When stopping drinking, former alcoholics experience a feeling of discomfort, the result of confronting which can easily become another breakdown and a return to the previous dependent state. There is no doubt that alcoholism is a disease. So how do people who quit drinking manage to find an adequate replacement for alcohol and feel like a full-fledged person again?
What problems do ex-alcoholics face?
Those who quit drinking often have to overcome the same set of problems. However, having a clear idea of the difficulties to be expected, one can properly prepare one's own mind for what is to come.
All the problems faced by those who quit drinking can be roughly divided into the following categories:
- The real problems created by alcohol are related to human physiology, the perception of changes by the body. Usually, the more "experience" of a drinking person, the worse his state of he alth. It is possible to eliminate troubles of this nature,enduring until the desired changes or seriously working to restore their own he althy well-being.
- Masked problems - relate to the emotional sphere of a person addicted to alcohol. With many of them, individuals who have quit drinking are meeting for the first time in many years, since alcohol is a great distraction from reality.
Depressive states
The state of despondency is a completely normal reaction of consciousness to objective reality. However, each person in his own way tries to find a way out of this situation. Many of us prefer home alcoholism as a solution.
People who have quit drinking have to relearn how to resist bouts of melancholy. An excellent distraction during rehabilitation here can be walking in the fresh air, taking care of your own body and physical exercises. Yoga can help strengthen the spirit and body at the same time.
What other rational ways out of a pathological state do people who quit drinking prefer to use? First of all, this is a regular visit to a psychoanalyst, an attending physician, or ordinary conversations with non-drinking friends. In general, in order to get out of a depressed state when refusing alcohol, it is very important to keep yourself busy, benefit others, do good deeds and look for ways to express yourself.
Angry fits and irritability
Treatment of patients with alcoholism always causes frequent bouts of unreasonable angry states in the latter. Often the roots of suchproblems lie in deep childhood and come out as soon as the brain returns the ability to perceive objective reality.
Group therapy and psychoanalysis sessions are of great benefit in overcoming anger and increasing self-control for people who have said goodbye to the systematic intake of alcohol.
Special biochemical reactions in the body can serve as the cause of negative emotional well-being. For example, one of the most common reasons for the emergence of angry states when refusing alcohol is excessive consumption of caffeine or overeating. Significant reduction in diet, special diets, as well as temporary avoidance of caffeine and fatty foods helps most previously addicted people to bounce back.
Sleep disturbance
Alcoholics, former addicts, as a rule, do not feel a good rest after sleep, which they need much more than non-drinkers. It takes a lot of time and patience to come to a normal stable state.
What are the most common sleep disorders? Often the real problem for a person who stops drinking is persistent insomnia, difficulty waking up in the morning, lack of dreams, or regular nightmares. In the presence of nightmares, their realism is striking. Moreover, their plot is often tied to drunkenness.
To bring their own sleep back to normal, many people who quit drinking lean on evening physical activity, which leads to natural fatigue and, consequently, makes you sleep better. Doing a warm-up in the morningmakes it possible to charge the body with energy and quickly move away from a sleepy state.
Family problems
People who refuse regular drinking face another pressing problem. A sharp change in one's own lifestyle often leads to inadequate perception of changes by loved ones. In fact, people who quit drinking become completely different people in the eyes of their relatives, sometimes strangers and difficult to understand.
Reduce tension and reduce all sorts of friction in the family helps active communication with loved ones. The formation of the image of a non-drinker takes time for family members to get used to the new "I". Going to family counseling, Alcoholics Anonymous, and he althy family relationship groups can help bring about agreement.
Change in social circle
Giving up alcohol is expected to lead to changes in the perception of others and cause relationship problems. As in the previous case, the former addict has to adapt his comrades to a new, non-drinking image of himself. At the same time, each comrade often manifests a different, sometimes rather inadequate reaction to what is happening.
The only rational solution is to stay away from friends who are supportive of the former addict's aspirations. Companions who instigate addiction recovery are not true friends. Therefore, former addicts try to separate"well-wishers" from others.
Digestive disorders
As soon as a person begins to acquaint others with the story of “how I stopped drinking”, the previously urgent psychological problems are immediately replaced by physical problems. In this situation, digestive disorders are quite an adequate response of the body to changes. Similar processes are always felt on the physical level when parting with a long-standing addiction, whether it be caffeine, sweets, nicotine or alcohol.
Digestive problems are an essential part of the healing process. A diet based on cereals, legumes, fresh fruits and vegetables, and any food rich in coarse fibers helps relieve discomfort until the body is completely rebuilt.
Hard thinking
After a complete and irrevocable refusal of alcohol, a person has to endure problems regarding confusion of thinking. Sometimes the consequence of a sharp rejection of alcohol is hallucinations, indistinct explanation of one's own thoughts.
How do former addicts cope with such troubles? The most effective help in this case may be playing sports, dieting, giving up other addictions, for example, nicotine, sweets. Yoga, massage sessions, fitness and gymnastics, manual therapy can also help to come into agreement with your own consciousness.
Stressful situations
As soon as a person, it would seem, completely managed to say goodbye toalcohol, often there are major troubles or fatal misfortunes that can make you break into drinking again. After all, before in such situations, the only thing left was to get drunk.
Probably, the negative emotional state against the backdrop of problems looming from all sides is the biggest obstacle for former alcoholics. But if you manage to heal a wound in your soul without alcohol once, then you will surely be able to repeat this more than once in the future. Over time, consistently moving towards overcoming obstacles only hardens former addicts and makes them feel their own strength.
If people who have stopped drinking again resort to solving problems by drinking alcohol, this often only worsens the situation even more, despite all the sadness of the circumstances.
Breaking stereotypes
Quite often drinkers in the past have to find themselves in situations where it is almost impossible to abandon the behavioral stereotype accepted in society. A striking example is the organization of a solemn feast on the occasion of an important event in the family of a former addict. What should a former alcoholic do if he needs to participate in a feast?
In reality, for a person who has found an effective way to stop drinking and has already managed to give up addiction forever, nothing bad will happen. A person who has parted with addiction to alcohol can easily apply the principle of adequate replacement by using non-alcoholic alternatives.drinks.
Naturally, in order for the principle of replacement to fully justify itself, it is not enough to simply drink juice instead of wine, and mineral water instead of vodka. A whole host of secondary attributes are important. So, it is absolutely not recommended to pour water into vodka glasses, and carbonated drinks into wine glasses. This minor detail creates in the picture of a former addict something akin to imitation of alcohol consumption, which is simply unacceptable.
There are a number of rules that can be used as a simple example of the behavior of a former drinker during a feast:
- when others drink wine, you should use a different type of glass or a completely different glass, after filling it with a drink that is very different from wine in smell, color and taste;
- if the main alcoholic drink on the table is vodka, it is better to use a sweet, colored carbonated drink as a substitute, pouring it into anything but a glass;
- if those present drink beer from large glass mugs or goblets, preference should be given to mineral or sweet colorless water, drinking it straight from the neck of the bottle.
Alcoholics Anonymous
Often an effective barrier to a return to addiction is attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. Members of such organizations receive psychological help and themselves provide support to others on a peer-to-peer basis.
As the head of the meetings,the club of anonymous alcoholics can involve a minister of the church, a professional psychologist, a psychotherapist, a narcologist. However, no matter how the therapy is organized, the main principle here remains the provision of mutual support from the members of the club.
Practically every Alcoholics Anonymous club operates a program that consists of successive steps on the road to recovery. The main points of such programs are based on the following:
- recognizing oneself as an addicted, unhe althy person;
- trusting the result into the hands of one's spiritual power;
- committed to making full and full reparation for the damage previously caused by addiction to loved ones and others;
- introspection and search for reserves for personal growth;
- conveying ideas and own conclusions to other community members.
How do people who quit drinking cope with relapses?
Even the person who regularly comes up with “how I quit drinking” stories is in danger of relapsing. What should a former addict do if he decides to drink again? The only way out in such a situation is to go through the entire path of recovery from the beginning, a full return to a sober life.
Ultimately, don't hurt yourself with constant guilt for allowing a relapse. Many ex-alcoholics view these situations as a learning experience that simply removes the negatives from their experience.personal recovery program.
In closing
How to quit drinking for free and give up addiction forever? Each person finds his own, individual way of solving this issue. Only that system of getting rid of alcohol addiction can be called ideal, which does not force you to look for a replacement for alcohol, does not require changes in behavior stereotypes.
To achieve a state of complete renunciation of alcohol, the majority of former addicts are helped by saying goodbye to life yesterday, feelings of their own inferiority, beliefs in the inability to achieve more. All this requires a full awareness of all the advantages of a sober life, as well as an orientation towards a bright, successful future that promises a person a world without alcohol.
