What is "Sober Curious"?Sober curious is essentially a curiosity about a person's reasons for drinking and a questioning of the impact alcohol is having on their life. It's a mindfulness exercise if you will and often leads to people choosing to avoid or decrease their alcohol consumption for personal or wellness reasons. The sober curious person may not meet criteria for an alcohol use disorder or intend to give up alcohol permanently.
The sober movement was born out of a questioning of our drinking culture and the media spin of alcohol as "mummy's little helper". Mums began "coming out" on social media with stories and blogs of their recovery journey, encouraging others to do the same. It’s a gentle non-judgemental introduction into the highly stigmatised area of problem drinking for mums who don’t fit the tradition “alcoholic” model. It’s a place where mums can start opening up about their concerns regarding their alcohol consumption and find community and connection. But, while many mums start their journey here, professional support is not easy to find for mums who don’t see themselves going to traditional 12 step programs, but equally would benefit from psychological support, alongside peer support and / or medication. After all, a key component to changing your relationship with alcohol is working out what got you to this point in the first place (loss of identity, loss of a career, post natal depression, relationship issues) and working out what coping strategies need to be learned to replace old habits that no longer serve us. The real hook of alcohol is psychological dependence. Once the physical withdrawal has passed, if experienced at all by anyone on the mild side of the spectrum, mums must have other means of support to survive the relentless marketing machine, intensely fixated on stressed mums, continually perpetuating the idea that drinking is glamorous, social and essential. If you are curious about your alcohol consumption or need help cutting down or quitting, please get in touch. Long-term sobriety is not the goal.
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What is Grey-area Drinking?Grey area drinking is somewhere between a social or every-now-and-again drinking and rock-bottom drinking.
Grey-area drinkers are not an end-stage, lose-everything kind of drinking but are not really every-now-and-again drinkers and they are starting to wonder whether alcohol is still working for them? They don't NEED to stop drinking but they want to ... and find it harder than they anticipated. Rock-bottom Drinking**Briefly, below you will find a description of AUD for completeness sake, but please note, that if you fall into this category, this is not the site for you! Please seek advice from your medical professional as it could be dangerous for you to withdraw without a program that includes medical support and assistance.
Rock-bottom drinking or more formally, Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD):
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition (DSM-5) lists eleven diagnostic criteria including having a strong desire for alcohol, a difficult time controlling its use, and continued use even if it is causing significant distress and/or impairment, of which a min of 2 or 3 must be met . The severity of AUD—mild, moderate, or severe—is based on the number of criteria met.
*Please consult Alcohol-Related Disorders in Substance-Related and Addictive Disorders of the DSM-5 for the full list. Treatment OptionsTreatment options for grey area drinkers includes psychological support and / or self-paced online program (Replenish2).
Please note, if you have a diagnosis for AUD these options are not sufficient. Please contact your medical practitioner or Alcoholics Anonymous instead. |
