If you choose to try it on your own and at any point feel you need more help, then seek support (see Help Links). She is the author of This Naked Mind and has a few paid programs available to people who want to change their relationship with alcohol and quit drinking for good. Again, drinking alcohol can have a wide range of effects on the body, including damage to the liver, heart, digestive system, and mental health. You’re here because you’ve decided (or at least are flirting with the idea) to quit drinking alcohol.

Support Strategies for Quitting

If you’re finding your existing community is not as supportive as you hoped, support groups can be a great place to start. For anyone with an alcohol use disorder, giving up alcohol forever is the only sustainable choice for a plan to move forward. The goal during this time would be to observe your detox and get used to being sober for an extended period of time before breaking sobriety. These drinking habits may seem like no big deal, but they’re the benchmarks that scientists use to study the effects of too much drinking.

• Depending on your health evaluation, your doctor can advise you on the best way forward.
• You may be able to better compare your options by assessing whether and how the program or provider measures success.
• Set a daily alert on your phone with an encouraging message, change your phone’s background to an inspiring image, or put a sticky note on your bathroom mirror.
• My work focuses on self-development, realizing your potential, and sobriety—speaking from personal experience, having overcome both poverty and addiction.
• Many people have quit alcohol by talking with others who face the same challenges.

Tracking drinking habits helps identify patterns, triggers, and emotional responses to alcohol use. Keeping a journal or using an alcohol-tracking app reveals how often, how much, and why you drink, providing insight into areas that need change. Understanding these patterns allows for a personalized approach to quitting, increasing the chances of what is alcoholism long-term success. A severe case of alcohol withdrawal can lead to complications, some of which can be life-threatening.

Types of Behavioral Treatments

The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism suggests that having a plan can help solidify your goals and give you a roadmap for how to achieve them. Excessive alcohol use often coincides with other mental health disorders. They could be family, friends, significant others or mentors. Positive support persons are those who recognize your goals and stand by you as you work to accomplish them. They’re the people you feel safe being vulnerable with, and you trust to hold you accountable.

Best Foods to Cleanse Your Liver After Alcohol

Taking small but decisive steps leads to a healthier, alcohol-free life with confidence and determination. Self-awareness and commitment are key to lasting sobriety. Acknowledging the problem is the first step to quitting alcohol.

Reflect On Why You Feel Like You Need To Stop

Each of these fee-based tools has a research base that shows its potential to help people cut down or quit drinking. Caring for a person who has problems with alcohol can be very stressful. It is important that as you try to help your loved one, you also find a way to take care of yourself. It may help to seek support from others, including friends, family, community, and support groups. If you are developing your own symptoms of depression or anxiety, think about seeking professional help for yourself. Remember that your loved one is ultimately responsible for managing their own illness.

• The goal isn’t to ignore difficult emotions but to learn how to move through them without alcohol.
• This time can be different because you’re approaching it with more information and self-awareness.
• Distance yourself from people who don’t support your efforts to stop drinking or respect the limits you’ve set.
• Put a sticky note in places where you know you’ll need that extra reminder.
• Some people also lose weight as they taper off their drinking.

Medications

Please note the date of last review or update on all articles. We have a whole article dedicated to the benefits of giving up alcohol which you can read, with additional free resources available. If your brain ever starts playing tricks on you by thinking “Just one drink” or a “glass of wine”, remember there is no such thing. Live an alcohol-free life and be on your guard not to fall back into the trap. Yet these symptoms are “irritability, poor concentration, feeling shaky, feeling tired, difficulty sleeping or bad dreams”. The willpower and cold turkey method is likely to cause abject misery and failure because of the feeling of giving up something that you want and need.

Acknowledge what sparked your desire to drink and hone in on that trigger. Assess what needs to change to decrease the impact or frequency of that trigger. If it’s stress-related, find healthy ways to manage and cope, including going to therapy, delegating tasks and surrounding yourself with people who can support you. If it’s local haunts, take different routes to avoid those locations. When you’re working to quit drinking, writing can help you come to terms with and realize things about your relationship with alcohol that you didn’t know before. At True Self Recovery in Arkansas, we offer free insurance verification for our clients who feel they need some help.

Inform Friends & Family

• I read sobriety memoirs, listened to podcasts, and watched YouTube videos about addiction.
• Benzodiazepines can also reduce your risk of delirium tremens.
• Talk to your doctor about whether you need to withdraw from alcohol under medical care.
• While quitting alcohol is not easy, it helps to make a plan to quit and ask for the support of family and friends before you quit.
• Professional treatment for an alcohol use disorder can involve outpatient therapy, residential treatment, or inpatient hospitalization.

Explain why you’re making this change and be specific about how they can help—maybe that means planning alcohol-free activities or just listening without judgment. The goal is to share your needs respectfully and turn your closest relationships into a true source of strength on your journey. Sometimes, the urge to drink isn’t tied to a feeling but to a place, a person, or even a time of day. Maybe it’s walking past your favorite bar on the way home, the sight of a wine rack in your kitchen, or catching up with a specific friend you always drink with.

Tracking progress with apps, managing social situations, and learning from setbacks help sustain sobriety. Each step toward sobriety improves health, mental clarity, and relationships. With the right mindset and support, you can achieve a fulfilling, alcohol-free life.