Getting Sober Without AA What Are Your Options?

Our treatments are tailored to serve each person’s unique needs and you can read about both Oar members who want to quit drinking entirely as well as Oar members who want to moderate their drinking. Oar Health offers science-backed, effective treatment percolators 101: perc bongs to know for people ready to change their relationship with alcohol. Our licensed clinicians can prescribe Food and Drug Administration-approved naltrexone for AUD. We provide an online assessment, medical review, and personalized treatment plan.

The Importance of Transparency During the Rehab Process

It’s not just your drinking buddies and drug dealers who can get you into trouble—sometimes those who are closest to you can contribute to a relapse. Some of the immediate changes you will need to make will be obvious—like not hanging around the people that you used with or obtained drugs from. After all, you can’t hang around your drug dealer or old drinking buddies and expect to remain sober for very long.

How to quit drinking and stay sober without AA

There are many paths to changing your relationship with alcohol, and it may take some experimentation to figure out what treatment—or combination of treatments—is most effective for your unique needs. One-on-one psychotherapy with a trained therapist is another way to address your drinking. There are therapists who specialize in AUD, and psychiatrists can prescribe medication for AUD or co-occurring mental health conditions.

1. So, I don’t know if going to a weekly meeting or multiple weekly meetings would be something I still want to do.
2. One of the best middle-ground options out there is online treatment.
3. Recovery from alcohol addiction is challenging, and not one that should be pursued alone.
4. Sober living programs are a great alternative for those seeking a structured environment to support their recovery.
5. A strong support system is invaluable during recovery; hence, we will highlight the roles played by family, friends, and peer groups sharing similar experiences.

Neuro-Linguistic Programming

WFS puts particular emphasis on positive reinforcement, cognitive strategies, self-care, and group support. Refuge Recovery is a Buddhist path to addiction recovery, spearheaded by Buddhist teacher Noah Levine as an alternative to 12-Step programs. It’s built around Buddhism’s Four Noble Truths and Eightfold Path, and draws on Levine’s own struggle with addiction. Levine proposes that Buddhism is ideally suited to target addiction, since transcending suffering and “nonattachment” are at its core. Levine published the book Refuge Recovery in 2014, and since then groups and meetings have been popping up all over the U.S. as well as in Canada, Denmark, Finland, and the UK.

Medications can reduce these cravings by rebalancing your brain chemistry, and even blocking some of the effects of alcohol. This can help you move forward more quickly, and makes it easier to focus on behavior change or establishing new habits. It’s a science-backed approach to treatment, and an empowering, modern way to quit drinking without AA.

Moderation Management

For support, I look to the online recovery community, I have regular therapy, and I attend the occasional meditation groups and Refuge Recovery. And what if in-person mutual support meetings (Refuge Recovery, LifeRing, SMART AA, NA) are not accessible to you? Well, these are not the only means to recover—there are a whole range of resources available to you. It is possible to get sober on your own and learn how to get sober at home.

A strong support system can be the key to successful sobriety, and those in recovery can draw on family, friends or peers for emotional backing. Whether it’s family, friends, or peers, having people who understand what you’re going through can provide the emotional backing needed to overcome obstacles. The blog post further explores effective ways to deal with potential relapses, emphasizing recognizing triggers 5 expert tips to quit benzos for good fhe health and managing them strategically. A strong support system is invaluable during recovery; hence, we will highlight the roles played by family, friends, and peer groups sharing similar experiences. Recovery from alcohol or drug addiction is a personal journey, and no two people’s paths will look similar. For many years, the accepted options were to send folks to 30-day inpatient treatment or told them to go to AA.

I fought off the temptation to indulge in dope for a couple of years. Until that fateful day, the illicit methadone ran out, so I resorted to quiet corners of upstate New York and copped a bundle of heroin. I hung around NA for a week or two, never really embracing their demanding path to recovery. can alcohol make your hot flashes feel worse during menopause Getting sober is a remarkable achievement that can improve your life. While Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) has been a valuable resource for many, it may not be the right fit for everyone. Anger is a normal and natural emotion, but how you deal with it will make a difference in maintaining your recovery.

In fact, the FDA has approved three drugs for treating alcoholism. Stability is something that both support groups and formal drug treatment strongly encourage their members to establish by creating a routine. The addicted brain has been significantly overworked and overstimulated. There’s reassurance and comfort to be found in repetition and a sense of stability that their life has likely been missing for some time.

SMART Recovery is all about empowerment; it diverges from AA on its first step—that “powerless over alcohol” thing—and makes use of techniques from motivational interviewing and cognitive behavioral therapy. Secularity and non-confrontation are central to its ethos, and the organization says it’s perfectly acceptable to use SMART alongside other sobriety aids, even including 12-Step societies. Acknowledging and celebrating the hard work of recovery is helpful for keeping you motivated and reminding you why you took this brave step toward sobriety in the first place. Just be sure that your rewards don’t involve drugs or alcohol. Instead, focus on things, experiences, and activities that will support your new, healthy lifestyle.

I strongly prefer uplifting support and if I had my way, would want to talk more about strategy than how bad things can or could get. The soul-crushing rat race of corporate life was already sucking the life out of me. But even though my job was only 15 miles away from home, I’d spend 3 hours driving in traffic each day commuting to and from work. Embrace the power within you to break free from alcohol’s hold and create a brighter future for yourself. Methadone kept me from getting sick in the morning, so I never had to take unnecessary risks to make money and ward off heroin withdrawal.

Any general advice posted on our blog, website, or app is for informational purposes only and is not intended to replace or substitute for any medical or other advice. If you have specific concerns or a situation arises in which you require medical advice, you should consult with an appropriately trained and qualified medical services provider. You may find that you enjoy certain aspects of AA, but also require additional recovery support from non-AA recovery treatments.

By becoming well-informed about the risks involved, you reinforce your commitment to quit using, gain the power to resist temptations and stay on course. Understanding the risks of drugs/alcohol can be a powerful motivator to stay sober. Many people in recovery find a lot of free time and need to fill it with healthy and fulfilling pursuits. Explore hobbies and interests that ignite your passion and sense of purpose. I cannot stress enough about the importance of solid support whether you are still using drugs or getting sober for the first time. I was already in a methadone treatment program for 4 years before I started working closely with my counselor.

I was far more stubborn back then than I am now and would probably give a few different meetings a go if it was my last option or if I was faced with the possibility of relapse. But it would still be a struggle for me to get past that one. One of the principles of AA (I think it’s even the first one) is to admit that you’re powerless over your addiction. Maybe you don’t have to identify as an alcoholic to get sober with AA, but I don’t know… I also think you can’t be uncomfortable with the idea, either.