Can You Control Your Drinking?

To be completely free you must become a slave to a set of rules

 —  Virgil

Do you have a disease over which you are powerless? Or, can you exercise your will and control your drinking? Your beliefs about what is true for you may be different than those around you. Wether or not you experience conflict with loven ones about these issues, either position is just a theory. The way to find out whether or not you can be a controlled drinker is to take the PIG's bet.

The PIG stands for: the Problem of Immediate Gratification. The problem with alcohol and other chemicals that offer immediate pleasure or relief is that they deliver. Drugs and alcohol can help you control how you experience life and can deliver pleasure or relief when you want it. The Paradox of Control is that user's tend to lose control of their use of the Incentive.

The PIG says you cannot control your drinking.   You can make whatever rules you want, and the PIG says you will not follow them.  If the PIG wins. then you have to admit you cannot be a controlled drinker. If that turns out to be the case, you have to choose between the two remaining options: Uncontrolled drinking or Abstinence. If you win the bet, then you have demonstrated you can be a controlled drinker.  But that only remains true as long as you continue to follow the rules. For more on choosing the path of change that best matches your characteristics and nature, see Matching Considerations.

The Exercise of Will > >
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