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Comment by towaway | Hacker News Reader

If you're one of those for whom AA didn't work I would encourage you to look at the The Sinclair Method. It has changed many lives for the better (including mine).

https://www.reddit.com/r/Alcoholism_Medication/ https://cthreefoundation.org/

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This is how I quit and it's a profoundly disappointing and discouraging thing that this is not more broadly known. I should have quit 15-20 years before I actually did and had I known about The Sinclair Method the first time I was subjected to AA and did that instead, I'm convinced I would have been able to quit then. However, I wasn't aware of this and continued drinking for another 17 years.

I googled it, seems to be you're supposed to take some drug that makes you stop drinking.

"Some drug that blocks the euphoric effects of drinking" would be more accurate.

What worked for me is developing an esophagus condition that makes drinking alcohol or coffee result in instant burning pain. It was so easy to stop drinking, multiple times, when that surfaced.

From what I understand, you take the drug before the act of drinking and it stops the habit-forming/positive-reinforcement chemical processes.

This is a significantly-incorrect, surface-level understanding of the "Sinclair Method". As another poster noted, naltrexone (or similar) prevent one from feeling much of anything from alcohol (though you'd still be physically impaired...). Without any dose (drink) --> response (pleasant-feeling) relationship, users tend to stop drinking significantly (because drinking doesn't really do anything)...

The "Sinclair Method" is, basically, to promise to take naltrexone (or similar) 30 minutes or so before you ever take a drink. That way, if/when you drink, you never feel the "drink" and your mind can return to normal.

No drug will "make you stop drinking" (though disulfiram may make you want to do so); the Sinclair Method attempts to remove your interest in drinking.

Works very well — confirmed here. :)

I've since returned to drinking periodically, but, it's nice knowing I can cease at any given moment using this methodology if I choose.

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