Alcohol Addiction Recovery

why would an addict want to better themselves in this situation?

Can't let the addicts go cold turkey.

Would this work for other addictions?

you talk as if people have never overcome addiction with sheer willpower.

A while back on HN someone linked to "Most People With Addiction Simply Grow Out of It" [1] and "Here’s What I’ve Finally Concluded About 12-Step Programs" [2], which argues that many of the ways in which we try to treat addiction just make things worse, e.g. by recommending that a former alcoholic never again has a drink, you're actually making it more likely that when they do snap, they will not have learned to keep things under control and they'll probably feel s

You are onto something here. I myself have overcome this horrible state and the no alcohol thing is pretty key, along with, some better drugs/scene & the essence of hacker spirit: curiosity. My story is a bit long, but Iam willing to share if it is of interest or possibly even of help to someone. It is a horrible state and not easily solved by someone deep in that hopeless state.

Same as any addiction - find a reason to stop running away from life.

Please make a change and the addiction will wear off. Not easy, but worthwhile.

It sounds like you've just gone from one addiction to the other without actually getting help for your addictions.

We actually do often recognize that "just stop having problems" isn't usually useful advice for people with drug addiction, too. Ex. naltrexone for alcohol addiction, methadone for opioid addiction, etc. "Just stop having problems" is usually easy to say as an outside observer, but generally when someone's reward circuit is hijacked by addiction, it takes something more effective to rewire it. Sometimes sheer willpower is enough to exit the cycle, but usually it tak