Want to Challenge How Much You Drink?

Therapists assess alcohol and substance use at the start of therapy to determine whether addiction or dependence is present. When clients report daily or near-daily use, therapy may be limited unless substance abuse treatment is pursued. Encouraging clients to read This Naked Mind by Annie Grace can help some people shift their perspective and reduce desire for drinking. The book uses a provocative framing, personal experience, and statistics to challenge societal norms and long-held assumptions about alcohol. Different approaches to substance abuse do not work for everyone, similar to how different therapy schools vary in effectiveness. Growing evidence about alcohol’s dangers increases the importance of such interventions.

"I always ask about the amount of alcohol and substance use at the beginning of therapy, because if someone is addicted to-or even dependent upon-a substance, the impact of therapy can be limited. In these situations, the main help I can provide usually relates to aiding a client's realization that they need to seek substance abuse treatment."

"One strategy I find helpful is encouraging clients who report daily or near-daily use to read This Naked Mind by Annie Grace. She opens with a provocative question: "What if, by reversing years of unconscious conditioning, you could return to the perspective of a non-drinker?" Grace proceeds to talk readers through her strategy to return to a mental state where the desire for a drink disappears."

"She blends snippets from her personal struggle with alcohol abuse with a barrage of statistics, facts, and perspectives about the dangers of drinking. Her arguments challenge societal norms and long-held assumptions about alcohol. For starters, she takes issue with the view that some people have an addiction to alcohol and need to quit, while others are not addicted and may the"

"Like schools of therapy, not every approach to substance abuse will work for everyone. Now that we know more about the dangers of alcohol use, this book is even more important."

Read at Psychology Today