Solution to the Compulsion to drink

The Compulsion to Drink in Canada

Alcohol addiction and the compulsion to drink arise from emotional tension that is caused by a perception of stress. When a person is under pressure, and they are feeling stressed, it is always a result of conflicting demands that for one reason or another, they find it hard to prioritize. In Canada, the compulsion to drink is known as binge drinking, and the practice is widespread: see drinking statistics from Statistics, Canada

What's Wrong with Masking Pain with Alcohol

For some people, compulsion to drink is a way to face
problems instead of making decisions and resolving them

Alcohol addiction and the compulsion to drink is a way to resolve emotional tension, and take away the pain. Instead of making decisions, resolving the inner conflicts, and fully releasing the emotional tension, people drink alcohol to escape from, and get out of, problems in their lives that appear to have no easy or immediate solution.

The problem with using alcohol to evade and avoid our problems is that alcohol is a depressant, reduces our levels of anxiety. We need to feel anxiety about a conflicted situation, we need to feel some pain. Pain is the way that our body communicates with the mind, to let us know that something is out of order. We have the choice to listen - or to simply block it out.

Pain Means “Do Something”

Anyone who feels pain, as a symptom of mental or physical distress, would in the natural way decide to take some positive action to identify and get rid of the source of their discomfort, the reason for their pain. Such are the pressures and stresses of the modern world that we have to some extent become quite fatalistic - in pursuit of our goals in life, we have taken the view that pain is something that we have to bear if we want to achieve "success".

When we discover alcohol, and find that it relieves symptoms of tension and pain, we think that we have found a solution to our problems. If we work on a problem, and find a good and healthy solution, it brings an end to anxiety. Alcohol brings an end to anxiety - at least for a while - but it does nothing at all to help us resolve the causes of our conflicts, and the resulting pain and anxiety.

Alcohol Only Hides the Problems

When we drink alcohol to escape from our problems - they will re-surface again, unresolved. When the alcohol dissipates from our body and mind, we feel depleted from our alcohol use, less willing and able to deal with our problems. We might become more tempted to retreat into repeated alcohol abuse to circumvent and avoid dealing with the real issues in our life.

Escape Mechanisms

Society has a range of escape mechanisms to use, including alcohol drinking, that help to resolve excessive tensions. We are not given much encouragement to delve into and fully resolve social issues that are oppressive - that might threaten the status quo. In families too there can be perpetuation of stress, by the rules of the dominant members.

When dominant rules are good, we have happiness, health and contentment. We can see the result when rules are flawed and continue to be enforced in defiance of natural law. People become depressed, anxious, and unhealthy. No amount of band aid work can resolve the essential problems caused when our lives are dominated by a forcing regime that has little or no regard for fundamental human rights. When stress is seen as a condition inevitable in life, much of our power to make effective change is by default eroded: see artlcle

The Vicious Circle of Alcohol Abuse

Using alcohol to ease our pain, if allowed to become a habit takes away our desire to confront the causes of our problems. We have found a quick and easy way to resolve anxiety without needing to sort out the causes. We are setting ourselves up for a roller-coaster ride. High and pain free with alcohol use, and then, increasingly depleted from alcohol use - back to our unhappy reality. This, in a nutshell, is the culture of alcoholism - and alcohol dependence.

The more intense the levels of stress, the more compulsion to drink alcohol is felt by an alcoholic. The more alcohol interferes with normal self regulation, the more alcohol dependent we become. Alcohol drinking is hard to give up when we are emotionally and physically dependent upon having alcohol in our body to function.

Truly Confronting the Problems is the Real Long-Term Solution

When alcohol use is bringing you down, causing you distress, there comes a time when you have to stop blaming others for your situation. A damaged and damaging childhood does not mean that you have to perpetuate the damage done to you for the rest of your life. Nor do you have to live with the burden, like a noose around your neck, by being "in recovery" from trauma and related alcohol abuse every day of your life.

The Tools to Resolve Life's Problems

Complete recovery from trauma, and related alcohol addiction can be achieved today by using the comprehensive and drug-free program of Narconon. Our alcohol rehabilitation program brings good health, addiction recovery and a new vitality. There are many alcohol addiction treatment programs that don't deal with root causes of alcoholism. Narconon treatment for alcoholism has the purpose to set you free for life and give you the tools to enable you to do so.

We understand that alcoholism is not an easy thing to give up - but we provide the support that you need to put in place of alcohol a new and rewarding life. Narconon alcohol addiction rehab gives you a brand new start - a life that is happy and contented - with no more addiction or cravings for alcohol.