Why do people drink alcohol at all? Why do people drink alcohol: psychological reasons

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Drunkenness and the need for intoxication are a systemic, multifactorial phenomenon. Any answer examines only one of the many answers to this question. At one logical level it would be correct to say “out of nothing to do”, at another it would be “an attempt to fill the existential vacuum.” But there appear to be even more fundamental reasons for the need for intoxication. After all, our animal ancestors also drank alcohol. They say that a troop of monkeys, having found fermented fruits, pounce on them with pleasure, and then the animals lie around drunk.

So why do we drink? Today's partial answer is perhaps this.

Because we need a holiday. Because a holiday is an opportunity to break out of the everyday circle of worries and fears and, at least for a short time, feel the fullness of life, the integrity of oneself. Let go of masks, obligations, thousands of “cannots”, thousands of “musts”. “A man must achieve a lot”, “a man must have a wife, a mistress and a car”, “one cannot look unprestigious.” Send it all to hell, be yourself - yourself and no one else, feel real unity with the Other, feel human brotherhood, enjoy real being, stop hearing inner voices, who constantly pull back, demand to “meet demands”, nagging about dangers. “Relax”, “stick out”, rush along with the flow of time and not notice it.

Ancient civilizations paid their tribute to the riotous holiday. Bacchanalia, Saturnalia, Dionysian holidays - you can do anything, with anyone, anyone. To be naked psychologically and physically, to throw away all taboos - and “the devil go to hell.” To go through chaos and be reborn to order, to experience rebirth. And intoxication is an indispensable attribute of such holidays. Intoxication that helps free the beast inside us. Once a year. Once. And again everyday life, again work, again dangers: foreign peoples, tribes, cruel nature, harsh life.

Berne has a rather paradoxical statement that a hangover is the true goal of an alcoholic. This seems to be partly true. For a heavy alcoholic, binge drinking is a decline into oblivion; getting drunk is like “dying a little.” And then there is a rebirth to life. For some reason, a person needs these dramatic experiences; it is not for nothing that dying and rebirth are a favorite theme of pagan holidays. An alcoholic has Saturnalia 2 times a month. Rebirth to life after heavy drinking, sincere vows to change, live, never drink again, be good. And this, oddly enough, is a moment in the life of a drunkard, not without a fair amount of self-deprecating sweetness.

The need for a holiday is multiplied by the discomfort that we experience while living in the unnatural conditions of modern civilization.

Psychophysiologically, we are Cro-Magnons. We still have the same fundamental needs. But they became overgrown with restrictions. And not only those necessary moral principles, without which we would turn into a herd of animals killing each other for a banana, but also other artificial restrictions imposed by society - levers to control us. We have learned to keep ourselves in a prison of neurotic beliefs and limiting attitudes. We have forgotten how to experience harmony with nature, with the Other, with ourselves. But our body still needs it. And I really want to escape as opposed to all this - on a holiday.

We live in a world adapted for humans. The social roles we are forced to play do not coexist with deep psychological needs. We become so imbued with obligations to live up to something that, as we grow up, we forget who we really are. The need to love, to give birth to children, to be with others has been replaced by the obligation to demonstrate a connection with a woman made according to the patterns of a Barbie doll (prestigious), to be “in the zone”, to have more than a neighbor. We become so imbued with the demands of society that we accept these socially approved aspirations as our true nature; we take what comes from the demands of a sick society as the call of the soul.

Some needs given to us by nature are suppressed, others are exaggerated and turned into caricatures. The need for possession, for territory turns into irrepressible greed, the need for recognition turns into lust for power, and so on.

It is impossible to drink poisoned water and remain healthy. The distortion of our psychological nature backfires on us. Life without ecstasy, without inspiration, without a sense of the importance of life, the integrity of destiny - is the price to pay for adapting to a sick society. We vaguely understand, we experience dark sensations that something is wrong, we live in a state of dissatisfaction. And since most of us do not dare to realize that this dissatisfaction is the result of our way of living and thinking, few of us understand that we should change ourselves, change our lives in order to be simply happy. Most people think that this is “life like this”, and it is impossible to change anything for the better.

A harmonious, comfortable state is the natural state of an animal, including humans. It is worth looking at a child who is raised by wise parents. When he doesn't feel bad, he feels good. He is in a state of celebration if he is not disturbed.

Holidays are about being yourself. A holiday is the ecstasy of being yourself. We are given ecstasies: admiration for the beautiful, loving fusion, creative ecstasy, ecstasy of creation. We are capable of spiritual soaring. We have an innate ability to celebrate - real, sincere, enthusiastic. We can experience the intoxication of love, creativity, dance, harmony, victory over the inertia of the material. It can be violent intoxication, or it can be quiet, calm, measured.

Come on, when was the last time you got drunk without drinking?

Such intoxication requires a lot internal work, high personality development, such intoxication is the lot of a self-actualized person

But I want a holiday right now. Personal growth, the intoxication of creativity - is it easily accessible? Even so: how many people strive for this? How many people understand that they are much smarter, more valuable, more complex than they think? Alas, no. But intoxication with a substance - it is here, it is nearby. Pour and drink. The only bad thing is that such intoxication is very quickly devalued. That the proximity of the divine in such intoxication is an illusion. And illusions crumble and melt.

The ancients had a ritual, there was a mystery, there were clear, mandatory restrictions. Today - and only. And the person obeyed this cultural requirement. Where are the obvious restrictions of this kind in our culture? On the contrary: our culture encourages unlimited intoxication. Moreover, in certain circles (you often met in Soviet power a sober plumber? I - very rarely; what can we say about drug addict parties) without any restrictions. Drinking in this case is not part of the great ritual of a national holiday, a carnival, but in itself, just drinking. A person ceases to perceive himself outside of drinking. Intoxication becomes the only comfortable state. A person's life becomes a life for drinking.

And then it turns out that intoxication is a surrogate for a holiday, life is a surrogate for life. From the madness of the world (and our social world is indeed mad in many ways) a person tries to escape in the madness of chemical intoxication. And he is not saved. This is what addiction is.

As Paracelsus said, everything is poison and everything is medicine, only the dose is important. Not all substances can be dosed, for example, the use of “hard” drugs instantly becomes uncontrollable, so drugs are absolute poisons. Many people are able to completely control the amount of alcohol they consume. But others don't. Why? I will not go into the biochemical subtleties - they are not significant in today's context.

Significantly different. A person will limit himself in drinking alcohol, or will completely refuse it, either when the culture in which the person lives sets clear restrictions or prohibitions, and the person adheres to them, or when the person can, knows how, wants to use his ability to meaningfully , creative ecstasy, to mystical and higher experiences, and at the same time knows how to resist the pseudo-cultural alcoholic pressure that society puts on him. When values are subjectively important, for the sake of which it is worth abandoning the momentary erasation, next to which alcoholic pseudo-joy, quasi-experiences fade.

Well, what if the main values are consumption and power, money and prestige? Then life is just a set of fragments, a continuous rat race in which there is no place for mentally, spiritually important experiences. And the point is not whether a person is an atheist or a believer, but what values he lives for: for the sake of high, creative values, or for the sake of grabbing something now, to experience momentary euphoria.

I, an atheist, affirm: values of a high, spiritual order, such values that pull a person out of the narrow Self, introduce essentially spiritual values to the meaning of life - in their light the need for intoxicating oneself with chemistry, for intoxication-escape, dissipates. Universal human values, understanding the importance and productivity of one’s life are the best protection against addiction, best prevention drunkenness.

Why not have a proper drink once a year? For myself, I answer this question this way: because I don’t need it, because it will prevent me from enjoying the holiday of life, accepting it full brain, with all my heart, because the alcoholic fog will not allow you to see the festive world in all its glory.

I'm not against wine. I don't think alcohol is an absolute poison for everyone. Although there is large category people for whom any drop of alcohol is poison. Alcohol is safe for those people who, in general, have almost no need for it, just a small decoration for a festive dinner. The drama is that cultural restrictions on drinking alcohol in our society have been lost, and mass high development has not been achieved. What awaits humanity in the future, when most people will be highly developed and free individuals? (Dreaming is not harmful, not dreaming is harmful). Will alcohol take its humble place? Or will he completely disappear from a person’s life? We'll see in a few hundred years...

“Alcohol causes more harm to humanity than war, famine
and the plague together" (Charles Darwin)

Stupid features, irritability, uncertainty, dull eyes, feelings of guilt and shame... All this can be read on the face drinking man.

Why do people drink alcohol if it brings so much trouble and grief that even wars do not? Murder, robbery, fight, betrayal, accident, broken family, loss of job - this is just a grain of what comes with alcohol.

There are 4 main reasons that explain why people drink alcohol:

1. The alcohol program of the subconscious is a set of beliefs and beliefs that drinking is normal and even necessary;
2. The habit of celebrating any occasion and drinking on weekends, holidays, during meetings, after work;
3. Need for alcohol;
4. Alcohol addiction.

Let's take a closer look at them.

1. People drink alcohol because there is an alcohol program.

This subconscious program is formed from childhood. The child sees how close people drink alcohol on holidays, rejoice, sing songs, and dance. They feel good and have fun. The kid notices that if dad drinks, he becomes kinder, buys toys and laughs more often.

Children sit at the common festive table, listen to toasts and clink glasses with adults. Yes, there is juice in a child’s glass, but the belief is already ingrained in your head that you can only celebrate with alcohol.

"Ratatouille" (cartoon for children)

There were cases when children came to kindergarten after the New Year holidays and played on holiday: they sat at the table and clinked glasses with their toy cups.

The alcohol program is also established through television, magazines, films, songs, and sayings. Remember any movie or TV series - people drink everywhere. “Enjoy Your Bath”, “Old New Year”, “The Diamond Arm”, “Kitchen”, “Interns”, “Univer”...

Everywhere people go through different life trials, adventures, events and drink alcohol. This forms deep-seated beliefs in the viewer’s subconscious that drinking alcohol is not only possible, but also necessary.

“The Diamond Arm” (cult Soviet film for the whole family)

It's the same in songs and sayings. “Wine has been given to us for joy”, “Whoever does not smoke or drink will die healthy”, “The drunken sea is knee-deep”, “I’m drunk and drunk...”, “I drink to the bottom for those who are at sea.” There are hundreds and thousands of examples. And every time, listening and singing along, a person strengthens his subconscious alcohol program.

2. People drink alcohol because it's a habit.

Culture and tradition shape the drinking program, which creates drinking habits. If we meet with friends, we definitely drink. If we celebrate a holiday, we drink. We go fishing, to the bathhouse, to nature, to a disco - we drink.

When a person starts drinking regularly: on holidays, weekends, after work, he develops a drinking habit. And the question no longer arises: to drink or not to drink, but the question arises: what to drink? Beer or wine, vodka or whiskey. That is, the question already falls into another plane, where any choice is false.

There was a time when every evening after work I would board a commuter train and drive home from Moscow. I bought beer to relax and distract myself on the road. At first it was one bottle, then two, three... And I could no longer imagine that I could drive home from work and not drink. It became a daily habit.

3. People drink alcohol because there is a need.

This happens when a person can no longer give up alcohol. He drinks regularly, once a week or more often.

Yes, he can regularly go to work, raise children, drive a car, manage people, that is, be a normal worker, husband, father. But without alcohol, this person can no longer rest, relax, he is always missing something. He's already looking for an excuse to drink. Finds and drinks.

I was just at this stage when I realized what a trap I had been sucked into.

4. People drink alcohol because they are addicted.

Need develops into addiction. A person can no longer control himself; he is controlled by alcohol. At first he is ashamed of his addiction and drinks on the sly. Then he no longer hides and drinks in front of everyone.

Alcohol becomes the meaning of his life. Relationships with loved ones collapse, he loses his job. Now he is surrounded by alcoholic drinking buddies. They gather in the morning somewhere in a “patch” near a store or in the courtyard on a bench and figure out how they can buy something to drink. They ask passers-by for money, take everything out of the house that can be sold...

And it all started so beautifully: a glass of champagne, cold beer with fish... Moderate “cultural” drinking creates alcoholic habits that lead to need and dependence.

In order to get rid of the alcohol habit, need and dependence, it is important to start by changing the alcohol program, which is embedded in the subconscious. It is this program - a set of false beliefs and beliefs - that is the root of all problems with alcohol.

To change these beliefs and change the program of the subconscious, you just need to find out the truth about alcohol.

What is alcohol and how does it work?

Alcohol, or spirit of wine, is an ethanol drug with the formula C2H5OH. Its effects have long been recognized by doctors around the world as toxic and narcotic.

Alcohol is also a huge serious business, on which billions are earned. The cost of a bottle of vodka is approximately 20 rubles. The cost in the store is from 200 rubles and above. The only more profitable trade is drugs and weapons. Alcohol magnates invest incredible amounts of money in promoting so-called “cultural” drinking.

But in society, alcohol is perceived as food product, which is served for the holiday. He amuses, fools, and with him people experience various adventures. And most importantly, he justifies the stupidity that a person commits while drunk: “Well, I was drunk, what can you take from me?”

There is not a single organ in the human body that does not suffer from alcohol. But the brain suffers the most.

I'll explain how this happens.

There are capillaries in the human body - the thinnest vessels through which oxygen and nutrients to all organs. Erythrocytes move through the capillaries - red blood cells, which carry oxygen from the lungs to every cell of the body. Red blood cells are covered with a lipid layer - a lubricant that allows them to easily slide through the capillaries.

Alcohol removes the lipid layer from red blood cells, and they begin to stick together. And they are already moving through the capillaries not one at a time, but in lumps, in the form of a bunch of grapes.

In the head, there are areas in the brain tissue where the capillaries are so thin that red blood cells (blood cells) can only pass through them one at a time. And when a lump of red blood cells that have stuck together under the influence of alcohol enters this capillary, a blood clot forms there. Like a traffic jam or a plug in a pipe.

The next morning, the dead cells leave the body along with water. Why do you feel so thirsty in the morning with a hangover? Because the body needs water to flush out the corpses of decaying cells from the head. They literally tear away from the brain tissue, which is why hangover headaches hurt so much. Dead cells leave the body in urine. Any conscientious doctor will confirm this to you - a drunkard urinates his brains in the morning.

And this does not depend on the dose. Any dose of alcohol - a glass of champagne, a bottle of beer, a can of cocktail or a shot of vodka - destroys the brain. Just than more people drank, the more destruction.

Look at the face of a drinking person - everything is written on it. You want to quickly look away from such a face. Why do you think? Because, like in a mirror, it reflects what you don’t want to accept in yourself. Any dose of alcohol brings you closer to such a face. And this process is irreversible; brain cells are not restored.

Think about this the next time you pick up a bottle of beer or glass of wine. Remember the face of a drinking man, his gloomy life, his terrible appearance, his depression and helplessness.

Do you really want to be the same?

Our civilization became acquainted with alcohol over 6 thousand years ago, since then it has become an integral attribute of the lives of millions of people and even entire cultures. Many of us have never wondered why our friends, loved ones and ourselves drink alcohol. It's time to look into this issue.
There are several basic reasons for drinking alcohol, they are as follows:

1. The desire to relax. Stress and nervous tension began to pursue modern man everywhere. After work or study, we have little time to recover and relax. Sometimes you just want to forget about all the troubles and tune in to a “positive wave”.

But quickly change your emotional state very difficult. In this case, alcoholic drinks come to the rescue, which for some time allow a person not to remember life's difficulties. Whatever sobriety fighters say, alcohol can be used as an antidepressant. The main thing is not to abuse (relax with alcohol once or twice a month); relieving everyday stress with alcohol leads to hangover syndrome and alcoholism.

2. Trying to become bolder. There are individuals among us who suffer from various complexes and phobias. Having been “taken to heart”, such people feel like real heroes, capable of doing great things (meeting a girl, dancing on a table, fighting with the first person they meet, etc.).

There are also more advanced cases when a person makes even serious decisions (getting a job, making a business deal) only after a few glasses of alcohol. In this situation, alcohol removes psychological restrictions, but does not solve the problem of insecurity itself. Therefore, insecure people need to learn to act decisively without the help of alcohol; here, alcoholic drinks are more likely to harm than help.

3. Social influence. Try staying sober at weddings, anniversaries and other celebrations. If you do not drink alcoholic beverages in such cases, you will be misunderstood and made an outcast. Any person is influenced by the environment in which he finds himself. We try to imitate those around us, seeking their favor. It's human nature, you can't argue with it.

We have two options. The first is to adapt (start drinking alcohol). The second is to change your environment. It is very difficult not to drink alcohol in a drinking company. They may not make comments to you just out of politeness, but mentally everyone present will give your behavior a negative assessment.

4. Love of alcoholic drinks. There are people who like the smell, taste or something else about alcohol. These are connoisseurs and gourmets who drink alcoholic beverages only for the pleasure of the process itself.

True connoisseurs know about their favorite alcoholic drink almost everything, and in many cases they can even cook it themselves. It is in this group that the fewest alcoholics are found, since the drinking process itself is important here, and not the consequences that occur after drinking alcohol ( good mood, lack of fear, etc.).

The situation is considered normal when a person is in the last group; in all other cases, it is worth thinking about your behavior.

There are many explanations for why people drink alcohol. As a rule, each person has his own motives that push him to drink. At first, he drinks alcohol little by little, usually “for company” or “out of boredom.” Soon the drinker becomes dependent on alcohol and begins to drink it every day. It should be noted that in women and men the disease progresses at different rates.

Quite often, alcoholism has fairly obvious causes. For example, a person begins to drink heavily because of the death of someone close, the loss of a business, or a divorce. However, there are situations when a man or woman touches the bottle without any reason. In this case, it becomes extremely difficult to find out the cause of drunkenness. The psychology of alcoholism can sometimes be quite complex, just like the disease itself.

All the reasons for drinking alcohol can be divided into several main groups: physiological, social and psychological. As a rule, the cause alcohol addiction is a combination of several provoking factors. For example, the influence of bad company or bad upbringing against the background of a genetic predisposition to alcoholism.

A person with a family history is more likely to develop alcohol dependence. He gets used to alcohol much faster than people who did not have alcoholics in their family. However, the immediate cause of drunkenness is not “bad” heredity. A man or woman begins to drink precisely under the influence of some external or internal factors.

Physiological reasons:

genetically determined predisposition to alcohol dependence;
features of intrauterine development, metabolism in the body;
gender of the person (women are more prone to the disease than men);
suffered traumatic brain injuries and brain diseases.

Psychological causes of alcoholism:

the desire to liberate, relax, rest;
the desire to get rid of fear, anxiety, feelings of inferiority;
the presence of complexes, low self-esteem, dislike for oneself;
loneliness, hidden desire to attract attention;
mental disorders;
long-term depression, inability to occupy oneself with anything other than drinking.

Social causes of alcoholism:

habit of drinking “socially” with friends, colleagues, relatives;
boring, uninteresting work that does not bring moral satisfaction;
heavy, exhausting activity, forcing you to look for opportunities to relax with the help of alcohol;
unsettled personal life, lack of relationships or family, recent divorce;
constant lack of money, quarrels and misunderstandings in the family, social instability, housing problems.

The causes of female alcoholism are often due to the character and physiological characteristics body. Representatives of the fair sex are more suspicious, they more often experience mood swings that push them to the bottle. Teenagers very often start drinking under the influence of peers, because of problems in the family or school. Male alcoholism can have any number of reasons.

Important! It is quite easy to explain how one becomes an alcoholic. At first, a person occasionally drinks beer, cognac or vodka, while completely controlling himself. After some time, he begins to drink every day and soon becomes completely dependent on alcohol.

Why do men start drinking?

Many married women do not understand why their husband drinks. It seems that the living conditions are satisfactory, and everything is normal in the family, but the person drinks almost every day. The psychology of an alcoholic is quite complex, and understanding it will require a lot of patience and effort. It is worth remembering that a man will never abuse alcohol without certain motives.

Male alcoholism most often develops for the following reasons:

Regular alcohol abuse against the background of a genetic predisposition to alcoholism. Often the reason for this will be a harmless desire to relax. However, if a person starts drinking every day, he cannot avoid addiction. Therefore, men with a family history of alcoholics should not drink beer or other drinks every day;
The presence of drinking friends, a company in which recreation without alcohol is unacceptable. At first, a person drinks exclusively “for company,” so as not to offend anyone. Soon a harmless habit turns into an addiction and;
Lack of motivation in life, frequent stress, prolonged depression, low self-esteem, inferiority complex. Male alcoholism develops due to the fact that a man tries to distract himself and find solace in drinking;
Frequent family quarrels, recent divorce, dissatisfaction with one’s own life, difficulties and misunderstandings at work. A man at any age tends to avoid problems, which alcohol helps him with. Once a person starts drinking, it is quite difficult to stop him.

You can find out why men drink only by talking to them or carefully analyzing their behavior. Many alcoholics tend to personally explain their motives while intoxicated. To find out the reasons why men drink alcohol, it is enough to talk calmly and carefully with them. Most likely, during the conversation everything will become clear.

If a man starts drinking almost every day, his loved ones should start to seriously worry. They should not allow a novice alcoholic to continue in the same spirit. If he does not change his behavior, he will soon become addicted and will no longer be able to stop drinking without the help of specialists.

Why do women start drinking?

The causes of alcoholism and the characteristics of the problem in women are quite unique. Female representatives most often drink beer or low-alcohol drinks, later switching to cognac or vodka. At first they drink occasionally, then more and more often. After just a few months, they drink every day (or even several times a day), justifying their behavior in every possible way. It should be noted that female alcoholism progresses much faster than male alcoholism. It is extremely difficult to treat.

The most common reasons alcoholism in women:

loneliness;
marriage to an alcoholic;
unhappy family life;
loss of someone close;
recent divorce;
boredom, excess free time;
prolonged depression;
regular stress, neuroses.

There are other causes of female alcoholism, but they are much less common. Alcohol addiction develops mainly in lonely, unhappy and unsuccessful women, as well as in women whose husbands, sons or other loved ones abuse alcohol. They begin to drink a little in company, then drink every day and soon become drunk.

Fact! Women develop alcohol addiction much faster than men. This is due to physiological characteristics female body, namely low body weight and low levels of alcohol dehydrogenase (an enzyme that breaks down ethyl alcohol).

Why do teenagers start drinking?

Many boys and girls begin to abuse alcohol as early as adolescence. The motives that push them to do this are completely different, but the outcome is usually the same. Teenagers get used to alcohol very quickly and soon drink it every day. Naturally, this entails certain consequences. Because of this, teenagers begin to quarrel with their parents, they have problems with their performance at school and even with the law. As a rule, by the time they reach adulthood, they become drunkards.

Often the reasons for childhood alcoholism are completely obvious. At this age, the child is very susceptible to the influence of peers and parents, which is why his environment most often pushes him towards alcohol addiction. If he started drinking beer, wine or vodka in early age– this threatens big problems.

Most probable reasons alcoholism in adolescents:

the desire to assert oneself, not to disgrace oneself in front of peers, not to become the subject of ridicule and contempt;
the desire to “join the company” - teenagers are very suspicious and are afraid that their friends will turn away from them if they refuse to share their hobby;
lack of parental attention, frequent quarrels with parents, attempts to attract attention and other similar motives;
living in a dysfunctional family, where the father or mother personally pours alcohol for the child or, by their example, pushes him to drink;
boredom, excess free time and pocket money, lack of parental control and other motives.

The causes of childhood alcoholism do not end there. Sometimes teenagers begin to abuse alcohol for fun, a feeling of high and a desire to relax. As a rule, they quickly realize how pleasant it is to drink alcohol and don't want to stop anymore. They drink alcohol at the first opportunity, not imagining a vacation without it.

Why do people tip back the stack? The holiday is just a cover. People just like to drink. Even if a person is not an alcoholic, he is to some extent dependent on alcoholic beverages because he cannot give them up completely. Not everyone becomes an individual lying at the fence; many realize their deplorable state in time or spend their entire lives without reaching it. Why do people like to drink?

Because it is an artificial way to cheer yourself up. Adults rarely know how to sincerely enjoy the holidays. Children are capable and therefore do not need various tonics. But adults have already seen a lot, and the years are passing faster and faster. Therefore everyone New Year It's becoming more and more common. At the same time, I just like drinking, because I can forget about my problems for a while or just enjoy life. And it will be much more pleasant to communicate. In general, people see only the advantages and do not notice the disadvantages of this process.

So what are the main reasons why people drink?

1. Having fun. This reason common to all lovers of alcoholic beverages. Under alcohol, everything becomes better: the sky, clouds, bushes, music. That's why they often drink in nightclubs. People know what they are doing.

2. Forget about problems. A person recognizes problems, but somehow this happens in a non-standard way. They seem to exist, the person understands that it will be bad for him. But in a drunken stupor everything seems fun. Even problems.

3. Strengthen the feeling of celebration. In fact, it creates it. During the holiday, it is very important to fly to another world and not be here and now.

4. Improve communication with people.

These are the reasons that stand out for even moderate drunkenness.

Alcoholism is an incredibly dangerous social evil that destroys families and also provokes the development of many dangerous diseases. And naturally, it would be illogical to drink, given the totality of all these consequences, but people continue to do it, becoming alcoholics.

What causes this disease? What is its deepest reason?

Some believe that it is the peculiarities of the body's metabolism. In fact, not quite so. The first reason is the formation psychological dependence. And everything happens on the level conditioned reflexes. Simply put, an alcoholic drinks automatically. He simply has such a strong urge to drink that it’s easier for him to climb up the wall than to stop it.

Alcoholism is also caused by the inability to solve one’s problems. A person essentially either becomes or remains a child. However, psychological maturity is a good way to prevent this problem. After all, those who follow their desires, as a rule, are those who have not yet matured. They are afraid to face reality, which provokes a number of serious problems psychological nature. And in order to stop drinking, you need to try to develop the ability to educate yourself. After this, any problems with alcohol will go away, if they have just begun. If a person has already become an alcoholic, then this will not help.

All the reasons are much deeper. Have you ever found yourself doing something automatically when you shouldn't have? For example, they turned off the lights automatically, turned on the wrong water, or closed the door right in front of someone else’s nose automatically, without thinking. Of course, a huge number of such examples can be given, and therefore it will be quite simple to understand the mechanism of alcoholism. A person drinks automatically because he is used to doing so. And no matter how many times he tells himself how bad it is, he continues to step on the same old rake.

Why? Firstly, because he still associates alcohol with pleasure, just like healthy person. In fact, there is no pleasure. There is only suffering. Well, just think: the mechanism of binge drinking is this: a person drinks, gets drunk to the point of insanity. The next morning he wakes up and realizes that this cannot continue. But he goes to film, and he just feels bad. Not terrible, just bad. And the cycle repeats.

How to stop drinking?

Quitting drinking is incredibly difficult because it involves changing your lifestyle. And given that addiction takes many years to form, it takes a lot of time to get rid of it. bad habit. A cure is impossible, so you need to stop drinking alcohol for the rest of your life. But how to rehabilitate yourself? There are many psychological aspects to consider here. Of course, it is difficult to give universal advice due to the individuality of the course of alcoholism in each patient. But why not try? There are several important rules that will have to be followed.

The first is getting out of binge drinking. It should be smooth. Of course, it’s much easier to come out dry, because after drinking the first glass you’ll be tempted to drink a second one. And there, consider it a lost day. But if you start it completely dry, it can end in delirium tremens, as well as somatic disorders. Therefore, it is more effective to take small doses. Drink no more than 30 grams of vodka per hour, and then it will be much easier to come out. The condition will be much better, and you can even perform certain actions. The psychological aspect is also important - watch yourself during a binge. Yes, I don’t want to do this. It's natural. But this is how you discipline yourself and look like a person.

What else should you do to stop drinking?

1. Find yourself new hobbies. The most common cause is alcoholism

ma is the inability to have fun. You can go to a club for non-drinkers. This does not mean a society of teetotalers or Alcoholics Anonymous, but an event during which alcohol is not consumed. That is, you need to forget about clubs if you become an alcoholic.

2. Reward yourself for not drinking. Of course, this will not replace the pleasure of alcohol. Or rather, the amount of dopamine. Alcohol brings a lot of joy to the drinker, but giving it up doesn’t mean you have to be sad, right? You can go for a walk without drinking alcohol. And there will be more sense.

3. Find a goal that is incompatible with alcohol and desire it vividly. For example, this is the desire to become rich. Often people quit drinking simply because alcohol wastes money.

4. Play sports. It increases overall vitality and the number of endorphins increases.

Points like these are incredibly important when trying to quit drinking. Thanks to them, it becomes possible to forget about drinking for a while. And there it’s all about willpower.