Why You Can’t Make Good Decisions About Your Drinking (or Anything Else) (E254)

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Have you ever vowed to stop drinking, but then you drink again anyway? It’s a rhetorical question. I know the answer is yes. It’s frustrating when we keep doing this to ourselves and it destroys our belief in ourselves, which is an essential part of staying sober. In this episode I’m discussing instant gratification, the decision making process, and how alcohol alters the way the brain makes decisions to keep us stuck in a loop. 

What to listen to next:

E224: alcohol simplifies the brain

E211: the anticipation of a drink

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Cite:

Gillian Tietz. Why You Can’t Make Good Decisions About Your Drinking (or Anything Else) (E254). Sober Powered. 2024

Please respect my intellectual property and properly credit me if you share my work.

Sources

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2. ‌Bickel WK, Athamneh LN, Basso JC, et al. Excessive discounting of delayed reinforcers as a trans-disease process: Update on the state of the science. Current Opinion in Psychology. 2019;30:59-64.

3. ‌Koffarnus MN, Kaplan BA. Clinical models of decision making in addiction. Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior. 2018;164:71-83. 

4. ‌Galandra C, Basso G, Cappa S, Canessa N. The alcoholic brain: neural bases of impaired reward-based decision-making in alcohol use disorders. Neurological Sciences. 2017;39(3):423-435. 

5. ‌Le Berre A-P ., Rauchs G, La Joie R, et al. Impaired decision-making and brain shrinkage in alcoholism. European Psychiatry. 2014;29(3):125-133. 

6. ‌Verdejo-Garcia A, Chong TT-J ., Stout JC, Yücel M, London ED. Stages of dysfunctional decision-making in addiction. Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior. 2018;164:99-105. 

7. Hogarth, L. Addiction is driven by excessive goal-directed drug choice under negative affect: translational critique of habit and compulsion theory. Neuropsychopharmacol. 45, 720–735 (2020).

8. Pine, A. Dopamine, time, and impulsivity in humans. J Neurosci.  2010, 30 (26) 8888-8896.

9. Liad Uziel, Roy F. Baumeister. The Self-Control Irony: Desire for Self-Control Limits Exertion of Self-Control in Demanding Settings. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 2017; 43 (5): 693

10. Verdejo-Garcia, A. et al. Stages of dysfunctional decision-making in addiction. Pharmacology, Biochemistry, and Behavior. 2018