joe801

The word moderately being suggested but not the definition of the word moderately is deceitful IMO. It's a play on words, technically why isn't "heavily usage" "whatever that means to you".

We all can agree what abstinence means, there is no way to play the word. There is no moderation once you'll brain stops the production of natural hormones & chemicals (gaba, dopamine, serotonin, etc) and replaces it with alcohol it's neurological psychological trainwreck and let's not forget the physical effects.

davaidavai

I drank a Heineken zero this evening and had a thought. I like this flavor, but I am also still seeking something in the flavor. It's joy, stimulation. There is a slight placebo effect. But I am also seeking the possibility of contact. If I incorporate Heineken Zero's, then maybe I'll be able to go and enjoy connecting with other people in bars. I realized, this is deceptive. Maybe what is going on is that I am misconstruing the pleasure of the drink with the pleasure of human interaction. The drink is only an agent of pleasure, that amplifies whatever is already there very subtly until personal agency of connection and conversation is falsely attributed to the chemical. Like maybe it's a form of laziness or ignorance. If most connection is coupled to booze from an early age, then I am ignorant of the energy and art of connection.

I think there is something to be said for social conditioning, how in our culture much of the joy we share comes coupled with a stimulant or relaxant, or whatever alcohol is. Doesn't the freedom method address this? The coupling of alcohol with the normal human interaction we are too inhibited to undertake sober. Or in some cases it may be that it has nothing to do with inhibitions: it is just coincidentally there as a pleasure drug that intercedes and becomes part of social conditioning. It slips in there as an intermediary.

But I also think there is hubris in the freedom method in that creates a false duality between itself and AA when really there are many shades and many details that go into addiction and cessation.

DriGuy

Some alternatives to recovery set up a duality that doesn't need to be there. Throughout the fields of self help, whether it be alcoholism or mental health, promoters from all sources sell their product by distinguishing themselves from competing alternatives. They can take it too far if they promote their product as "better than" or "the only way." Taken to such an extreme is not being helpful. The goal of recovery should be sobriety. The goal of therapy is mental health, and people differ in which methods are most useful to them.