Reply To: Strategy for a drinking problem

#26192
Paul McCabe
PSTEC Pro and Forum Moderator

    Hi Evan,

    Thanks for your post and great input.

    My own strategy would be to CT first, and then run some BBs or PP tracks. A combination of these approaches could work very well indeed.

    I would personally start with the compulsions first – the strong desire to drink – and CT that.

    As Brian mentioned, it can often be triggered by feelings of low self-worth. It is also a double bind, as it can also increase those.

    Drinking alcohol is a conditioned behaviour, of course, and it can have many different origins/pathways and manifestations:

    – “escape” or a coping mechanism
    – social context (going to music or sporting events, being at college etc.)
    – a survival strategy
    – compulsion
    – a way to fit in
    – a social lubricant
    – an emotional state-changer

    Probably many more reasons.

    A bit like smoking, it can also be useful to tackle this from an identity-level. For example, “what does drinking give you? or “what does it enable you to do/not do?”

    It will tend to meet a variety of needs – certainty, a sense of significance, variety itself, for example.

    It can be quite pervasive, as it acts as both a state-changer and also, in certain contexts, a way to connect with others. When drinking alone, it can also allow you to disconnect or reconnect with a problem.

    In the Western culture, those who are a bit more “reckless” with the amount of drink and drugs they consume get attention and no small degree of kudos. I have lost count of the number of rock stars whose drinking binges were called “legendary.”  I think that factors into it too – “”Being sober was boring”, “Drinking made me cooler”, “People loved when I was binge-drinking” etc.

    Combine this with all the drinking games (e.g. Beer Pong), references and media endorsements and, for some people, there are a number of references that require resolution.

    I have no judgment about any of this, of course. I used to drink a fair amount socially (probably…an excess before that) and I just don't drink at all anymore. This summer, I see people drinking outdoors every day and I am completely neutral about it.

    It does not mean I would never have a beer in the future, but the desire to have any alcohol sits at 0 out of 10. I never targeted “drinking alcohol” with PSTEC or any other modality. Something tipped the scales, but I don't know what it was. Since this was long before BB and PQT came along, it does show that perhaps CTing on its own could do this.

    I used CTs for minor irritations that popped into my mind. Previously I probably would have had a few beers instead  ;D

    So, yes, you're definitely NOT wrong, Evan. There are so many options for resolving behavioural and emotional patterns with PSTEC.

    Thanks again for posting.

    Paul  ;D


    Paul McCabe – PSTEC Master Practitioner

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