Advice From Annie Grace: Should I Quit Drinking Cold Turkey or Taper Off?
If you're ready to cut out drinking, you have to A.C.T
This is the first of a monthly advice column written by Annie Grace. Annie is the author of the life-giving book, This Naked Mindwhich has helped thousands of people around the world quit drinking for good; as well as and her forthcoming book, The Alcohol Experiment. Annie will answer reader questions to help you break free of limiting beliefs that keep you stuck in old drinking habits.
- It is the riskiest way to quit, and can have serious consequences. The best way to quit an antipsychotic, like with any psychiatric drug, is to discontinue gradually, at the pace most suited to your personal needs, and with appropriate guidance an.
- There is a common perception that one can simply quit at any time. Many people still consider gambling addiction to be primarily a financial problem and don’t understand that deep and profound control that it can have over a person. Compulsive gambling can be an addiction, just as real and powerful as a serious drug addiction.
- Quitting Alcohol Cold Turkey. Quitting alcohol cold turkey, or suddenly stopping all consumption of alcohol, is not recommended. If your addiction to alcohol has led to a physical dependence on the substance, quitting suddenly puts you at risk for experiencing serious health problems.
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Have a question for Annie? Email it to [email protected] with the subject line, “Ask Annie Grace.” You’re welcome to use a pseudonym.
Hi Annie,
I want to quit drinking, but I don’t know where to start. Should I stop cold turkey or gradually taper off? Do you have any advice?
– Sick and Tired
Dear Sick and Tired,
Wouldn’t it be great if there were a step-by-step, failsafe guide on how to quit drinking? One guaranteed way to stop? Although you’ll find plenty of books, articles, and advice on the subject, there’s no way to know what’s right for you personally. So, how do you go about quitting drinking? All at once? In baby steps? Here’s what to consider when you’re trying to decide.
For most of us, gradually tapering off our drinking seems like the least painful approach. If you’re a heavy drinker who might be physically dependent on alcohol, I’d advise not changing anything until consulting with your physician. Alcohol withdrawals are serious and do require medical supervision.
If you’ve previously tried to stop drinking and experienced physical withdrawals, it’s likely you’ll experience them again. If that’s not you, keep reading on.
When I first thought that I might be drinking too much, I tried to taper off my drinking and set what I felt were “reasonable limits.” No more than two drinks a night. I could only drink every other night. I felt like these were achievable goals and realistic.
Except I kept failing.
According to the CDC, about 90% of people who drink excessively would not be expected to meet the clinical diagnostic criteria for having a severe alcohol use disorder.A severe alcohol use disorder, previously known as alcohol dependence or alcoholism, is a chronic disease.
When I first thought that I might be drinking too much, I tried to taper off my drinking and set what I felt were “reasonable limits.” No more than two drinks a night. I could only drink every other night. I felt like these were achievable goals and realistic.
Except I kept failing.
According to the CDC, about 90% of people who drink excessively would not be expected to meet the clinical diagnostic criteria for having a severe alcohol use disorder.A severe alcohol use disorder, previously known as alcohol dependence or alcoholism, is a chronic disease.
Some of the signs and symptoms of a severe alcohol use disorder can include:
- Inability to limit drinking
- Continuing to drink despite personal or professional problems
- Needing to drink more to get the same effect as you did before when consuming less alcohol
- Wanting a drink so badly you can’t think of anything else
So, if most of us aren’t physically dependent on alcohol, then why is it so hard to stop drinking? Why do we try to taper off or ease our way out of it rather than just stopping all at once?
Well, the attachment to alcohol is all in your head.
We drink because of our beliefs. And we keep drinking because of our beliefs.
Well, the attachment to alcohol is all in your head.
We drink because of our beliefs. And we keep drinking because of our beliefs.
Alcohol makes me happy.
Alcohol helps me relax.
I need alcohol to socialize.
Alcohol helps me relax.
I need alcohol to socialize.
These beliefs have been formed over time and attach each one of us individually. That makes them very true. How, then, do we go about dispelling the beliefs if we do want to stop drinking—gradually or all at once?
You ACT.
You ACT.
ACT = Awareness, Clarity, and Turnaround
ACT is a three-step process I’ve developed that enables you to unwind some of your long-held beliefs around alcohol. This means that when you do make a change, you’ll find it so much easier because your beliefs, and specifically your subconscious beliefs around drinking, will have shifted. You’re going to become aware of your belief by naming and putting language to it. Next. you’ll clarify the belief, where it came from, and how it feels inside you. Finally, you will turnaround the belief coming up with a few reasons why the opposite of your long-held belief may be as true or truer than the original belief.
To put this in action we’ll go with a common belief: Alcohol makes me happy.
To put this in action we’ll go with a common belief: Alcohol makes me happy.
Awareness
You believe that alcohol is what makes you happy.
Clarity
You believe that alcohol makes you happy because it’s what you see. Turn on the TV and people are celebrating with alcohol. Movies, radio, music, etc.: e sing, dance, and celebrate how great alcohol is in the media all day long. We also see it in our own lives. When we meet for drinks, we go for “Happy Hour,” and for many of us, drinking tends to occur in a fun, social setting with people we like. So, your experiences created and cemented this belief.
Has it always been true to you, though? Have you always needed alcohol to be happy? Can you be happy without alcohol? What is happiness to you? It’s easy to say alcohol makes us happy, but breaking down and defining what we mean by “happiness” really forces us to examine and clarify that belief.
I know that I didn’t always need alcohol to be happy. I didn’t even start drinking until after college, so that’s a whole lot of years I was happy without drinking. To me, happiness is something that I feel from within. How was I getting it from a bottle? Was it the alcohol making me happy, or the people whom I was drinking with?
If a little alcohol makes us a little happy, more alcohol should increase our happiness, right? Except, as anyone who has had a heavy drinking night can tell you, more alcohol does not increase happiness. The reason we drink more alcohol is that we are chasing the high that first drink gave us.
Has it always been true to you, though? Have you always needed alcohol to be happy? Can you be happy without alcohol? What is happiness to you? It’s easy to say alcohol makes us happy, but breaking down and defining what we mean by “happiness” really forces us to examine and clarify that belief.
I know that I didn’t always need alcohol to be happy. I didn’t even start drinking until after college, so that’s a whole lot of years I was happy without drinking. To me, happiness is something that I feel from within. How was I getting it from a bottle? Was it the alcohol making me happy, or the people whom I was drinking with?
If a little alcohol makes us a little happy, more alcohol should increase our happiness, right? Except, as anyone who has had a heavy drinking night can tell you, more alcohol does not increase happiness. The reason we drink more alcohol is that we are chasing the high that first drink gave us.
Turnaround
Rephrase the initial belief about alcohol based on what you now know is true. Dig deep to find at least three reasons that the turnaround is as true or truer than your original belief.
Alcohol makes me sad.
Alcohol is a downer.
My friends are what makes me happy.
Alcohol is a downer.
My friends are what makes me happy.
It’s easy to get caught up in the logistics of how to stop drinking and obsess over whether to taper off or quit cold turkey. The physical act of stopping drinking can actually be the easy part.
Rather, it’s the mental aspect that, although harder, is where your success lies. To stop drinking successfully, try applying the ACT Technique (Awareness, Clarity, and Turnaround) to all of the beliefs that mentally keep you going back for more. Replacing those experiences is the key to eliminating the desire to drink.
When you lose the desire to drink you no longer wrestle with deciding how to stop drinking. What you gain instead is freedom.
F&ck Drinking,
One of the most popular questions I get is about whether you should quit playing video games cold turkey or whether you should just slowly reduce your time?
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So in my experience I quit playing games cold turkey and was successful for over 11 months before I relapsed, and ended up playing 16 hours a day for five months straight before I quit cold turkey once again for good.
The reason cold turkey worked so well for me was because I knew I wanted to move on from games, so continuing to play or reduce my time was merely a way for me to procrastinate what I really wanted to do.
If this is the case for you, sometimes you just need to step up and rip the bandaid off. Games for me were a crutch so it wasn’t going to benefit me at all to continue playing them when I already knew what I really wanted to do.
Since I knew I wanted to quit and move on, it made the most sense for me to give myself the best shot possible to be successful, and I took this notion of setting myself up for success seriously.
I chose new activities, I scheduled your day and I stayed out of the house as much as possible.
Now I know that’s not the case for everybody, so here’s what I recommend:
1. If you are someone who wants to quit, then you need to recognize that what you’re really debating isn’t whether you should quit cold turkey or not, and instead you’re debating whether you’re ready to commit to moving forward in your life.
In my experience, the moment you’re ready is the moment you just say fuck it and go for it. There’s no real way around it. Casino cruises from galveston.
2. If you are someone who doesn’t want to quit but wants to reduce your time, I think it’s valuable to go through the 90 day game quitters detox, where you take 90 days off games and then re-evaluate whether you want to play again or not.
The reason for this is because games cause structural changes to your brain, and by giving yourself the 90 day detox you allow your brain the time it needs to re-calibrate and for your “gaming fog” to lessen. Cool poker table accent decor.
Now that your gaming fog has lessened you will have more clarity to make the decision you genuinely want to make.
The other benefit of doing the 90 day detox is that it gives you a chance to experience what life looks like without games, which is something you may or may not have experienced in a long time (if ever.)
During this time you will learn a lot more about yourself and your relationship to gaming. Plus, if you can’t go 90 days without games you probably shouldn’t be playing anyways.
Can I Stop Gambling Cold Turkey Without
So those are some things to think about, hope that helps!