Alcohol

[LucyChar]

Anyone else drank too much alcohol to cope with life/problems. I have been battling with AA for seven years but finding it didn't work for me - due to the fact I feel it was helping with my issues/maybe triggering them off. Although now - I fear alcohol is creeping back up again. Well it is. I'm having a lot of flashbacks and triggers at the moment. Feeling a lot of anger. Depression. Sometimes feels like there is no point going to the doctors as they don't do anything just say 'be patient'. Or prescribe an anti depressant. I actually want to help myself out of this. Its been a bout seven years and my life is not getting better.

 

[EveHarrington]

Therapy?

There are many more meds out there other than antidepressants...

 

[bigstrongtree]

I liked Smart Recovery. I used alcohol for a long time to deal with intrusive thoughts and other things. I have read many people do not do well in AA and many people have been further abused by meeting people in the rooms (I was)

Smart Recovery is science based.

Are there other ways for you to manage your symptoms without alcohol?

I did a few years of trauma therapy that helped me learn how to ground, turn my emotions up or down and it helped put my mind back together.

I am also a big fan of restorative yoga to help the parasympathetic nervous system turn on. So I can get off fight or flight.

Bio-Hacking Ideal Health In The Modern World

And I wouldn’t give up finding healthy and safe ways to cope.

 

[lux.]

I struggle with alcohol and drugs and I hate AA. I went to AA meetings for years and liked it in the beginning, but that was back when my only trauma was in childhood. When I had a really significant trauma in 2012, I backed off from meetings and my friends in the program.

I just can’t get with the whole Higher Power thing. I know it can be anything, it’s your own conception, etc., but I’ve tried since 2009 to find some conception of a higher power that works for me to no avail. My views on life and death are mostly influenced by existentialism and aren’t going to change.

But I also find that people there can be very triggering. And a lot of people are judgmental of people like me who have relapsed a lot. And just too many hugs.

Now I go to a program called Women For Sobriety. I don’t know if you are male or female, but it is a good program. It’s not spiritual and instead of steps they have 13 affirmations. More empowering than breaking you down like AA. They don’t have a lot of meetings—there’s only one that’s close enough for me to get to—but they also have a website with forums and I think chat meetings. womenforsobriety.org

I've been meaning to try out Smart Recovery but keep forgetting about it. Their meetings are kind of far from me, but I want to go anyway.

It's just a shame that there aren't any other programs that are as ubiquitous as AA. I can find an AA meeting to go to almost anytime, anywhere.

 

[MyWillow]

My drinking halved after I started seeing my new psydoc. Just like that. For me it was about slowing the therapy down, taking tiny steps, listening to my body (or at least trying), reducing the dissociation, understanding the feelings of being unsafe and developing ways for my adult self to take charge. She has never commented on my alcohol intake in a judgemental way. If I say I think I drink too much she says “if you think that, then it’s probably true” and leaves it there. I’m not on any meds.

I don’t think I’ve ever been an alcoholic per se but there are times when I rely on it way too much.

 

[frogthroat]

don’t think I’ve ever been an alcoholic per se but there are times when I rely on it way too much.

Same here. There are periods of time I turn to alcohol but it's in spurts. It's really weird.

 

[MyWillow]

I just try to look at as an outdated coping mechanism - like dissociation. What my team teaches me by example is to notice without judgement.

 

[frogthroat]

I just try to look at as an outdated coping mechanism - like dissociation

To me this is definitely what alcohol is - an outdated coping mechanism. Yet, I find myself running to it when I feel like I'm harboring pain I don't quite understand.
I feel drawn to it when I feel like a bewildered animal the most scratching, scraping, and unsure.

 

[Tracee]

I struggle with alcohol and drugs and I hate AA. I went to AA meetings for years and liked it in the beginning, but that was back when my only trauma was in childhood. When I had a really significant trauma in 2012, I backed off from meetings and my friends in the program.

I just can’t get with the whole Higher Power thing. I know it can be anything, it’s your own conception, etc., but I’ve tried since 2009 to find some conception of a higher power that works for me to no avail. My views on life and death are mostly influenced by existentialism and aren’t going to change.

But I also find that people there can be very triggering. And a lot of people are judgmental of people like me who have relapsed a lot. And just too many hugs.

Now I go to a program called Women For Sobriety. I don’t know if you are male or female, but it is a good program. It’s not spiritual and instead of steps they have 13 affirmations. More empowering than breaking you down like AA. They don’t have a lot of meetings—there’s only one that’s close enough for me to get to—but they also have a website with forums and I think chat meetings. womenforsobriety.org

I've been meaning to try out Smart Recovery but keep forgetting about it. Their meetings are kind of far from me, but I want to go anyway.

It's just a shame that there aren't any other programs that are as ubiquitous as AA. I can find an AA meeting to go to almost anytime, anywhere.

I appreciate you posting this. I am the same, an atheist (not going to change my mind at 49), and feeling extremely uncomfortable and triggered by AA meetings. I grew up with abusive, neglectful alcoholic parents, and too much of what I’ve experienced in AA meetings reminds me of them. I never had children, I believe, although I didn’t realize it until some deep introspection, because I didn’t want to repeat that legacy of abuse. And I would like help getting away from booze, but for me, AA is worse than the alternative. I have sought out and attended SMART meetings, and they are great. Have a great week all.