Self-deception And Alcoholism

A few years ago, a psychologist said she was unable to understand alcoholics. She could not understand that self-deception and alcoholism went hand in hand and that people had such a contempt for life that they could poison themselves with toxic means.

Unfortunately, these “professionals” abound. They have a fixed and moral perspective that is incapable of coming up with attractive and dynamic alternatives. One that only digs a deeper ditch of lack of capacity and helps to spread a crippling guilt.

You need to understand that self-deception is one of the factors that interferes with the premise of alcoholism and the manifestation of relapse. But self-deception is not the cause of addiction.

But it is the decisive factor that helps to maintain it in many cases. By understanding this you will be able to explain the connection between self-deception and alcoholism and the continuation of the problem (Zucker and Williams, 1994).

Alcoholism is a way to avoid an aversive reality

Addicts can seem completely irrational and incomprehensible to others. With grief weighed down by torment, non-addicts wonder how a person can behave like that and not see the pain they inflict on themselves and others. How can self-deceiving alcoholics be so destructive?

Gregory Bateson was the first to try to understand alcoholism through a complex epistemology. His essay “Cybernetics by the Self:” A Theory of Alcoholism “views alcoholism as an adjusting experience.

If the alcoholic is sober, life pushes them out to drink anyway. They cannot expect sobriety to deter them from curbing or “controlling” their alcoholism.

The same environment that pushes you into an addiction does not pull you out of it again

Reality, discussions, and memories that only beg to be soothed push people to drink. There are errors in normality, even if it is just pathological for many people who are too sensitive. It ends in an abuse. They do not feel so comfortable in their life, at work or in family life.

Drugs only contribute to a (subjective) correction in the existential paradigm. In other words, getting drunk looks “good” compared to being sober.

For Luigi Cancrini (1993), alcoholism, like substance abuse, can be considered a self-therapeutic attempt to meet the relationships and family dynamics that contribute to their suffering.

Self-deception and alcoholism: How does self-deception make you continue to drink once alcohol begins to harm you?

The most contemporary treatments for self-deception have legitimately focused on Butler’s content claims. If you are motivated to believe in something, then you will have a tendency to act on some confirmation. You are looking for a reason to support your views. And you tend not to think so much about what challenges them.

People are more willing to accept what is in front of their eyes as evidence, especially if it supports their perceptions. Therefore, self-deception in alcoholics will require a motivated belief, even if it is wrong.

Many addicts do not even think they have a problem. They only experience intervention if it happens from the outside. In this case, they can get into therapy imposed on them by others, and not because they themselves have wanted to.

It could be that they do not suffer from it, or because the others can not bear to see them suffer and because they can not stand the daily pressure on them. In these cases, it is very likely that they will agree to a treatment just for the sake of sight.

Furthermore, they may also get the idea that their problem is not that much bigger than others in the social circle who drink much more than them. And they are doing just fine. It may also be an excuse that the early ones have been through a cold turkey successfully.

Self-deception and alcoholism: A way to continue to be able to believe in oneself

As long as a person’s motivation remains absent, it can be very difficult to convince them of their false perception. Similarly, they will gain a greater realization if a person can understand what it is that motivates them to certain perceptions and opinions.

Abuse is thus a bad habit that people automatically resort to without consciously wishing it. If you slow down in your daily chores and ask yourself why you are doing it, you will be able to get out of your autopilot control.

We can conclude that being aware of self-deception will give people an understanding of how others may fall victim to their own addiction. These people need to get psychological help from professionals to get ahead.