Alcoholics Anonymous is available almost everywhere and provides a place to openly and non-judgmentally discuss alcohol problems with others who have alcohol use disorder. Your treatment setting will depend on your stage of recovery and the severity of your illness. You may need inpatient medical (hospital), residential rehabilitation (rehab), outpatient intensive therapy or outpatient maintenance.

• The following activity offers suggestions to support you in your decision to cut back or quit drinking.
• Don’t feel bad, but do consider cutting back on drinking — or quitting altogether.
• If you feel that avoiding alcohol completely is not for you, there are other options.
• For some drinkers, controlled drinking or moderate drinking is an option, and for a small portion of the population, about 5%, controlled drinking is nearly impossible.
• Only about 2% of drinkers in this group has alcohol use disorder.

This will help you become more aware of when and how you experience urges, what triggers them, and ways to avoid or control them. No matter how hopeless why cant i control my drinking alcohol use disorder may seem, treatment can help. If you think you might have a problem with alcohol, call SAMHSA or talk to your healthcare provider.

What causes alcohol use disorder?

What’s most important is looking at your drinking habits and finding a way to cut back that works for you. Knowing why you drink is essential, says Cyndi Turner, LCSW, LSATP, MAC, a Virginia therapist specializing in addiction treatment and alcohol moderation. Reducing the amount of alcohol you drink can improve your short- and long-term health.

But if you quit, your brain seems to be able to regain some of these abilities. If you feel that avoiding alcohol completely is not for you, there are other options. Some people can get control over their drinking and drink safer levels of alcohol without having to quit entirely. If you plan to attempt to control your drinking, there are several steps you should take to assist you in this process.

Recognize two types of “triggers”

Becoming more aware of your alcohol triggers and reasons for drinking can help you plan ways to help manage the urge to drink. Say you don’t have any cravings when you go without drinking. All the same, “a quick drink” often turns into three or four drinks. When you’re having a good time, you find it hard to stop, especially in the company of friends having the same amount. To stop drinking alcohol, you first need to understand your relationship with drinking.

• Individuals with drinking problems improve their chances of recovery by seeking help early.
• Spouses and children of heavy drinkers may face family violence; children may suffer physical and sexual abuse and neglect and develop psychological problems.
• After trying these techniques and determining your level of success, you should be able to assess whether you can be a social drinker.

It also provides worksheets to help you uncover the nature of your urges to drink and to make a plan for handling them. To stick to the above drinking goals, there are other moderate drinking techniques that you can employ, such as avoiding hard alcohol and sticking to beer. Beer has lower ethanol content, and the carbonation can fill you up, so it tends to take longer to drink.

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