Why You Still Want Alcohol Even When You Hate It (E203)
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Drinking stops being fun and enjoyable, but we continue to do it anyway. Why is this? We know it makes us miserable and we want to stop, but by 4pm or after a few days or weeks of sober time we talk ourselves back into it. In this episode you’ll learn about the adaptations that happen in the brain as we drink heavily and how this leads to compulsive drinking despite the consequences. I’ll explain how alcohol changes our dopamine system to increase cravings, prevent us from stopping once we’ve started, and keep us hooked on alcohol long after it’s stopped being fun. We’ll end by discussing why we continue to drink at this point and how this recovers in sobriety.
What to listen to next:
E22: why you think alcohol helps your anxiety
E125: why you can't stop drinking once you start
E170: why the first year of sobriety is so hard
E128: why cravings are so powerful
E201: your dysregulated stress response
E33: why does drinking make us feel energized?
E157: brain fog and fatigue
Resources I offer:
Community & Meetings: Living a Sober Powered Life
Listen to the full episode in your podcasting app: Apple Spotify other apps
Cite:
Gillian Tietz. Michael Painter. Why You Still Want Alcohol Even When You Hate It. (E203) Sober Powered Podcast. 2024
Please respect my intellectual property and properly credit me if you share my work.
Sources
Heinz et al. 2004. Correlation between Dopamine D2 receptors in the ventral striatum and central processing of alcohol cues and craving. Am J Psychiatry.
Volkow et al., 2017. Neurochemical and metabolic effects of acute and chronic alcohol in the human brain: Studies with positron emission tomography. Neuropharmacology.
