Women & Alcohol Use

From 2002 to 2013, AUD increased by 83.7% among women in the US (NIAAA). In younger age groups, women already drink significantly more than men, and it's having an increasingly visible effect on their health. 1 in 6 women admit to driving drunk in the past year, and 70% consistently drink at unsafe levels according to the according to the WHO. A 2018 study found a steep overall rise in the number of alcohol-related ER visits between 2006 and 2014, but the increase was notably greater for women than men.

As a society, we often assume over-drinking to be a mostly male issue; up until 1961, women in Illinois were legally allowed to buy alcohol at 18 instead of 21, because it was believed that female drinking was never a problem. It's time to abandon these antiquated assumptions and face the truth: women are suffering from this now more than ever, and must be supported.

Anxiety & Drinking

Anxiety and Alcohol Use Disorder influence and maintain each other in a positive feedback loop. Anxiety often pushes people to drink, and excessive drinking is known to significantly increase anxiety, maintaining and worsening both issues in a "vicious cycle of comorbidity" (NIH: Anxiety and Alcohol Use Disorders).

"Hangxiety" is the term coined for the rush of strong anxiety that comes on after a heavy drinking session, often late at night, interrupting sleep and further reinforcing the loop. Baclofen is also used as an anxiolytic (a drug used to reduce anxiety). It works directly on the brain's reward pathways to reduce urges to drink alongside general anxiety, helping to reverse the cycle.

Drinking Mindfully

When processes are repeated for years or decades, the habit is tightly wound, it is possible to unwind the habit loop using mindfulness. Practicing mindfulness allows you to step back and see what is happening inside your mind and take action to step in and break the loop.

“Habits can be described as automatic behavioral loops, involving triggers, behaviors, and rewards. For example, one may feel stressed (trigger), take a drink or two (behavior), and feel better (reward). When you attain (and, later, anticipate) the reward, your brain releases dopamine in a neural process that lays down a memory of that behavior and helps you learn to execute that behavior next time to attain the reward.” Judson Brewer, Ph.D.

30 Million Americans see the cure as worse than the disease

Drug & Alcohol treatment programs have hardly changed since the 1950’s; the medical profession and Alcoholics Anonymous deemed alcoholism a disease, assuming that certain people are innately prone to alcoholism, and taking responsibility away from the addict in the hope that more people would seek treatment. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) defines Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) as a “chronic relapsing brain disease”.

90% of people who want to cut back their drinking won't seek help to avoid being labelled an alcoholic, bundled into the antiquated and extreme alcohol treatment system, and forced to quit.

The Problem with the Disease Model and 12-Step

Lance Dodes, M.D., former Director of Harvard-McLean’s Substance Abuse Treatment Unit, says alcoholism isn’t a disease, but a symptom of larger issues in the person’s life. It's a compulsion, like gambling, and needs to be treated that way:
“I've probably treated a couple of thousand people who have one addiction or another. Almost all residential treatment programs in the United States are 12-Step-based… and the statistics for AA are not good. It is helpful for 5‒10%, and that's a good thing… it's a lot better than zero percent — but it shouldn't be thought of as the standard of treatment because it fails for most people — for the vast majority of people.”

The Disease Model can even be harmful

The Disease Model of Alcohol Use Disorder, and the organizations that employ it for treatment, force those looking for help to label themselves “alcoholics” for life, creating undue shame and stigma around seeking help when most people who over-drink aren't hardened alcoholics and simply want to drink less.

It takes the individual’s power to decide to change away, then the 90%+ who fail treatment have not only been convinced that they’re powerless to change their own ways, but that they can’t ever succeed. This destroys their self-worth and pushes them further towards the solace of alcohol. The disease model convinces its victims that they have a chronic disease, leading many to believe that they will never be free, when, in reality, most excessive drinkers can make it out.