How to Overcome An Alcohol Problem Without Going To Rehab
Is it possible to beat your alcohol problem without going to rehab? I think it is definitely possible. I'm going to tell you our secret formula of how we've helped hundreds of people get sober without ever having to go to rehab.
If you or a loved one is struggling with an alcohol use disorder, you may be wondering, what's it going to take to conquer this problem?
Anytime I'm talking to a person trying to overcome an alcohol problem or stop drinking, the first thing that I want to think through is whether or not this person needs a detox. With alcohol, believe it or not, it's one of the more dangerous things to stop cold turkey. If you are highly alcohol dependent and you've been drinking for a while, Cold Turkey can be dangerous. You can be in danger of having a seizure or even developing psychosis.
I have a video that I made a while back to figure out whether or not you need the detox part. You can watch it HERE.
The second thing that you'll have to put a lot of energy and effort into if you want to get sober without going to rehab is you're going to have to wrap your mind around the nature of the problem that you're dealing with. The second biggest factor that causes most people that we see in our office to fail is that they have no idea what they're dealing with.
They significantly underestimate the problem that they have. I'm not even talking about the people that are in denial. I'm talking about the people who know they have a problem and want to get better. Even when you're in that situation, you have to know what you're dealing with.
It can and will trick you. It will sneak back into your life. If you don't know what's going to happen next, it's going to get you. So please do not underestimate this issue and think that just because you decided you wanted to stop, that's the end of it because you see there are going to be days in your future where you hardcore to the depths of your soul want to stop. Then there will be days in your future where you're kind of iffy. There will be lots and lots of ups and downs, so please do not be misled by the thought that "I'm committed".
Speaking of having those ups and downs and those good days and bad days, that brings me to number three, which is absolutely critical if you want to stay sober without going to rehab. That is creating strong accountability for yourself. What I mean when I'm saying accountability is you have got to take drinking off the table for yourself for those days when you're not strong. For those days when you're stressed out, or you ran out of willpower, or you don't care anymore, or everyone else around you is drinking, you're going to have to make decisions when you're in your strong frame of mind.
There are a few things I'm going to very strongly recommend that you do to create some accountability for yourself. One of those things is going to be the secret weapon.
The first thing you need to do is get honest with the people around you about your intention of not drinking. Not telling them is leaving yourself room for relapse. If everyone knows that you're not supposed to be drinking, and you're at an event, they can hold you accountable.
I say this all the time ... That addiction lives in darkness and secrecy. It can't live in the light. Turn the light on the problem.
Are you ready for our secret weapon to sobriety? The thing that we've used so successfully in our practice is something called Soberlink. If you haven't heard of Soberlink before, essentially it is an alcohol monitoring system, and we've had tremendous success.
I would say this is the number one thing that's allowed so many of our clients to get sober without having to go away to rehab. It's a super high-tech piece of technology that is way more advanced than just your basic breathalyzer that you can order off of Amazon, the Soberlink company. Experts in alcohol monitoring and detection.
To give you a quick overview of how it works: you get assigned a breathalyzer, and you can plan out a schedule for when you're going to be breathalyzed. This can be done by you and your counselor, or you and the Soberlink company, you and your spouse, or your parent, or your family or friends.
Most of my clients that use Soberlink get tested somewhere between three and four times a day in the beginning. Here's the cool part, If you miss your test, fail your test, or you're late on your test, your identified recovery supports will be notified. You could have that notification going to anyone in your support system that you think would be helpful with accountability.
Because I understand just how sneaky an alcohol problem can be, I know you're thinking, can't you get your friend to take it or somebody else?
You could try, but it won't work because Soberlink has facial recognition software in it. Every time you take a test, it takes a picture of your face and maps it against the master picture. It's going to detect if you're trying to cheat.
In our office, we don't use Soberlink to catch someone drinking. Sure. It can catch you drinking, but we use it as a preventative. This is when a person is deciding upfront to set up some accountability to make sure that they don't drink, making it so much easier to stay sober because it takes the option off the table.
Amber Hollingsworth
*This YouTube channel is an affiliate of Soberlink, but long before we were an affiliate, we were big fans. In fact, I've been using Soberlink in my practice for seven or eight years now.
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