Why Can’t I Stop Drinking Once I Start? 4 Major Reasons

If you find yourself turning to alcohol as a way to cope with stress, it’s important to explore healthier ways to manage your emotions. This can include practices such as meditation, exercise, spending time in nature, and cultivating a support network of friends and family. Maybe it’s to deal with difficult feelings and cope with daily life.

Understand why you’re feeling burnt out.

For instance, victims of chronic trauma often develop an overwhelming urge to control their surroundings after feeling powerless for so long​. By labeling what you feel, you create a bit of distance from it. This is a mindfulness technique – observing your thoughts and feelings without being swept away by them​. Letting go of negative emotions and experiences involves releasing stored disturbances from the mind, leading to a state of inner peace and well-being.

Addiction Is Not A Brain Disease. Logic, neuroscience, epidemiology, and social psychology all demonstrate this.

Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is a condition characterized by the reduced ability to control one’s consumption of alcohol, regardless of any negative effects it may be having. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual V (DSM-5) helps define the condition and provides criteria for a diagnosis. Alcohol abuse affects the brain over time, making it harder to quit drinking.

Drinking Responsibly: Can an Alcoholic Ever Control Their Drinking?

Replacing a glass of beer with a bottle of malt liquor or vodka, for example, can quickly lead to drinking too much. The NIAAA reported in 2019 that over a quarter of American adults reported binge drinking in the past month. It is estimated that about three-quarters of the national economic burden of alcohol comes from binge drinking. Binge drinking is often a sign that someone’s drinking is getting beyond their control, and involves drinking very high amounts of alcohol, often to the point of blacking out.

Racing thoughts can happen to anyone at any time in their life. It can be triggered by something exciting, upsetting, or nothing at all. When racing thoughts happen, they can take over the entire mind and make it difficult to focus on anything. They can occur at any time of the day and last for various lengths.

Beyond her clinical practice at AspenRidge, Courtney finds solace in outdoor activities, sports, reading, and cherishing quality time with her family and beloved dog. Describing her therapeutic approach as evidence-based, Courtney champions a humanistic or person-centered approach as the ideal foundation. Courtney’s professional experience in substance use treatment began in a holistic residential treatment center. Since then, she has worked across various settings including outpatient, inpatient, and community corrections programs. Give us a call and we can help find the right treatment program for you or your loved one – even if it’s not ours! These are some of the most common signs of alcohol misuse or inappropriate use.

This is no small task, as it is easy to keep drinking once you’ve started. There are ways you can cut down on your drinking without quitting entirely. We’ve gathered some tips and tricks on the best ways to cut down on drinking alcohol that can help you practice mindful drinking. Perhaps you say things you regret when you drink too much, causing issues with loved ones. Or maybe you are just tired of a casual night out leading to a day-long debilitating hangover.

• Still not sure how to gain better control over the thoughts you are having?
• However, it is important to recognise that every one is different.
• Having a buddy system can make it easier to resist temptation and stay accountable.
• Rat Park, a study by Bruce K. Alexander, showed that if rats are put in cages alone with both drug-laced and clean water, the rats quickly become addicted to the drug.

Related Treatments

This is always a very personal decision that should be made with careful consideration of the risks and benefits of drinking versus abstinence. People can speak with a medical professional or dietitian if food restriction is negatively affecting their eating patterns and mental health. Early detection and treatment are important for a full recovery from the effects of disordered eating habits. Incontinence may be an embarrassing problem, but it’s also an extremely common problem. In fact, by the age of 65, more than half of the population will experience some kind of incontinence!

Your mind is going fast, everything is a blur, and it’s hard to stop. If you’re feeling like this, reach for something that will soothe your senses. For example, wrap yourself in a soft blanket to quiet the racing thoughts, put your head in the freezer for 30 seconds, or light your favorite scented candle. Anxiety can derail a person’s day and make the daily aspects of life difficult.

By relaxing in the face of your emotions, you create the space for them to pass through you without leaving those marks. With witness consciousness, you are aware of your why can’t i control my drinking thoughts, emotions, and sensations without any resistance. By creating that distance, you’re no longer in the thought; you’re simply aware of it. Without this space, every mental event feels like a direct hit, triggering reactions and preventing any sense of inner stillness.