Comments on: People who think they are more restrained are more likely to succumb to temptation

By: Daniel

Daniel — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 02:25:52 +0000

Yeah – but what about Charlie Sheen?

By: Brian

Brian — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 17:02:27 +0000

Nice information. You are probably right about the temptation thing. The more people restrain themselves with dieting for exercising and fat lose, the more they eat because of it.

By: Monado

Monado — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 07:19:05 +0000

Jordi, that’s what I thought about the temptations.
A buddy system, with one or more buddies, works for a lot of things that require a bit of willpower: Housecleaning. De-cluttering. Not buying too much. Dieting. Exercise. Studying. Looking for work. Quitting.
I would welcome a support group but would find the insistence on God a distraction.

By: Mike Olson

Mike Olson — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 20:05:29 +0000

I can also agree that if something works for you and you are functional that’s cool. But, and this is an incredibly important caveat, being labled an alcoholic or substance abuser is an incredibly subjective thing. Without a history of legal or professional trouble, or even without a personal history which includes blackouts, drinking at odd hours or inappropriate times, a person can be labled a substance abuser and without comment on the spelling mistakes which could be result of emotion, many, many, many folks in the U.S. feel as the poster @ #23. Careers can be destroyed, educations lost, families estranged not due to alcohol, but rather because of folks like #23 who’ve decided that the only treatment for what has been judged to be over indulgence(God forbid that judgement is made by folks who completely abstain or people who’ve been abused by an alcoholic)is a spirituality and a program that is a fantastically horrible fit for the person they’ve targeted. And *PHARMBOY* with all due apologies to your friend, I am not “terminally unique.” Nor do I have a God sized whole. Nor am I failing to take responsibility for my problem. Nor am i blaming others for some problem inherent to myself. I am saying recovering alkies and their support groups exist in many areas of society and life can become very hard…not because they know you in reality…but because they are willing to simply act on the suggestion you are an alky.

By: Abel Pharmboy

Abel Pharmboy — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 09:05:27 +0000

One of my colleagues put up a great post on how he modified the AA approach for it to work for the “spiritually-challenged” because some of the other aspects are quite valuable.
I know people who’ve gotten sober without AA and many for whom AA did not work, such as my Dad who died of alcoholism at 58, before he had a chance to meet his grandkids. (I’ve heard the retort that it’s not that AA didn’t work for my Dad, it’s that he didn’t work AA – which, as you might guess, pisses me off to no end.).
I’m of the mind that if you have a substance dependence problem and want to turn your life around, whatever works for you, works. (Ed or JHB can fix my use of commas )

By: teobesta

teobesta — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 08:14:27 +0000

i read this article as soon as i saw your intriguing tweet and realized its liberating effect (coupled with an article about the orchid genes concept) when i spent the next day as if floating on cloud 9. today the significance of that reality has hit me and i realize that i desperately and unequivocally need help. i admit it. i do.
there!

By: P

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 06:57:10 +0000

It was comment 15 not 16.

By: P

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 06:55:15 +0000

What most people, and those who are prideful, thinking they can do anything if they try hard enough can change any behavior or habit they have. WRONG. There is line, which most will not admit,once crossed they are unable on there own can change or be free from. This dark truth covers the seven sins, and when man oversteps that line there is no hope but for a spiritual solution. Rant and rave all you want the truth cannot be changed. This is the human conditon for those who have not reached this point in drink or other, those who profess to be able to control there choice have not reached the hopelessness that can come, or just have switched additictions and are fooling themselves. We are spiritual as well as physcial, and like it or not we have very little or no power when we reach some truths about are condition. This may sound harsh, but I found I could not get any help until I knew the truth about myself and as I shared in comment 16, a solution.

By: anonymous

anonymous — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 22:08:57 +0000

I once attended group counselling sessions for alcoholism. The counsellor regularly encouraged us to go to AA meetings. I approached him and explained that I had difficulties with the need to accept a higher power external to myself, and to the constant references to spirituality.
He told me that man has a god-sized hole which needs to be filled, and that either we fill it with god, or we fill it with drink and drugs.
I promptly quit counselling and went out for a drink.

By: windy

windy — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 20:59:33 +0000

AA’s ‘putting faith in higher power XYZ’ is the Western equivalent of acknowledging determinism.

So you think people can *choose* to acknowledge determinism?