I remember when I was in the first days, weeks and months of early recovery I used to give myself such a hard time when my attention was drawn to some alcohol-related cue, like someone drinking ,or finding it difficult not dealing with some reminder of people places and […]
In this first in a series of blogs addressing the similarities between addiction and obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). This blog looks at the nature of obsessive thoughts about alcohol. The other interesting thing about this study (1), is the authors stating that alcohol related thoughts are a natural […]
In an earlier blog we asked the question whether neurobiological or “conditioning” or reinforcement models of craving predict relapse in abstinent alcoholics and addicts? For us this is the most essential question. How do we explain relapse in those individuals motivated to remain abstinent, especially when they have followed some […]
Involuntary retrieval of drug related thoughts is a hallmark of addicted populations. Intensity of obsessive thoughts about alcohol predict relapse rate (1), with addicts motivated to use drugs to “silence” obsessive thoughts (2). The idea that abstinence automatically decreases alcohol-related thoughts is challenged by research (3) and supported […]
The idea that abstinence will automatically also decrease alcohol-related intrusive thoughts has been dismissed by research and vast anecdotal evidence. Practically all therapies for alcoholism e.g AA, SMART and so on suggest that urges create automatic thoughts about drinking. This has been demonstrated in research that distress automatically […]
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