Alcohol Dependence & Will

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Most problem drinkers appreciate that the costs of using alcohol the way they do are greater than the benefits, but they vastly underestimate what it takes to change. As a result they fail to adhere to their intentions or solemn vows. Repeatedly failing at a challenge that seems so trivial may suggest to some that the problem drinker is defective [powerless, diseased] and requires an external agent to take responsibility for recovery.

The Paradoxes of Control

• The paradox of using alcohol consumption to control experience results in the loss of control over alcohol consumption: The motivation to increase pleasure and decrease pain is fundamental and universal. The discovery that drinking alcohol can produce immediate pleasure or relief gives an individual a way to cope with the difficulties of living a life. Anything capable of delivering such a desirable payoff can corrupt the soul. Alcohol is so effective in helping some people control their experience that they lose control of their alcohol consumption..
• Because controlling alcohol intake seems so trivial a challenge, most problem drinkers do not invest the effort required to succeed, and end up relapsing: It is possible to exercise will, even in the presence of great stress and temptation, but doing so requires considerable preparation. Shallow attempts to control drinking through “willpower” often produce the spectacular failures that discredit the concept of willpower. Lack of respect for what is required to act as intended during a crisis is the primary cause of failure of will..
• Depending on an external agent to free one from dependence does: When you act counter to your intentions, you weaken the power of future intentions to influence action. Loss of control occurs when alcohol consumption is dependent upon local conditions rather than upon your intentions. Demoralizing relapses may motivate the individual (or loved ones) to give up and seek an external agent who can produce the intended outcome. However, there is paradox in turning to an external agent for the solution to a problem of dependence. Consider treatment strategies based on the medical model, in which the problem drinker is urged to accept powerlessness over a disease and to accept the patient role as recipient of the treatment: The strategies and goals are selected by, and the interventions are performed by, an external agent [treatment provider, self-help group]. This approach, most closely associated with 12-Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous, is well matched with physically dependent alcoholics and many non-physically dependent problem drinkers. However, it provides a poor match for some high-functioning problem drinkers.

Treatment Matching
While the challenge is great, you are not the first one to face it. Methods to develop the skills and faculties that enable one to perform as intended in the face of crisis have been practiced throughout history. Tools and experiential exercises described by early philosophers and modern cognitive and neural scientists can enable problem drinkers to complete an important developmental passage: From dependence to self-determination.

Please click here to develop the capability to intentionally influence your subjective reality during the critical moments when you are at risk of relapse. With some preparation, high-functioning problem drinkers can develop the requisite skills and faculties to change course and follow their path of greatest advantage rather than to continue to yield in the direction of least resistance.