Self-deception in alcoholism

A few years ago, a fellow psychologist told me that she was not able to understand alcoholics. She did not understand this self-deception, this contempt for life because of a substance . Unfortunately, these types of “professionals” abound in the treatment of addictions. A moralistic and biased perspective incapable of providing attractive and dynamic alternatives that only deepen the feeling of inability and perpetuate a paralyzing guilt.

You have to understand that Self-deception in alcoholism is one of the factors that intervene in the continuity of addiction and the appearance of relapses. However, self-deception is not what causes addiction and in many cases is the decisive factor that maintains it. Understanding this, we will be able to unravel self-deception in alcoholism to return a more rehabilitative view of addictive behavior.

Alcoholism is increasingly considered by experts to be a biopsychosocial disorder. and taking into account its etiology and evolution, it is impossible to ignore environmental factors. As we have noted, it is crucial to understanding self-deception and problem perpetuation (Zucker & Williams, 1994).

Alcoholism as treatment or avoidance of an aversive reality

People with an addiction may seem completely irrational and incomprehensible to others.. With grief tinged with exasperation, non-addicts wonder how a person can be so wrong and not see the pain they may be causing. How can self-deception in alcoholism be so destructive?

Gregory Bateson was the first to attempt to understand alcoholism through a complex epistemology. His essay titled The cybernetics of the self: a theory of alcoholism considers alcoholic behavior as a corrective experience.

Yes in a way It is the sober life of the alcoholic that pushes him to drink, We should not expect sobriety procedures to reduce or “control” your alcoholism.

The same environment that pushes you into addiction does not get you out of it.

There are sober lifestyles that encourage drinking. Realities, discussions and memories that only ask to be anesthetized. There are normalities that contain an error, even a pathology for many people who are too sensitive before ending up addicted. They do not find intoxication in their own life, in their work or family. In his own existence.

Intoxication only brings a (subjective) correction of this existential error. In other words, for these people compared to their sobriety, intoxication is “good.”

For Luigi Cancrini (1993), alcoholism, like drug addiction, can be seen as a self-therapeutic attempt in the face of relational and family dynamics that are sources of suffering.

Once alcohol alone destroys, how does self-deception work to continue drinking?

Most contemporary treatments of self-deception have rightfully focused on Butler’s intentionality requirement. When we are motivated to believe something, we tend to operate with a certain confirmation bias. We look for evidence to support our belief and tend not to give as much to what challenges it.

Many people who have an addiction do not consider themselves to have a problem.. They only enter into an intervention due to the push and force of the environment. In this case, people would go to therapy for others – so that they do not suffer, so as not to see them suffer, so as not to endure the pressure to which they are subjected every day – and not for themselves. In these cases, it is likely that the person will follow the intervention “facing the gallery.”

Additionally, he can base his idea of ​​no problem by pointing out others in his circle of acquaintances who consume more than him and who have not yet experienced harm. It can also be an excuse to point out the fact that in the past you have stopped using when you wanted to.

Self-deception as a way to continue believing in oneself

As long as motivation remains dormant for a person, it will be very difficult to convince him of the falsity of a belief. Instead, if a person can begin to understand what motivates them to hold certain beliefs and views, they gain crucial knowledge.

Addiction is, in a sense, a habit. A habit that is done automatically without conscious intention. When we slow down habitual actions by asking why we are doing something, we retreat from autopilot mode.

In conclusion, understanding self-deception and confirmation bias can provide common ground for people who want to understand how others can fall prey to their own addictions. Within these people, we psychology professionals must place ourselves in the foreground.

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