Originally Posted by
CRRHCC 
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Tip: Don't believe the 1935 myth that you have a disease over which you have no control!
Stress cannot cause drinking like a patellar reflex causes your quadriceps muscle to contract and your knee to jerk, but life’s stress can certainly be a reason to drink if you see drinking as useful and appropriate when you are stressed. Whatever your situation and circumstances, you have always been in control, and you have always used your free will to search for happiness.
You have free will, autonomy and the desire to pursue your own happiness. We are all driven to seek happiness (reward). All human behavior is driven by the pursuit of happiness (reward) and that, when you choose to do something, you do so because you see it as your best available option. Do you believe that you can be happier reducing/quitting your substance use than you can be by continuing it as is? When you can answer that question in the affirmative, then you can know that you will never have to feel an “uncontrollable urge” to use problematically again.
I actually wish I had accepted the “disease model” instead of the “moral failure” argument a lot sooner. My grandparents were addicts, my mom’s family was decimated by addiction(s). My dad’s side of the family has addiction and mental illness. Knowing addiction is affected by DNA is a relief because I can now appreciate my addiction as a medical issue and take it with the seriousness that it warrants.
There are new studies about AUD and how it may be a result of genes and “deep learning,” in that drinking changes your DNA and makes you crave it more.
But, debating about recovery is not what this forum is for. I don’t need to know why I drink, I only need to know I have to stop.