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The big question…
why do you drink?
I’ve been asking myself that question for many years.
Of course, I no longer drink now.
But I still ask myself the question…
why did I drink back then?
Maybe you ask yourself the same question occasionally.
As someone who is now undertaking a degree in psychology…
I’m learning and researching a lot about the mind and human behaviour.
And of course…
because of my history…
I’m extremely interested in the aforementioned question.
Not just why I used to drink…
but why we as humans drink in general…
and why some of us end up with ‘out of control’ drinking.
What’s the cause?
Where does it start?
Why does it start?
Why can’t we moderate?
I came across a paper by Cooper et al., (1995) who proposed that we use alcohol to regulate both positive and negative emotions - something I can personally relate to.
They carried out a study with adolescents and adults using questionnaires to try and find out if their hypothesis was true.
Without going into too much detail in this first post on research (there’ll be many more to come)...
the researchers discovered that within this group they studied…
they drank to ‘cope’ with negative emotions.
Now of course…
that piece of information isn’t groundbreaking.
I think we can all relate to that…
and we didn’t need researchers to carry out a study to tell us that little nugget of wisdom.
But…
they propose that the participants drank to cope…
because they had no better way of coping…
no better ‘tools’ to cope with negative emotions.
They went on to say that to reduce the possibility of problem drinking…
interventions could be used to teach people how to cope better with negative emotions…
without resorting to alcohol.
Again…
not groundbreaking…
but very relevant and very ‘doable’.
Essentially…
if you drink to ‘cope’ with negative emotions…
or to ‘escape’ dealing with negative emotions…
you could learn skills that enable you to deal with emotions in a positive way…
and you would no longer need to drink to cope.
Makes sense, right?
Of course…
in reality…
it’s never that simple.
But…
it is possible.
And although it may be a journey with a few ups and downs…
perhaps a few ‘lapses’ along the way…
in the end…
if fully committed to a new way of life…
a new way of living…
a new way of ‘coping’ with life and your emotions...
you will get to a point where alcohol is no longer necessary.
It’s something I can personally testify to.
I used to use alcohol to cope.
I no longer need to…
because I learned how to deal with emotions in a more positive way…
without ever needing to resort to alcohol to escape.
So…
in reality, it does work.
If you’re still struggling with excessive alcohol consumption…
start monitoring and analysing when and why you drink.
Perhaps you’ll realise that you drink to cope.
But…
now you know there’s a better way…
and you can seek out someone to help you along your journey to a better life…
a more rewarding life…
without the need for alcohol.
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#youhavealltheresourcesyouneedforchange #courage #strength #resilience #selfassurance #selfbelief #selfconfidence #samueljcornell #samuelcornellcoaching
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References
Cooper, M. L., Frone, M. R., Russell, M., & Mudar, P. (1995). Drinking to regulate positive and negative emotions: a motivational model of alcohol use. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69(5), 990.
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