2 min read

Forever war 🖤

I'd clearly become an alcoholic
Forever war 🖤
Police report from my second DUI. GDMNT | G.W. Schulz

"I owe everything I have in my life to Alcoholics Anonymous and sobriety." 

Rob Lowe

> how to hug a man | science

At Alcoholics Anonymous, I wanted to know the power of a hug from a round man named Cody or Bryson or something else common like that in Oklahoma.  

I wanted to know more about the science of my own mind, too. 

Like I did as a journalist, I sought out answers from published papers and books and documentaries and podcasts and strangers.

I achieved my first 30 days without alcohol in 2021 after a lifetime of drinking that any health expert would have called alcoholism

After my first 90 days, staying sober became my forever war. ⭐ 🪖

I learned that scientists over years of research had brought addiction and our unconscious, intuitive minds into tighter focus. 

🔳
Wiers, Reinout W., and Alan W. Stacy. Handbook of Implicit Cognition and Addiction. SAGE, 2006.

A textbook totaling over 500 pages was published in 2006 that compiles just some of the research. Wrote two authors: 

  • "One of the major messages of this book is that the psychological mechanisms that are central to addiction are often automatic and occur outside the individual's introspection."

Scientists have extensively investigated the relationship between addiction, alcoholism, and so-called "implicit cognition," another name for what 19th century psychologist Sigmund Freud called the unconscious mind.

A 2010 study found that the relationship was clear: "Implicit processes consistently have been found to predict or correlate with addictive behaviors."

In a 2017 study, three experts agreed:

>> "The interaction between explicit (controlled) and implicit (automatic) cognitions would allow the understanding of irrational actions like addictive behaviors. This model has gained great popularity among addiction researchers."

  • next time "A darkened ditch stopped him from reaching the target."
  • listening Dead Meadow "Dusty Nothing"

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