • the threat of getting sick, losing life, freedom;
  • the need for a fulfilling life;
  • recovery physical fitness, beauty, attractiveness, sexuality, libido.

Psychologicalmotivation:

  • awareness of the consequences of drinking;
  • desire to change your life status;
  • prove to yourself and others your worth;
  • stress from some event.

30 important points to stop drinking yourself

  1. Avoid companies where it is customary to drink for any reason.
  2. If this is not possible, announce in advance and firmly that you will not drink. In the case when the company insists, is offended, ridicules, part with it.
  3. Don't come up with your own reasons for drinking. Any event can be celebrated in an interesting way without alcohol.
  4. Don't cut yourself any slack.
  5. Don't feel sorry for yourself.
  6. Learn to have fun and have fun without alcohol.
  7. Remember how children play and have fun.
  8. Ask how people who do not drink for religious reasons, athletes, and people of special professions have fun.
  9. Immerse yourself in work.
  10. Fill your free time with sports, religion, art, travel.
  11. Meet new people, communicate more.
  12. Change your daily routine.
  13. Sleep from 10 pm to 6 am.
  14. Play some nice music in the morning.
  15. Do exercises, jogging.
  16. Take a contrast shower.
  17. Gradually move on to dousing with cold water.
  18. Pay attention to makeup, hairstyle, selection of clothes, even if you are not going anywhere. Schedule things for the day in the evening.
  19. Celebrate completion.
  20. Reward yourself for every task completed.
  21. Write posters, slogans, place them in prominent places.
  22. Solemnly celebrate each step in overcoming alcohol addiction.
  23. Take a bath in the evening soothing herbs, essential oils, foams. Turn on calm music.
  24. Carry out all necessary cosmetic procedures skin and hair care.
  25. Change the menu and diet.
  26. Be sure to have breakfast.
  27. Take food in small doses, but often, up to 7 times a day.
  28. Increase your consumption of fruits, vegetables, dairy products, lean meats, fish, and seafood.
  29. Pamper yourself with honey, chocolate, light confectionery.
  30. Increase fluid intake. Prefer herbal soothing teas, compotes, mineral water, fresh juices.

The best doctor is your own body. And your own brain. If you have realized that there is a disease and that it is alcoholism, if you have decided to change your life, folk remedies and advice will help you overcome alcohol addiction.

Instructions

So you are dependent on alcohol. It seems to you that he is the one who makes you happy and fills your life with meaning. But you begin to realize that this is a problem and want to stop drinking. It may not be easy for you, but you can recover if you make a firm decision to return to normal life.

The most important thing in the fight against drunkenness is motivation. Think about it with you after giving up alcohol. Imagine how many useful things you can do. Your family will be happy, you will be able to find Good work or not lose the old one. You will be able to save money for something you need, rather than spending it on alcohol. In the end, you will be a healthy person and will not shorten your life.

Make a decision. It must be clear, clear and unwavering. Prove to yourself and everyone that you have become a strong person, not lacking in willpower. From now on you should forget about drinking forever. Narcologists and psychologists recommend learning not only to drive away all thoughts about alcohol, but to ignore them.

If you are confident that you can handle your problem on your own, go for it! Avoid communicating with people who drink. Often a person drinks just for company, without realizing it, he is doing it. Over time, the behavior becomes a habit, which leads to addiction. If you have friends you drink with every time you see them, stop seeing them.

Surround yourself with loved ones. You need their support. Don't close yourself off, otherwise you may break down and start drinking out of loneliness. Do something interesting, for example sports. A new hobby can help you take your mind off drinking.

Be persistent. Doctors recommend that patients keep a personal recovery diary. For 30 days, write down everything that happened to you, that is, all interesting situations, joyful moments and positive emotions. Write down everything you have achieved this month, what good you have done. You will have to compare your emotions obtained while sober with those that arose under the influence of alcohol. Believe me, you will see the difference and realize that you have become much happier.

Don't doubt yourself. Every day remember your goal to live a healthy and full life, delighting yourself and your loved ones. If you suddenly feel a strong desire to drink alcohol, remember how many days you have lived without this poison. Even if you haven't drunk for several days, this is already an achievement, so there is no going back. Just move forward and you will definitely achieve your goal!

Related article

If you are already thinking about the question of whether to drink forever, it means that alcohol has made its own adjustments to your life. A conscious approach to getting rid of alcohol addiction is half the success, since compulsory treatment is rarely effective.

You will need

  • - pharmaceuticals prescribed by a narcologist.

Instructions

Set a goal for yourself. Alcohol addiction most often affects those who live aimlessly. The assigned tasks must be achievable. Raising the bar too high can lead to a breakdown. Do not try to achieve everything at once, gradually and smoothly move along the intended path, without retreating or turning aside.

Visit a narcologist. Making a decision to stop drinking on your own is wonderful, but professional help is essential. You will be prescribed drugs that suppress cravings for alcohol and strengthen nervous system. Antipsychotics and nootropics are used to treat alcohol addiction. The doctor selects a course of therapy individually for each patient, taking into account the characteristics of the nervous system and mental state. If necessary, you will be prescribed a course of psychotherapy and coding using modern medications.

If you took long time, sign up for the anonymous club. Among like-minded people who have stopped drinking forever, it will be easier for you to maintain a sober lifestyle, this is especially true for those whose circle of friends consists of drinking buddies. By visiting the club, you will make new friends who are striving to overcome alcohol addiction and quit drinking forever.

Every schoolchild today knows how evil alcohol is. However, this addiction is quite common in our society among the current younger generation. What should you consider if you become addicted to alcohol? We would like to immediately please you that anyone can stop drinking on your own. Exists easy way get rid of alcohol addiction forever.

How to overcome a bad habit

Let's start in order. After all, this problem is not only a medical problem, but also has directly psychological aspects and includes the work of a psychologist with a patient who is dependent on this addiction. First of all, determine the length of time you are on a binge. If this happens over the course of one to two weeks, then you will most likely have to seek the help of a qualified specialist.

Now we will try together to find answers to the most frequently asked questions about whether it will be possible to give up alcohol on your own at home and return to your previous lifestyle.

Sometimes it seems that it is impossible to fight alcohol addiction on your own. Undoubtedly, this task is quite difficult, but doable if you comply with certain conditions.

Highlights

Accept this important decision the alcoholic must do it himself, having previously realized the importance of fighting his addiction. Otherwise, all attempts made will be meaningless, and sometimes completely useless.

Close people should treat you with support and understanding at this moment. Do not try to influence a person suffering from alcohol addiction, do not lecture him, protect him from situations that will provoke a breakdown.

If the drinking person does not have strength of character, establish total control over him, observing his actions and limiting his social circle. At this stage we will need a lot of patience, but we will achieve the desired result.

Why is it difficult to get out?

A drinking person not only harms his health, but also subsequently becomes like an antisocial element. Ordinary joys are inaccessible to him, he does not experience pleasure from life, or anything better. All this recedes into the background and the only desire becomes another dose of alcohol. Therefore, there is a feeling that it is unrealistic for such a person to stop drinking at home.

However, it is not. If you really want to give up alcohol, then no matter how strong your addiction becomes, no matter how helpless you may seem to yourself, with some support it is still possible.

How to kill the "green snake"

It should be noted that there is no need to wait until you find yourself at the very bottom of the problem; decisive action must be taken now. To do this, just believe that you are able to cope with the illness, or better yet, set yourself enough personal goals so that the unpleasant sensations in the fight against the “green snake” become justified.

Medicines to help with binge drinking

If you are trying to give up alcohol without the help of specialists, you can use special medications. Most of them are sold in pharmacies without a doctor's prescription, so purchasing them will not cause you any additional difficulties.

Such drugs include:

  • activated carbon,
  • folic acid,
  • Enterosgel,
  • diuretics.

When you give up alcohol, symptoms such as tingling in the heart area, a decrease or increase in blood pressure may occur. To combat them, use regular painkillers.

“Easy coding” drugs

The following drugs can be used:

  • Diazepa,
  • Lorazepam,
  • Finlepsin.

After consuming them, a person experiences a decrease in the pleasure he previously received when drinking alcohol; he no longer experiences euphoria and pleasure. His craving for drinking alcoholic beverages is significantly reduced, as a negative emotional state is formed that follows after drinking them.

And now the Sobriety Test!!

It should be remembered that a person can stop drinking for a short period of time while they are exposed to these drugs, but this is not long-term. Therefore, family and friends should try to change his habits, find new hobbies for him, so that there is no desire to return to his previous lifestyle, while simultaneously using other ways to combat drunkenness at home.

Start breaking the habit today

Quitting alcohol at home is possible, but it is stressful for the body. There are cases when alcoholics who have willpower stopped drinking after the only phrase they uttered: “that’s enough.” Time passed, and at some point there was a general deterioration in the body's condition. We had to resort to the help of doctors, who barely managed to save the unfortunate man’s life. Therefore, a completely reasonable question arises: why wait until the critical moment to quit this bad habit? Why not protect yourself in advance?

Quitting alcohol involves more than just taking medications. Necessary conditions are the same proper nutrition and a corresponding lifestyle.

Tactics for a successful fight against drunkenness

The basic rules that must be followed are as follows:

  1. First, let's say that you have a desire to drink a shot. Freeze, take a couple of deep breaths and start repeating phrases for self-hypnosis: “I quit drinking, I will never do this again.”
  2. Secondly, a cool shower will be a good helper. It must be taken daily, preferably twice a day. Use water sparingly, as much as possible.
  3. Third, drink up to 10 glasses of water before each meal. Just pour it into a decanter to keep it in your kitchen as a reminder.
  4. Fourthly, street walks after meals are beneficial. However, try to avoid your old friends and acquaintances, as there is a risk that you will not resist the offer of a drink. Better remember everything good moments of your life.
  5. Fifthly, if the desire to drink arises spontaneously, in order to drive it away, use the shower. Cool water will calm your nerves, allowing bad thoughts to fade into the background.

Ways to get out of binge drinking and relieve hangover syndrome

Preparations for withdrawal from binge drinking by an alcoholic must be carried out carefully.

  • Prepare a sufficient amount of liquid in advance (this can be still water, canned compote, fruit drink).
  • Those collected the day before should be on hand. medicinal herbs, the necessary medications were purchased.
  • Make sure that there is no visible alcoholic beverages in the house.
  • The patient must maintain rest and bed rest.

The use of folk remedies for the treatment of alcoholism

You can find an endless variety of recipes that are used by people to combat binge drinking. Their action is mainly aimed not only at causing an aversion to strong alcoholic drinks in the patient, but also at further promoting the strengthening and restoration of the entire body as a whole. Let's highlight some of them:

  1. St. John's wort decoction. Take a liter hot water, add about four handfuls of dried herb and leave for half an hour. That's it, the decoction is ready for use. Use it before breakfast and lunch for about two weeks.
  2. Decoction of oats and calendula. Pour 2 liters of water into a bowl pre-filled one-third with oat grains. Let this mixture simmer for twenty minutes. Strain the broth and add 100 g of calendula. After staying the decoction for eleven hours under a warm blanket, take it once a day, preferably before meals.
  3. Herbal tincture. To prepare it you will need the following herbs: thyme, chamomile and centaury. The proportions of dried herbs taken should be the same. All this needs to be filled with water 5:1 and allowed to brew for three hours. Be sure to strain. Take 2 tablespoons orally 3 times a day.

Did the above allow you to understand that it is possible to win the fight against drunkenness at home? I think yes. In any case, no matter what method of struggle is chosen, you need to see the goal in front of you and clearly follow the path to achieving it. Remember that no one is immune from alcoholism. You cannot give up, even if your attempts are unsuccessful. Believe that you will be able to cope with this scourge and take the path of correction.

You will be interested in:

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This article is devoted to the very acute and topical issue of alcohol addiction in our Russian realities. Here we will talk about how to stop drinking forever and do it yourself. I won't talk about emergency measures, like coding: this post is dedicated to those who want to cope with this illness on their own and never return to alcohol again.

The primary goal of this article is not just to help you get rid of alcohol addiction, but to show how to achieve a psychological state in which alcohol is not needed! This is the qualitative difference between my methods and many others: I will tell you how to live and enjoy life without alcohol, instead of telling how, under the influence of external stimuli, including negative ones (such as coding), stop drinking for a while time, with the risk of returning to the bottle again in the future.

This article is aimed, rather, at young people who are not in the most advanced stage of alcoholism and still have the strength and ability to fight. But, nevertheless, I advise everyone to read it, no matter how strong your addiction is - the conclusions of this article will be useful for you, in any case.

Even if you think you don't have a drinking problem, I still recommend that you familiarize yourself with the conclusions presented here. It often happens that the absence of a problem is an illusion that has arisen due to established social stereotypes: after all, in Russian realities, drinking from time to time is considered normal, and no one thinks about it until this habit turns into terminal stage. Although, apparently, you need to think about it much earlier.

If you drink “on holidays”, “to have a reason”, “to relax”, then you are still at risk: almost all alcoholics started out this way, very few people suddenly and abruptly sank to the very bottom of the alcoholic abyss.

This is a very long article, it may be more convenient for you to read it in several sittings. But I assure you, the volume of this text is the very minimum volume that is needed to consider this acute problem.

It's worth thinking about if

  • You drink more than once a month
  • If you drink, then you bring yourself to a drunken state (the matter is not limited to one glass of wine)
  • Without alcohol you cannot relax, have fun or relax

The presence of at least several of the above factors indicates the danger and risk of alcoholism (if it has not already occurred). An alcoholic is not only a person lying drunk on the street who plaintively asks for money for a bottle. Alcoholism occurs much earlier than this stage, and the prerequisites for it are formed even earlier.

The phenomenon of drinking alcohol is shrouded in many myths and misconceptions within our culture. I will break these myths, so many of my conclusions may seem radical and even, in some way, offensive, since they do not correspond to the usual ideas about alcohol. But if you want to quit drinking, then you better find out about it.

My personal alcohol experience is approximately five years. During this period, I drank alcohol almost every day, including in the morning. And each time I brought myself to a very drunk state. Many people with long experience people who drink alcohol will say that this is not such a long time. But believe me, this was enough for me to understand from my own experience all the features of alcohol addiction, to understand what the psychology of an alcoholic is. And I managed to get out.

Over the past year I have only drunk alcohol a few times (but I still think this is not the best result), in the future I am sure that I will not drink at all. Update 10.24.13: I haven’t drunk at all since New Year 2013. I consider myself a non-drinker. I am a non-drinker, not only because I don’t drink, but because I don’t feel the need for alcohol: I feel good without it, wherever I am, at home or at a noisy party in a drinking company. I don't feel any sense of loss, I don't feel like I'm missing out on any special fun or relaxation by not drinking, because I already feel comfortable and relaxed.

(Warning possible question, I’ll say right away that I don’t use other drugs, that is, I don’t replace the absence of alcohol with anything.)

In short, “non-drinker” is a state of mind, coupled with the fact of complete abstinence from alcohol. How to achieve such a state will be discussed in this article. Let's start by destroying the myths that accompany the drinking culture and the perception of this disease.

7 myths about alcohol

Myth 1 Alcohol is not a drug

“According to observations for the period from 1990 to 2001. more than half of Russian males aged 15 to 54 died from causes directly related to alcohol abuse” - wikipedia

No, friends, alcohol is a drug, and one of the most dangerous in the world. Based on a survey of leading drug experts, the medical journal The Lancet placed alcohol in fifth place among other drugs, ranking them by severity. harmful effects on the body and the danger of addiction. The “leaders” on this list are heroin, cocaine, methadone (an opiate, like morphine and heroin) and barbiturates (all kinds of sedatives). After alcohol, you can see ketamine, amphetamines (central nervous system stimulants) and tobacco on the list.

And it doesn’t matter that alcohol is legal, and that drinking drinks from beautiful glasses is much more aesthetically pleasing than intravenous injection, know that when you empty the fourth bottle of beer in the kitchen, according to your daily ritual, you are not much different from a heroin addict pumping another dose into his vein solution with powder. Yes, addiction to heroin seems to happen faster (but it is also not instantaneous; the belief that after the first injection you will immediately run to the pawn shop to sell your things to get a dose is a myth. It also takes time for physical dependence to form) and addiction is, in its consequences, more destructive, although not by much.

You've seen complete alcoholics who will do anything just to drink, because the desire has become unbearable, it can be stronger than the need for sleep and food! You know about broken families, alcohol-related murders. Why do you think that this will not affect you, since you supposedly know when to stop? Do you believe that a young man who acquires his first dose of heroin simply dreams of how he will start stealing and commit all sorts of humiliating acts because of the drug? Of course not! He is sure that all these horrors that everyone is talking about will pass him by, because he is smart, controls himself and will never allow trouble to happen. The funny thing is that almost all beginning drug addicts think this way, and you know what happens to this majority...

Of course, alcohol will not lead to this so quickly: someone who started drinking has a better chance than someone who started using opiates. But, according to statistics, alcoholism in 76% of cases begins before the age of 20! Active alcoholics are not just some social elements who have always been antisocial and culturally limited and therefore began to drink. For many of them, it all started with “harmless” beer on weekends and Fridays. Moreover, alcoholism begins much earlier than the moment when you are lying drunk on the street. It can last for a long time in a more “moderate”, “civilized” phase, when you are not on a social day, but still drink quite often.

Alcohol = legal heroin

An alcoholic is not much different from a heroin addict. In terms of your attitude to pleasure, certainly nothing! Both are ready to sacrifice their health, the comfort of their loved ones, children for the sake of momentary pleasure and a sense of comfort! The basis of any addiction is acute egoism: “I don’t care about anything except my own pleasure!”

There are many more similarities between alcohol and heroin. I drew this conclusion from my experience of drinking alcohol and others’ experience of heroin addiction. One person who had previously used heroin and was addicted to it told me how it happens that decent, intelligent people suddenly slide to the very social and moral bottom, being under the influence of addiction.

The biggest insidiousness of addiction is that it does not come immediately, but is formed smoothly and gradually, and, therefore, unnoticeably. After the first drug experiences, a person usually does not feel the so-called “withdrawal” and addiction. Everything turns out to be much easier than what all sorts of anti-drug fighters on TV promised him. This gives him false optimism about his drug future, and he confidently embarks on new heroin adventures.

Then, as a result of addiction, some kind of awareness, critical perception of oneself and surrounding things gradually begins to disappear: what previously seemed immoral and unacceptable is now seen as self-evident. The addict can no longer remember the moment when he began constantly asking to borrow money from friends. It passed unconsciously, as if by him, and he himself didn’t notice how he stopped seeing something reprehensible in being constantly in debt: he needed money and that’s it, although he couldn’t even think about it before. This is the most dangerous moment!

The addict thinks that everything is normal, although everything is no longer normal at all! He feels like he has everything under control, even though he already uses the drug every day! And all this is due to the fact that addiction occurs unnoticed by consciousness. It is not at all accompanied by remorse: “Oh, what am I doing, it’s time to stop!” Although such repentance would be very helpful.

I noticed the same effect in myself and other people from systematic alcohol consumption. If I drank before my strong alcohol addiction, I did it no more than once a month. And there was no question of drinking every weekend! But after some time it began to seem to me that drinking every Friday and Saturday was not just something, not often, it was just something that God himself commanded! It’s like you don’t drink at all! (I will also touch on the psychological effect associated with the incorrect perception of the frequency of drinking ethyl alcohol.)

I didn't notice that I stopped seeing something very bad in what I drink every day. I didn’t notice how much I gained weight from the beer, how my face became swollen. It seemed normal. It began to seem normal that I was very drunk every evening, and even in the morning, that I was annoying my friends and people close to me with my obscene behavior. I didn’t even think about whether this was normal or not. All my physical, mental, moral metamorphoses along the path of degradation eluded my consciousness! The process of self-development occurs consciously, in contrast to degradation: a person notices how to become better. But when you get worse, you don’t notice it!

What is the pleasure of alcohol?

There is another similarity between heroin and alcohol addictions. The fact is that, contrary to popular belief, the effect of heroin does not bring a feeling of unearthly pleasure, an unbridled high, which drug addicts chase after, wanting to get a new dose every day. Judging by the reviews of former addicts, the whole effect boils down to some kind of stultifying feeling of animal comfort, which many do not even give any pleasure at the first experience of use. What is the secret, you ask. Why do people continue to use and die from it?

And the secret lies in severe addiction and the withdrawal symptoms that accompany it. A person gets a high not from heroin itself, but from satisfying an intense desire and instantly relieving symptoms of severe physical and psychological discomfort (withdrawal). Imagine that you have a severe headache, almost unbearable. Suddenly you are injected with some harmless painkiller intravenously, the effect of which in itself does not give any pleasure. But your head instantly goes away! What do you feel? Pleasure!

Only a heroin addict has pain not only in his head, but in his whole body, and the desire to get a dose is stronger than thirst and hunger! In short, the “high” from heroin comes only when people are already “addicted” to it and use it to relieve the pain caused by withdrawal and satisfy their innermost needs. desire.

The same thing happens with alcohol. Remember your first experiences of drinking alcohol. Did you have a lot of fun? Perhaps you managed to evoke unusual sensations of altered consciousness for the first time, you were probably drawn to adventures, which you then discussed for a long time with friends, so you probably remembered this experience. But I'm not talking about that, but about the action itself narcotic substance called ethyl alcohol. Did you enjoy the effect that much? Concerning physical symptoms, you felt dizzy, lack of coordination, heaviness in the head, and the psychological effect was reduced to the appearance of ease in communication, confusion of thoughts, dulling of some feelings, increased mood...

Tell me, is there so much fun in this? I don’t think so, especially if you compare the pleasure with the consequences. People get real pleasure from alcohol when they satisfy an already developed addiction or other desires (for example, to relieve nervousness, mental pain, etc.). The effect of alcohol is actually stultifying and uninteresting, but when you want to drink because you're used to drinking, you're on edge, you're nervous, then downing a few bottles of beer brings real pleasure. Or maybe you are experiencing alcohol withdrawal (hangover) and feel relief when you take it off with a drink.

Alcohol itself doesn't have much of a high. To get this buzz, you need to get hooked on alcohol.

Unfortunately, many drinking people they miss this moment and therefore it can be difficult for them to quit drinking. They think that since alcohol brings such a feeling of pleasure and relief, how can I live without these feelings?

Many people are unable to stop drinking, not because they lack the willpower to stop drinking, but because they become afraid when they try to imagine a future without alcohol. But these feelings are caused only by the addiction itself, both psychological and physical. Once you get rid of the addiction, alcohol will no longer bring pleasure; on the contrary, its use will be accompanied by a feeling of discomfort and wasted time, health and strength. This is something you need to keep in mind if you want to quit drinking.

Alcohol and heroin are some of the most dangerous drugs that humanity has known! They cause severe addiction and withdrawal and lead to severe personal degradation!

And a strong desire turns a person into an obedient animal, which meekly obeys its instincts, without the right to choose. First-hand information about the characteristics of heroin addiction had a much stronger effect on me than any anti-drug propaganda, in terms of developing an aversion to heroin and understanding that a person who drinks is not very different from someone who is addicted to opiates.

That's why I think people need the truth about drugs, not the exaggerated truth. The real truth is always scarier, since it is more logical and more in line with the realities of life. And the truth is not only that dependence on heroin does not form immediately, but also that the latter is not much more dangerous than alcohol, which, in turn, is extremely dangerous and is also a drug! For some reason, our valiant media do not touch on this fact. This may be due to the fact that no tax is paid on the sale of heroin, while a huge quitrent is paid to the state on the sales of alcoholic beverages.

Myth 2 - There is a reason for drinking

We are accustomed to the fact that any joyful or sad event is accompanied by collective drinking of alcohol. This is how traditions develop in our culture, the expediency of which we don’t even think about. But as soon as we try to abstract ourselves from the way of thinking imposed on us by culture, the utter absurdity of these traditions catches our eye. Well, what could be the connection between some joyful event and the use of alcohol in drinks?

Try to mentally step outside your culture and grasp this connection. If you manage to abstract yourself from traditions, then you will not be able to find a connection, because there is none! There are no reasons for alcoholic libations; we invented these reasons ourselves to justify our weaknesses, wrapping them in the tinsel of pompous rituals! The desire to drink may arise in grief, as a result of the need to dull the pain. But this is also not the most the best way out, since alcohol will only temporarily eliminate suffering. After which, they will return with renewed vigor.

Traditions are an extremely relative thing and they vary greatly in different cultures. For example, in India, the culture of drinking alcohol is not as widespread as here. Yes, the problem of alcoholism exists there too, but people’s attitudes are completely different. When my friends tried to buy rum as a gift in this country and began to ask the locals where they could buy it (the stores there didn’t sell alcohol, at least in the place where my friends were (not GOA)), they were somehow reluctant to go towards. One of them nevertheless agreed to help and took them to some gloomy basement without a sign, without any identifying marks.

The guide himself nervously looked around, demonstrating with all his appearance that he seemed not to be with Russian tourists and ended up in that place by accident. It was clear that the Indian was very ashamed and was afraid that he would be seen next to a point selling alcohol. In that basement there was a store where rum was bought in a plastic bottle.

This example demonstrates the very relativity of culture. Somewhere, alcohol is treated completely differently than in our country; using it in any form is a socially condemned action, just like in our country using illegal drugs! A completely unusual attitude for a Russian person! In our country, drunkenness is disguised with the words “occasion”, “feast”; we are accustomed to believe that no holiday can be complete without alcohol. But we think so because this is how traditions developed, and these traditions developed spontaneously, arbitrarily, they initially had no meaning except to justify themselves! After all, somewhere they treat it differently!

Do you really want to be the bearers of such absurd traditions and, moreover, pass them on as inheritance to future generations, to your children? After all, the logical connection “holiday - celebrate - drink” (as well as “tired - drink”, “upset - drink”, “met with friends - drink”) is laid down in us in childhood, when we see our drinkers, “in honor” some event, parents. And already in a more conscious life, this begins to manifest itself as a social reflex, leading to the worst consequences.

Drinking regularly is not normal! The tradition that justifies this is a barbaric tradition.

Myth 3 – Alcohol helps you cope with stress and relax

I have already written an article on this topic. You can read it later, I will give a link to it below when we look at what reasons lead to alcoholism. Briefly, I will convey its main content here. Stress is defined not only external factors, but our sensitivity to it. After all, different people experience the same irritations in different ways. Some people will easily survive a quarrel at work, but for others it will be a blow. So, alcohol can drown out the symptoms of stress, push the problem into the background, that’s true.

But when we get used to relieving tension in this way, firstly, we lose the ability to relax on our own, without alcohol, as a certain habit is developed. Secondly, because of our habit of easy and quick relief, our sensitivity to stress increases, and this also happens due to the destructive effect of alcohol on the nervous system - people who drink are more nervous and sensitive. Thirdly, instead of working on ourselves and solving problems, we, through drinking, push them into the background, which is essentially ignoring the problem.

I have often heard complaints from my acquaintances that the daily stress created by work and the atmosphere of life in the city is to blame, which is why they resort to alcohol. This is wrong. The more you drink to relax, the less able you are to relax without alcohol and the more often you have to drink - vicious circle. It's all about someone's individual sensitivity, which determines how much tension and stress a person will receive. If he knows how to relax on his own and not let stress in, then he won’t care!

But for this you need to work on yourself. How to learn this will be discussed in this article.

Alcohol suppresses any desire to find the right and reliable ways to relax and feel better. Imagine that all alcoholic drinks suddenly magically disappeared from stores. And everything that could replace them disappeared: poppy and hemp no longer grow. What will you do? At first, many will find it difficult without the usual means of relaxation. But then, the smartest ones will understand that they need to look for other ways to feel better, relieving fatigue and stress. They simply have no choice but to find these methods.

Someone will find it wonderful property sports, relieve tension and fatigue. Others will realize that in order to feel good they need to work on themselves and will discover things like yoga and meditation. In short, the lack of access to easy and quick solutions will force people to look for something else, something beneficial, not harm!

But if you know that you can always, without any effort or work, relax and cheer yourself up by simply drinking a couple of glasses, then you lose the incentive to look for other, more effective, but less easy solutions! You don’t think about how to strengthen the nervous system, how to make sure you don’t worry about trifles, what methods exist to calm the mind and be cheerful and cheerful. Why think about it? If you can always have a glass! In this regard, alcohol acts as a strong “inhibitor” to self-development, and the point is not only that it is harmful, but that drinking is the path of least resistance!

This is also why alcohol leads to personal degradation: a person gets used to the lungs and quick ways, sees no incentive to work on himself and this is reflected in many aspects of his life.

Also wrong is the idea that you are “relaxing” when you drink. This is not true; the body spends a lot of resources to combat the consequences of drinking alcohol. The functioning of the brain, heart and nervous system is disrupted. It drains you and takes away your strength. You don’t rest at all, but on the contrary, you become exhausted.

Myth 4 - Alcohol helps me feel confident. Alcohol promotes communication

If you cannot look without alcohol, then this means that you need to work on yourself, and not resort to “social lubricant”. And the same as in the previous paragraph: when you start drinking to gain self-confidence, your ability to pull yourself together sober decreases.

Perhaps you are used to drinking in company, and without drinking you become bored. The issue may lie with the company itself. Or maybe it’s just you, the fact that you don’t know how to enjoy socializing sober. Or maybe both at the same time.

For example, after I stopped drinking so often and learned to enjoy socializing sober, it became interesting for me to have long conversations with many people without drinking alcohol, even if these people themselves drank in front of me! Previously, this was unrealistic for me. But in the company of some people I still felt out of place. As if something was missing.

This happened due to the fact that the purpose of meeting some people is to drink, and not to communicate: they meet then to fill the pauses between sips with routine conversations and jokes. Drinking is always more interesting with someone...

My need for such “communication” disappeared after I stopped drinking. But with other people, I was still interested, even if they were drinking... It depends on the people themselves, on what they want from communication: to find a company of drinking buddies or to talk, communicate and exchange opinions. In short, I want to say that not every “drinking” company gathers just to drink.

But every drinker in a group risks crossing the line when friends gradually turn into drinking buddies. When you are frantically looking for company for the evening, just so that you have someone to drink with. Personally, I failed to notice when I crossed this line during my passion for alcohol and began meeting people just to “give in.”

But, fortunately, since then, I stopped communicating with some acquaintances who were exclusively drinking buddies, and with others I began to learn how to have an interesting time without beer.

Remember how interesting it was for us to communicate with friends in childhood without any “doping” or “social lubricant”! What intimate and interesting conversations we whiled away the whole day! Why doesn't this work for many people now?

I was incredibly happy when I was able to rediscover the joy of direct communication! I assure you that communicating soberly is easy, exciting, interesting, frank, and beneficial for yourself.

The fact that we have forgotten how to communicate this way is a consequence of habits and social complexes, and children are more spontaneous and less shy, so it’s easier for them. Anything is characterized by moments of mutual awkwardness, but you just have to overcome yourself a little, stop being afraid to be frank, and everything will go like clockwork.

Yes, alcohol helps to cross the line of awkwardness, but this is the easiest way. You need to learn to cope with your complexes on your own and overcome the barriers that hold you back. This shows the strength of your personality.

Alcohol, after all, is a drug and changes perception. The communication underneath is not entirely real. You may become more frank and relaxed under the influence of alcohol, but at the same time, confusion of thoughts has appeared, a craving for exaggeration, a desire to impress everyone, suppressed critical ability - in short, all the symptoms of a drunken state that shroud your conversations in a haze, making them unnatural, grotesque, exaggerated and comical.

Myth 5 - I drink rarely (how often can you drink)

This is more of a personal delusion than a public myth. But this misconception is based, after all, on the peculiarities of our culture. It is customary for us to drink often, therefore, compared to everyone else, it seems to us that drinking on weekends is normal and not so often.

And the longer the experience of addiction to alcohol becomes, the more the ideas about the “normal” frequency of drinking alcohol become distorted in the wrong direction. For example, if someone is used to drinking every day, then it will seem to him that drinking alcohol twice a week is very rare, it’s generally “hardly drinking,” although some time ago, before he got used to drinking regularly , he might have found the idea of ​​drinking twice a week unacceptable!

This conclusion is based on my example and the example of people I know. Let me tell you one story from my life. To pass the military department at the institute, I had to undergo a medical examination at a number of dispensaries, including a drug treatment center. In the latter, I was seen by a doctor, and to her question about whether I drink and how often I do it, I answered: “yes, I drink, once a week.”

At that time I drank almost every day, getting myself quite drunk. Naturally, I decided not to talk about it, and, so as not to lie at all, I said that I drink once a week. I didn’t even think that such an answer would cause any reaction, because drinking alcohol once every seven days really seemed to me rare, episodic and “normal”, against the backdrop of my actual “schedule”.

But the doctor was not satisfied with this answer. She asked me: “why so often? Why are you drinking? I didn’t expect such a question and answered: “Well, how can I say... there’s just an occasion.” She: “What is the reason once a week?” Me: “well... I’m meeting with friends.” She: “young man, this is not a reason! There are no reasons for drinking, don’t you know how many people die from it?”

As a result, I received the necessary certificate, but left the dispensary with a heavy heart: this reaction of the narcologist left an unpleasant aftertaste in me. I’ll say right away that I didn’t stop drinking after that, but I had some doubts about my lifestyle. Indeed, when many friends drink regularly, it seems that this regularity is the norm, but then I was faced with the opposite opinion about the “norm”, which I did not expect at all...

Many people who drink regularly mistakenly consider themselves moderate drinkers. As soon as a person stops drinking every day and starts drinking only on weekends, and not limiting himself to a glass of wine, he beats himself in the chest with the words: “I hardly drink at all.” Know that this is an illusion born of the habit of drinking alcoholic drinks. Below I have provided a graph that illustrates this psychological effect. The graph is conditional and does not claim to be accurate or have any scientific value. This is just an explanation. Vertical axis is a scale of alcohol consumption experience. Horizontal axis— subjective ideas about how often drinking is normal.

Of course, the actual relationship between these quantities is not linear and it varies from person to person. But the graph is just an example that shows how much our views are distorted when we get used to drinking. These views are wrong.

Drinking on weekends is not normal, this is very common! To be honest, I find it difficult to say how often it’s normal to drink, since I think it’s better not to drink at all. I think “drinking rarely” means drinking a few times a year. But, as a rule, if you drink with such frequency and can do without alcohol the rest of the time, then most of the meaning of intoxication is lost for you, since, as we saw above, the “meaning” of drinking ethanol appears only when you you get used to it and/or satisfy some of your needs with its help and cannot do without it.

Myth 6 – Drinking alcohol in moderation has health benefits

To understand how fair this conclusion is, you can sometime read the Wikipedia article called “Toxicology of Ethanol.” It comprehensively examines the situation that has emerged in academic circles around the issue of the “usefulness” of moderate doses of alcohol. I see no point in retelling this article in detail here; I will only give the main conclusions.

So, in scientific circles there is no certainty about whether alcohol in small doses is beneficial or not. Firstly, those studies that supposedly prove this benefit are actively criticized. Criticism is mainly directed at the research methodology. That is, the benefits of alcohol have not been proven with certainty and unequivocality. Secondly, even if there are some health benefits, they are accompanied by harm (for example, if a glass of wine a day has a beneficial effect on vascular system, then it also contributes to an increased risk of ethanol-related diseases). And thirdly, and most importantly, moderate alcohol consumption threatens to become regular and chronic. There is always this risk!

And, as we found out earlier, a drinking person may not always realize that he has turned from a moderate drinker into a drunkard.

As a result, doctors agree that if you do not drink alcohol, then you do not need to start drinking it just because you are concerned about your health. And those who drink are advised to adhere to established medical standards regarding daily consumption rates.

Myth 7 - I drink because I'm an alcoholic

This is the last myth we will look at in this article. It consists of belief in some kind of irresistible force (in in this case, alcohol addiction), which a person cannot always cope with. This misconception lies in the perception of alcoholism as some kind of disease, the development of which does not depend on the person. Of course, alcohol cravings can be very strong and manifest themselves even at the level of physical need (in advanced cases). But every person is able to cope with it, this is confirmed by examples of many who have recovered from addiction (not only alcohol).

The fact that you drink and cannot stop is not the fault of your friends, parents, your living conditions, or your “alcoholism.” Only you yourself are responsible for this! This should not be a depressing discovery for you; on the contrary, it follows that it is in your power to get rid of addiction, since you yourself are to blame for it! There is no need to attribute responsibility for your weaknesses to some kind of alcoholism: if you want to quit, you will quit, if you don’t want to, then it’s only your fault...

Addiction is not only caused by the fact that you drink, drink and get used to it. It also lies in the fact that by drinking ethanol you satisfy some of your desires, paralyze fears, kill doubts! The roots of addiction are formed both in the physical mechanism of addiction itself and in psychological structure your personality. The latter can play a more significant role in the development of painful addiction, since no matter how much you stop drinking, until you get rid of psychological reasons love for a drug, you will not get rid of addiction, but will return to it again and again, after each failed attempt to quit.

How to find these reasons and get rid of them will be discussed further. This is the main idea of ​​this article, that you need to get rid of not the addiction itself, but the reasons that caused it. And eliminating these causes lies only in your power, you can!

Stop drinking

If you read my article about this, then it will be easy for you to grasp this idea. But I think you will understand very well that you need to fight the cause, not the effect. The consequence is the use of ethanol itself, but what about the cause...? Let's figure it out. Why do many people tend to use any drugs, one of which is alcohol? If we find these reasons, then we will understand what we need to work with in order not to feel the need to use drugs.

It is a mistake to believe that the tendency to self-intoxication is inherent in human nature itself. If this were so, then everyone would drink, but we see a different picture: someone gets along just fine without it (although in many countries the overwhelming majority of the adult population drinks). There are several common reasons for addiction to alcohol. I will analyze each of them and give advice on how to get rid of these reasons.

But before that, to keep things consistent, let me tell you about the things you should be aware of if you're planning to quit drinking (I've written about some of them before, including in an article on how to quit smoking, but I haven't. I see no point in not mentioning such important things again)

What you need to know before you quit drinking

Don't be afraid of the prospect of life without alcohol!

Don't be afraid that you will lose something important and very interesting if you stop drinking. I know that many people are afraid of living sober and this is the main reason why they cannot stop drinking. Well, they’ll quit, well, they’ll tolerate it for a while without drinking, but then what? What about the holidays? What about barbecue, they think... This used to scare me, back when I drank every day. Sometimes I took breaks and tried to live, for example, a month without alcohol. It was rare that I was able to keep my promise to myself and I broke down on the second or third day. But it also happened that I managed to last several weeks without drinking.

But this time was not very fun, I tell you. “Free” evenings immediately appeared, and I did not understand what I could do with this time. I tried to read, watch movies, but it didn't bring any pleasure. I was nervous and constantly thought about how good it would be to open a bottle of beer, drink it and follow it with another seven bottles of foamy drink... Then everything would immediately acquire both meaning and purpose - the evening would be lived with pleasure.

In those moments, I thought, is this really how my whole sober life will go, in such eternal dissatisfaction and boredom? After all, if so, then why stop drinking? Yes, alcohol is harmful and dangerous, but how can you live without it? This turns out not to be life, but some kind of existence, devoid of moments of habitual pleasure and desired comfort. It’s the same as giving up sex forever, it seems feasible, but you’ll have to live in eternal dissatisfaction.

That’s what I thought then, and after a break I started drinking again. At the same time, at first, with a vengeance, because I believed that since I took such a “big” break, I didn’t drink for two whole weeks (then it seemed to me that the time spent without alcohol was an astronomical period!), then I have earned every right to go on a binge for a few days.

What was my mistake, which manifests itself in many people who drink, thinking now the same way as I reasoned then? It lies in not understanding that this discomfort without alcohol is partly a consequence of addiction.

Addictions are not only in terms of addiction to the narcotic substance itself, but in terms of the habit of spending time in a certain way: all sorts of get-togethers in bars, intimate conversations from the “do you respect me?” series, wild holidays, barbecues, a cozy bottle of beer in a cozy kitchen, dating colleagues at corporate events, pleasant relaxation after a hard day at work and everything that we are used to getting from alcohol.

You become very attached to these things and for a while you don’t even know what to replace them with when you deprive yourself of booze. In general, it will take some time to feel good again without alcohol. Not a month or even two. Firstly, the body itself, accustomed to ethanol, must be rebuilt. Secondly, you must change by rediscovering the pleasure of life without alcoholic beverages.

You had this skill as a child, and then lost it.

Our brains become accustomed to associating feelings of pleasure and a whole range of other positive emotions with certain things, in this case, drinking. It will take time to break this imaginary connection.

Gradually, you will learn to find this pleasure and do without drinking, you will begin to be able to relax in a sober way, you will discover a lot of ways to have fun and have a great time! But it won’t come right away, you’ll have to be patient. It will take time and some work on yourself.

I will talk further about what needs to be done for this.

An alcoholic, like any drug addict, develops an acute dependence on pleasure, on a feeling of comfort. If a common person While a non-addict, as a rule, endures moments when he does not feel very well, a drug addict is much more delicate and sensitive to the lack of psychological comfort. In such situations, he tries at all costs to get rid of this feeling and resorts to the most familiar means. A drug addict does not know how to endure and wait.

This is why it is still so difficult, at first, to be content with life without the usual narcotic substance. The absence of the usual high seems to the addict to be something terrible, some kind of critical problem that needs to be gotten rid of immediately, otherwise something irreparable will happen and the day will be lost! Get ready for this, you just need to wait it out and stop focusing on your pleasure.

I have learned from my own experience that life without alcohol is much more joyful and happier than life under the yoke of addiction. It's great to wake up fresh and full of energy, and not broken, with fumes in the mouth and a headache. Great to have good health and a lot of strength. It is wonderful to have a clear mind and control over yourself and not regret your words and actions. It’s wonderful to spend time on self-development, on education, or just on good rest, and not on stupid, animal pleasure!

Don't be fooled by yourself

If you decide to get rid of addiction, then you need to learn to keep the promises you make to yourself. Let's take a familiar scenario as an example. You wake up with a wild ringing in your head. From scraps of memories you begin to reconstruct what happened to you the day before when you were drunk: you did a lot of stupid things, said nasty things, etc. and so on.

You can repent and lament, promise yourself that this will not happen again. A decisive impulse begins to mature in you, a noble inspiration, under the influence of which you make a bold promise to yourself: “I will not drink again.”

At this moment, it seems to you that the power of your will will crush everything and everyone, since your desire to get rid of a bad habit, strengthened by disgusting health and moral repentance, is very strong. A feeling of some new life awakens in you, and you give yourself over to this feeling with all the pleasure, forgetting about yesterday’s incidents. Everything would be fine, but only after a few days the memories will become more faded, the feeling of shame will dull, the hangover will pass, and the feeling of new life and that very noble inspiration will begin to evaporate, since they were only phenomena of the current moment. And, as a result, almost nothing will remain from the past impulse.

You will again find yourself alone with a boring evening. Thoughts will begin to creep in: “why not drink a couple of beers, I haven’t drunk for several days, but what’s the use of a couple of bottles, no big deal.” You will already forget about the promise, everything is in the past, because your memory cannot for a long time supply you with experiences of past shame and disgusting well-being and, thereby, constantly feed your impulse.

Well, needless to say, “a couple of beers” turns into X number of bottles, where X is the amount that makes you pretty drunk. And again everything is as usual.

What conclusion should be drawn here? Don’t count on inspiration; this is a temporary, transitory phenomenon. When you are inspired, everything seems easy to you, but you need to tune in to what will be difficult. Therefore, you made a promise - keep it, no matter what! You can’t get rid of addiction with inspiration alone: ​​it will pass, and you will again have thoughts like “why not have a little drink, it’s a holiday, it’s an occasion, it’s been a long time since I drank.” And there will be no emotional fire left to easily resist these thoughts. I talked about this in an interview with Yulia Ulyanova’s “sober blog”.

Eliminating the causes of addiction

“Long-term alcohol consumption can lead to a decrease in brain volume. With prolonged alcohol consumption, organic changes in neurons are observed on the surface of the cerebral cortex. These changes occur in areas of hemorrhage and necrosis of areas of the brain substance. Drinking large amounts of alcohol can cause rupture of brain capillaries."- wikipedia

So, now we come to the main part. You decided to quit drinking and have read this far. I hope that you are convinced that you don’t need to be afraid of a sober life, prepare for the struggle and start working on yourself, getting rid of the psychological causes of addiction. What this work consists of, I will now tell you.

Learn to relax

The ability to independently relax is one of the most valuable life skills. I never cease to be convinced of this. When you are relaxed and not tense, you feel good and calm, you are comfortable with yourself and your mind works well. When you are stressed, your body burns a lot of resources, your thinking rushes from side to side, unable to stay on one subject, you feel the need to run somewhere, do something to relieve this tension or direct it somewhere.

By relaxation I mean something broader than what is commonly understood by it. Relaxation is serenity and peace of mind, it is self-sufficiency, it is freedom from emotions, fears and worries. The ability to put yourself in such a state will relieve you of the need to drink, since you will already feel good without it. People drink, among other things, to relieve stress, feel calm, and stabilize their emotional well-being.

If you learn to relieve stress on your own, you will have fewer reasons drink alcohol. And the inability to relax is perhaps the main cause of alcoholism, in my opinion. We all get tired, worried, stressed and need some kind of release and reassurance. The easiest and most accessible remedy comes to the rescue. You don’t need to learn anything, make any effort, just drink and that’s it, you feel better. This is the path of least resistance that attracts people. The social roots of alcoholism, in my opinion, lie in the fact that society, within general education, does not teach people any science of relaxation.

Well, let’s say a person stopped drinking. What should he do when he is tired, when he experiences nervous exhaustion, when he is worried about stress? He doesn't know, so he goes back to the bottle. This is not taught in school. But since childhood, we have seen films in which a heartbroken or tired person whiles away his time drinking a glass. Some people look at their parents and see what they do when they want to relax - drink. As a result, having reached adulthood, we know only one remedy that we can use if we want to relax.

This, in my opinion, is a big problem with the entire education system: schools and institutes teach academic knowledge, in addition, they instill some kind of morality, concepts of good and bad. But we are not told what we need to do to be happy, not to experience stress, to maintain ourselves. wellness and mood.

This is a huge gap that I want to somehow fill with information on my blog. How to learn to relax on your own, relieve stress and stop being nervous? The articles on my website will teach you this, which you can read after reading this article.

There is not much information. But, take your time, you don't have to read it all in one sitting. Today, let's say you decide that you will no longer drink. And now read an article a day, learn to relax, use the suggested techniques and gradually develop the skill of getting rid of stress without the help of alcohol. With these techniques it is much easier to cope with alcohol withdrawal, I assure you!

If you need some consistency in doing the exercises, I recommend starting with. It tells in detail, step by step, with examples, what you need to do to live a happier and more conscious life. True, these exercises are aimed not only at getting rid of addiction, but they will also help you with this. What could be their meaning if you decide to quit drinking?

These exercises will help bring some positive changes into your life. And these new trends are like bread necessary for someone who quits drinking, because this person needs to feel and understand that there is joy and peace on the other side of alcohol. You can’t stop drinking without changing your life, otherwise you will return to the bad habit later. And my recommendations will help you gradually and smoothly begin to change your life, your attitude towards things and, thereby, help old destructive habits gradually die off.

Personally, I didn’t stop drinking overnight: I drank and drank, and then suddenly stopped. Everything was not exactly like that, but I’ll tell you how now. Due to problems with one’s psychological well-being (attacks of blues, sudden changes mood) I decided that I needed to change something in my life. By that time, I had stopped drinking every day, but I still drank quite often and it seemed normal to me. I never thought about stopping doing this at all. I started practicing meditation.

Practice taught me to relax and, after some time, I felt better. Some kind of feeling began to awaken in me, I began to understand what exactly I needed to change in my life and how to do it in order to find harmony and get rid of suffering. I realized that it was possible to live without alcohol and gradually, with practice, I discovered new methods of relaxation and achieving a state of inner comfort. Previously, this state of mind had only been brought to me by drinking.

Gradually, I drank less and less and began to control my cravings for alcohol better and better. I didn't get as drunk, and I didn't enjoy it as much as I used to. When I woke up with a hangover and walked around exhausted all day, the thought rushed through my head, not giving me peace: “was it really worth it? This stupid pleasure cost me a whole lost day!” When you drink constantly, you somehow get used to a hangover, but the less often this happens, the stronger and more intolerable the symptoms of alcohol withdrawal seem and the less pleasure from ethanol becomes.

My need for alcohol simply began to die away: I found a lot of other joys that were simply incompatible with drinking, I began to feel very good, psychologically, so the desire to drink disappeared. It used to be nice to have a beer and relax when you were nervous and tired. But when I'm so calm, relaxed and I have good mood, then why drink? Why kill this mood with stupefying intoxication? If I'm tired, I can meditate, go for a run, listen to music, take a relaxing shower and feel good, why would I ruin my health and put myself in some unpleasant altered state?

For me, the very meaning of alcohol simply disappeared. I realized that I didn't need it. Of course, this did not go without resistance; at first it was hard for me not to drink on holidays and birthdays, but then I learned to have fun and relax without alcohol.

Play sports

Physical activity promotes the production of endorphins, which give you a good mood. Go out for a skiing trip on some forest track, pay attention to other athletes, how they smile and how pleased they look. This is how the effect of sports loads on the biochemistry of our brain is manifested. This will allow you to feel joy without any drug intoxication. In addition, sport is a great stress reliever: an evening jog will give you good spirits and calmness. This is also a good way to relax and at the same time not harm your health, but create only benefits.

Of course, sports alone are not enough to eliminate addiction, but physical activity can significantly facilitate alcohol withdrawal and put the body into a mode of independent production of substances responsible for the feeling of pleasure. Going in for sports does not mean setting records and exhausting yourself; it is enough to start small: with morning exercises and daily short runs or pull-ups on the horizontal bar. It’s not so difficult to start doing this, even if you are not used to exerting yourself physically, drinking and smoking.

Get rid of boredom

One of the reasons for drug addiction is boredom, the desire to occupy oneself with something. An ordinary sober life seems dull, gray and uninteresting to many people. And when they drink or use something, everything immediately makes some sense. Evenings and weekends pass quickly and calmly while drinking alcohol, which otherwise would turn into boring and monotonous periods of time.

The feeling of boredom becomes a rather dangerous phenomenon when it goes into an unhealthy, extreme form. And it turns into this form when it turns from a harmless search for interesting activities into a fanatical, convulsive need for any activity, which is aimed only at not being left idle, alone with oneself.

If you cannot remain alone for a long time, are constantly looking for something to do, cannot live without work, because it keeps you busy with something, even if it is not your favorite, then this is not normal and says this about your inner emotional and nervous tension, which do not allow you to sit still and force you to constantly look for some kind of activity for yourself.

This activity results, among other things, into drug addiction, a special case of which is addiction to alcohol. This pathological boredom can have several causes.

Lack of any interests or hobbies

There is little that interests you other than drinking. You don't know how to enjoy other things. You don't know what else to do with yourself when you have free time. Alcohol is your main pastime.

How to get rid of it?

Find useful hobbies and activities. This could be books, chess, or some sport that interests you. Do you like football? Stop sucking beer in bars while watching matches, get busy doing this interesting view sports!

But, I warn you, at first, your new hobby may not be a substitute for alcohol. You will still feel bored and need to drink. It takes time for your brain to get used to new ways to spend time, relax, and have fun.

So be persistent and patient in learning new hobbies. It may be that they will not immediately bring you joy, but you need to endure this moment.
It is better to look for hobbies that are incompatible with alcohol.

Internal tension and bustle

You are bored because it’s like you have some kind of small motor inside you, you can’t sit idle for a long time, you need to constantly run somewhere. This should not be confused with energy, it is rather a symptom severe tension, inability to relax and stop the inertia of an excited organism.

In this mode, the body quickly wears out, and you are in constant nervous tension. Alcohol helps you calm down, and when you drink, you are finally able to relax and feel calm.

How to get rid of it?

Stiffness, shyness, lack of self-confidence

This is not as common a cause of alcoholism as the ones listed above. But it still occurs among young people. You are shy, timid in front of people, and you are able to communicate normally only when you are “drunk.” It may not even be the main reason why you drink, but alcohol makes it easier for you to find mutual language with people and this makes it more difficult for you to give up on him.

How to get rid of it?

If so, then read this.

Causes of “beer alcoholism”

What is beer alcoholism? What is its peculiarity? It is a mistake to believe that the cause of beer alcoholism is only an insane love for a foamy drink. It happens, but this phenomenon is not only due to this.

I myself was a “beer” alcoholic and I know why I drank mostly beer and not something else. The fact is that beer, unlike stronger drinks, can be drunk by constantly drinking from the bottle and gradually getting drunk. If you drink something stronger at this rate, you will get drunk very quickly.

This is the essence of drinking beer, it allows you to constantly occupy your hands, mouth and attention with something (especially if you eat it with something and also smoke in between). This desire is based on the need for constant stimulation of the senses. This is often associated nicotine addiction. I think there are more smokers among beer drinkers than among beer drinkers.

But, nevertheless, despite my love for beer, I did not refuse other drinks if I was at some kind of celebration and everyone was toasting and clinking glasses. It’s just that between toasts I continued to drink beer and, mixing drinks, I got drunk faster than anyone else.

Why did I do this? Because I was bored in the intervals between toasts, I felt some discomfort and a desire to constantly maintain a drunken state, fiddling with something in my hands and taking sips. Beer came to the rescue.

Actually, this, in my opinion, is the essence of beer alcoholism and the difference from other types of this disease.

How to get rid of it?

You need to get rid of the need for constant stimulation of the senses. You will find a lot of useful information for yourself in the article about attention deficit disorder (I gave a link to it a few paragraphs above), even if the main subject of the article is not entirely relevant to you.

These, in my opinion, are the main reasons for human love for drugs and drinking, among other things.

If you have read up to this point, you may think that this is a huge article, in which I also ask you to read other articles, isn’t that a lot? No, not much, not even enough. Getting rid of addiction involves a lot of work on yourself and personality change.

Without this, you will not be able to get rid of the need for self-intoxication. You will quit for a while, and then return again or replace one bad habit with another (for example, start smoking marijuana instead of drinking beer), since you will not get rid of the main reasons for your addiction.

In this case, the addiction will remain, it will just lose its object for a while! But it will continue to pester you and attract other objects to itself.

But if you work on the causes of your addiction and eliminate them, then you don’t have to fear that you will someday relapse and go into all serious troubles again. Since the meaning of pastime associated with alcohol will already be lost for you. You will have no reason to drink it!

You can be sure that you will never use other drugs! This is an excellent result, worth the time, effort, and patience that needs to be spent on it.

So I wish you good luck, everything is in your hands and depends only on you, and not on some alien will and uncontrollable arbitrariness! If you want to quit drinking, then you will do it and you will enjoy life again, no matter how severe and neglected the stage of your addiction may be.

This is where this huge article comes to an end. In conclusion, I want to say a couple more words that may inspire you and open your eyes to some things.

There is no need to isolate yourself from people who drink

Some people advise not to join a drinking party if you decide to quit. I don't entirely agree with this advice. Except for situations at an advanced stage of addiction, when the view drinking man will automatically make you grab a glass, I don’t advise you to avoid drinking company. Of course you can do this, but only for the first time, during the most acute phase of withdrawal.

I have already said that the essence of weaning off alcohol is not only the abolition physical dependence, but also in getting used to a new sober lifestyle. You need to learn to have fun and... What will be the point of quitting if you “break down” at home, not seeing your friends, and then, a couple of months later, at the first party on the occasion of your new life, you get drunk until you lose your pulse?

This will happen because you have not felt the strongest temptation before and you did not have to fight it. And then suddenly it’s a holiday and everyone is drinking. How to resist? Therefore, you need to immediately accustom yourself not to drink in companies that drink. Yes, at first you will be bored, you will leave the holiday earlier. But then everything will be easier.

I believe that you should learn to fight the strongest temptation as early as possible. If you learn not to drink at those moments when you want to drink most, then in other circumstances it will be much easier for you to restrain this need.

Think about the younger generation. Information for parents

It is clear that if you are going to have children soon, then there should be no talk about drinking. If you already have children, then you don’t have to think that they are small, stupid and don’t understand or notice anything.

They notice how you drink, see you in a drunken state and “absorb” all these unpleasant impressions.

Parents' drunkenness, even the most harmless one in their opinion, leaves a painful imprint on the child's memory and is a prerequisite for alcoholism in their grown-up offspring.

Therefore, if you drink and you have children, try not to let them see you doing this. Better yet, stop drinking. If you don’t think about yourself and your health, then at least think about your offspring.

Program for those who decide to quit drinking

If you've decided to quit drinking, I've prepared a special 30-day experiment for you that will help you learn how to spend time and relax without alcohol. You can find a description of this experiment in the second part of the article.

Alcohol addiction has been and remains a common disease, and a paradoxically insidious one. The essence of this deceit lies in the amazing carelessness of most people in relation to alcoholic beverages and lack of understanding of the dangers of alcoholism. It is generally accepted that drugs and even tobacco are poison, and alcohol is not useful, but not very scary either. Until you have to look for a way to stop drinking alcohol on your own or with help to a loved one. The longer you close your eyes to the problem, the more difficult it is to quit drinking alcohol.

There are examples of recovery from alcoholism, and there are many of them. But there is no clear answer to the question of how exactly to stop drinking alcoholic beverages, be it banal vodka, supposedly weak beer or deceptively refined wine. By by and large, the body does not care what the source of alcohol looks like if a person continues to poison it and approach the critical point of ill health. As a rule, awareness and help to quit drinking alcohol on your own, even after coding, medications and alternative medicine turned out to be useless.

What is considered alcoholism? Signs of alcohol addiction
If there are still any doubts, then know that alcoholism is classified and officially recognized by the World Health Organization as a type of substance abuse, that is, an irresistible dependence on toxic substances. Dependence on alcohol manifests itself both physically and mental level, affects the digestive organs, the nervous system, and through it almost all tissues and cells. Of course, this does not happen instantly, not after the first sip in your life. But this sip poses a potential addiction risk:
Alcoholism is determined by several signs, including a strong, literally irresistible need to take an alcoholic drink, the inability to stick to the amount of alcohol consumed, the absence of vomiting even after a large amount of alcohol consumed, signs of amnesia and withdrawal (popularly known as a hangover) and associated external signs and internal violations.

Is it possible to stop drinking alcohol on your own?
Why is it so difficult to stop drinking alcohol on your own? Why do hundreds and thousands of people seek help and turn to drug addiction specialists to get rid of alcohol addiction, if you can simply stop drinking alcohol? It's all about the gradual but profound effects of alcohol on health:

  • Alcohol is ethyl alcohol, that is toxic substance, essentially a drug.
  • Ethyl alcohol in microdoses is produced by the body and used for its internal metabolic needs.
  • If alcohol comes from outside, the body stops producing it and begins to feel the need to regularly “replenish” alcohol.
  • Without drinking alcohol, the body experiences a lack of it, a person feels the physical and psychological discomfort of a hangover, which not everyone can withstand.
Alcohol addiction is caused by biochemical processes that cannot be influenced by willpower. But you can pull yourself together and force yourself to endure it in order to quit drinking alcohol once and for all through withdrawal, pain and fear for the sake of a healthy life and a future that may not exist if you do not recover from alcoholism.

An easy way to stop drinking alcohol on your own
A person is stronger than he thinks about himself, and therefore even an alcoholic is able to stop drinking on his own. To do this, you will need willpower, strict adherence to the instructions and a sincere desire to quit drinking alcohol forever:

  1. One day, during severe hangover, you will feel especially bad. This condition, alcohol withdrawal syndrome, occurs after a prolonged binge, and this condition is difficult to confuse with something else: a headache, shaking hands, trembling knees, tormented by fears and insomnia, no appetite, and thoughts about food cause nausea. A hangover like this is the time to stop drinking.
  2. At the peak of a hangover, your task is to refrain from getting a hangover, that is, not to take another drop or gram of alcohol. This is the most difficult moment, so it may be necessary outside help. But remember that no one can recover from alcoholism instead of you. You yourself have slipped into this hole, and you will have to stop drinking alcohol on your own.
  3. The acute period of alcohol withdrawal will not last long: on average it takes 5-10 days, in the most advanced cases – up to 2-3 weeks. During this time, you need to strengthen your confidence in recovery, restore your body, eat a balanced diet, exercise if possible, and under no circumstances, under any circumstances, touch alcohol.
After the lapse of acute period you will notice that your withdrawal symptoms have eased and alcohol intoxication decreased. This is your springboard and start to a healthy future without alcohol addiction. Then everything depends on your conscious desire to recover from alcoholism completely, but believe me, quitting drinking after using the described technique will be much easier.

How to stop drinking alcohol on your own without coding?
The outlined method of giving up alcohol will not seem easy to everyone, and it is not suitable for everyone. If you don't feel strong enough to end it once and for all. bad habit, try to quit drinking on your own using these methods:

  1. Motivation. Find a stimulus that is powerful enough to overcome your cravings for alcohol. The motivation to give up alcohol is purely individual, just as the reasons that push people to look for joy at the bottom of the bottle are different. For some, the incentive is the desire to become parents, for others - the desire to gain the love and respect of others, for others - pangs of conscience and shame in front of loved ones. In addition, fear of illness, disappointment and/or premature death becomes an effective incentive.
  2. On the contrary- this is a type of motivation that uses fear hidden deep under a layer of external reactions. Even the most carefree and self-confident person is susceptible to fears about his own future, especially regarding basic instincts. Instincts are stronger than even biochemistry, so imagine that alcohol makes you extremely unattractive to members of the opposite sex, depriving you of intimate pleasures and the joy of motherhood or fatherhood.
  3. Here and now– find joy in today. It can’t be that you have nothing to do, nothing to spend your energy and time on instead of ineptly destroying it with drinking. Look around you and remember the things that gave you pleasure besides alcohol: sunny weather, cycling, traveling, cooking and/or treats delicious food. All of these are real, safe and much more fruitful sources of satisfaction than alcoholic drinks.
Many books have been written, feature films and documentaries have been made about giving up alcohol and treating alcoholism. All of them are good in their own way as inspiring and motivating methods to stop drinking alcohol on your own. But only as long as you can control your behavior, analyze the plot and apply it to yourself. The problem is that withdrawal syndrome deprives this ability, and there is only one way out: conscious recovery, on your own, slowly but surely.

Here lies the explanation for the incorrectness of treatment for alcoholism by coding. Coding, or implantation of an ampoule with an active substance, will not change your worldview and attitude towards yourself and others, and will not force you to reconsider your behavior and plans for the future. Coding can be a supportive measure, but you can only truly stop drinking on your own. And only such a decision, independently made and suffered through, will lead to a successful result, which the former alcoholic will cherish and not throw away.

Consciously giving up alcohol has another big advantage: a rational approach changes the feeling of self, and a person no longer thinks that someone else has deprived him of his favorite drinks. But it is precisely the feeling of victimhood, self-pity and the illusory need for encouragement that lead to breakdowns and new binges. Don’t feel sorry for yourself, don’t seek solace in alcoholic drinks, and cherish every sober, clear and well-lived day. The more days like this you have behind you, the easier it is to quit drinking alcohol yourself and help those who need it to quit drinking.



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