Patcha

Does anyone incorporate any kind of aversion "therapy" as part of their staying sober practice? If so, what do you do?

I keep reminding myself that alcohol is also ethanol, a toxic industrial chemical. Alcohol is what goes into my car to improve it's fuel efficiency, is found in solvent, varnish and paint, is flammable, is a preservative, and kills viruses and bacteria. The alcohol industry is financially invested in making us believe that alcohol has positive benefits, and that if you have a problem with alcohol, you're at fault, not the industry promoting the consumption of a lethal neurotoxin for fun, or the neurotoxin itself.

It's absolutely crazy that people who wake up one day and realise that drinking ethanol is DANGEROUS AND THEY DON'T WANT TO DO IT ANY MORE, are the ones flagged as having a "problem". Not people who think that drinking a highly marketed, highly flavoured, and highly doctored cleaning chemical IS A GOOD IDEA. There is no way that alcohol would be approved for human consumption if it was discovered today.

The fact that people have always drunk the result fermented products is hardly a testament to its safety or a recommendation for its continued use. People have consistently done many things detrimental to survival since we crawled out of the swamp. Just because humans have always done something deleterious to life, whether that be murder or consuming fermented products, doesn't mean we should keep doing it. We used to perform surgery without anaesthetic. Just because it was done in the past doesn't mean it's healthy to keep doing it.

I think that alcohol will become like smoking, eventually. Future generations will be astounded that we sat around the dinner table or in bars paying to drink expensive solvent that gave us face, throat and intestinal cancers as a direct result of ingesting it. It's madness.

least

I don't practice aversion therapy, but rather, gratitude therapy. I find that in my sober life, there is so much to be grateful for and it's a direct result of staying sober.

Dee74

I was always able to justify another drink even tho I knew all the negative consequences of that decision.
My entire life could have been used as aversion therapy for other alcoholics.

It may work for some but I found positive reinforcement was better for me.

Building a sober life I love...making drinking and getting high incompatible with the way I wanted to live, and the things I wanted to happen for me, gave me better results.

D

Rockbottom1964

I have all the Aversion Therapy right here, living in the same house as me, Patcha. The old man, who turned 80 last weekend - when booze was banned (again) here in South Africa - yesterday drank himself into a stupor. Alcohol went on sale again on Monday, the day after his birthday, and the "stepmom" and him stocked up properly - to the tune of a couple of cases of brandy. Their drinking kicked off with a bang on Monday, and at one point yesterday, my dad fell so hard on the raw concrete slab outside, I felt sure he was a hospital case.
To see the two of them make pigs of themselves each and every day, is all the Aversion Therepy I need.
Just another day in paradise...

Patcha

Welp that visual works for me, too!

It's a wonder I don't climb up on an actual soap box and declare the evils of alcohol to passersby. I feel so strongly about there being no level of safe alcohol consumption, and that we are being duped by Big Alcohol so they can line their pockets at the expense of our health and wellbeing.

What is behind the banning of alcohol sales? Is it a regular thing? Surely it just means that people stock up prior? What is the purpose?

Patcha

Fair points, Dee. I keep it as a tool in my recovery toolbox. Some days it's more helpful to reflect on what I'm leaving behind because right now, I am living a life I am not thrilled with, but I don't have any other options yet. I don't know what the future holds, or what I can make happen. I'm in limbo. My AV is very sneaky and I need lots of tools to deal with it's various manifestations at times. Aversion therapy was key in giving up smoking and it's been a good tool for not wanting to drink. I don't get cravings any more, but the day might come where I think having a drink will be a good idea. Reminding myself that alcohol is ethanol is a toxic industrical chemical disguised as "fun", is a cold shower for the AV. It's one further obstacle for it to try and get past.

Dee74

we're all different Patcha - that why there's so many methods around

D

Patcha

Yes, there's definitely no one size fits all when it comes to quitting.

Rockbottom1964

The public health care system in South Africa has been driven into the ground by government corruption and nepotism, Patcha. So now they say with the extra hospital admissions caused by Covid, there's no space for alcohol-related incidents/patients. Which just throws wide-open the alcohol black market of course. Last year they - the ANC - even banned cigarettes for four months. Thousands - perhaps hundreds of thousands in the alcohol and tobacco industries have lost their jobs; also the leasure and hotel industries - this in a country with an "unofficial" unemployment rate altready approaching the 50% mark.

Rockbottom1964

And no, Patcha. They always announce their pea-brained decisions on a Sunday evening, with immediate effect, so there's no chance to "stock up". Funny enough, though - the black marketeers always seem to be forewarned, and stock up accordingly.

Patcha

Hmm I'm not surprised teh black marketeers are forewarned. That's some government corruption going on right there.

RecklessEric

I think Dee's point is correct.
And something I have been thinking about.
If one method works for lots of people but not all, surely there is a case for having a piece of each method in your toolbox.

Myself, I think I have been at war for many years with everything I disagreed with. Politically, morally and so on. Not in a real life way, but in my head. I get so angry at things. And it's exhausting.
Least says they use gratitude- that's a very powerful tool, which I have been using in the last week.
I am grateful that I didn't die last week while drinking because I don't remember what happened and apparently I was speaking like a crazy person.
But to use that as aversion therapy has never worked for me, as the AV convinces me that "the next time you won't get like that".
But it probably will.
Anyway, that's why I no longer drink. It would probably kill me

BullDog777

The best aversion therapy for me is just looking at my medical chart. That has every diagnosis that has resulted in what my life was like when I was active in the illness. That's concrete, indisputable evidence that if I were to test the waters again, there's zero doubt that I wouldn't last even a little while.

However, now that I have some time, gratitude therapy is more my cup o tea. It's a lot less painful to not only experience, but it makes me a lot happier.

I do agree that there is no 1 way to get or stay sober. God knows I tried dozens of different therapies and methods to no avail. Simply put, when I was done, I knew the bottle was empty and that was it. It was time to make a choice. To para phrase ol' Andy Dufresne from Shawshank- "I needed to get busy living or get busy dyin." I was so tired of dying, that however many reservations I had getting out of the hospital, I knew that sober recovery was the way I could live my life.

I'm a firm believer that because there are so many tools available, the best way to win any war is to have a lot of weapons in the arsenal. Submerge your life in recovery. That's the key.

I hope everyone is doing well.

silentrun

I did something like that. The few weeks were brutal. I drank from 7pm until about 10 when I ran out of my nightly pint of whiskey. When I stopped I would spend those hours in the tub rocking back and forth. A craving would hit and I would call up all my shame, fear, hopelessness and hold it in the pit of my stomach until the craving past. Then another craving would hit and I'd do the same. Magically (wink) the cravings would stop as soon as the liquor store closed at 10pm.

I was just trying to survive the cravings and it wasn't some plan but I have zero euphoric recall. Alcohol gets mentioned and I automatically associate it with pain.

That alone did not keep me sober. I have thoughts of using I still had to contend with but that oohhhh I should....isn't there.

fishkiller

Hadn't really thought about it but I guess I have used it some.
When those rare AV moments pop up romanticizing a cold drink on a hot day I sometimes think ahead to how it will actually make me feel. Which is bad.

That alone will not do it though. We can get in such a hole we don't care about consequences.

Like others have said we need to build a good sober life to lean on.

It is a tool in my box also though.