Sophisticated Alcoholic, The - Tapa blanda

The Sophisticated Alcoholic is welcome addition to the literature on excessive and addictive drinking.The book is aimed at those who know they are drinking too much, want to drink less and need to find out how. Its pragmatic, practical and optimistic approach to alcoholism is a useful counterweight to those who take the view that alcoholic addiction cannot be reversed but can only be held in abeyance by abstinence and a life time of regular attendance at self-help groups. It takes the view that the disease model of alcoholism is defeatist, irresponsible and wrong (and depressing). Central to the book is the argument that changing beliefs and perceptions is at the heart of tackling excessive and damaging drinking. Changes in perception are most effective at the unconscious level using hypnotherapy. The aim is to completely change a person's relationship with alcohol so that it is no longer important. It has useful step-by-step guides and an illuminating section on the importance of spiritual enlightenment. The book offers the refreshing and optimistic view that everyone can change -- you are not a slave to your genes or an incurable disease. Ed Mitchell, (Former ITN Newsreader and Journalist. A life almost destroyed by Alcohol.)

The book breaks all the rules about treating alcoholism. It's not just about the stereotypical alcoholic but for the invisible majority, the middle class drinkers, the people who are in control of their lives but with one significant exception that they have already concluded that their use of alcohol is excessive. These are the silent majority the 'Sophisticated Alcoholics' Nobody really knows how many there are but there is a suspicion that the number is very large indeed. People who come to see me privately for help with their own personal battles with alcohol are invariably members of this group. The book would be about a cure were alcoholism to be an illness instead of a behaviour but, instead it is about resolution, a permanent change of relationship between the person and the bottle so that alcohol ceases to retain any importance in a life. I belonged to this group for too many years and now I don't. People can completely change their relationship with alcohol if they address the real issues lying behind and driving their actions because I and others have done so. Alcoholism, as it turns out has nothing to do with alcohol.