Alcohol and Neurodiversity

[bigfoot40]

I managed to do dry January but have now unfortunately fallen back into my old habit of weekend binge drinking.

I've never been officially diagnosed, but it's obvious to me that high functioning autism is prevelent in my family. I work in a shop, so I feel like I spend a lot of my working day 'masking', an example is I repeat words and phrases out loud for no reason. I've trained myself not to do it in public, but when I'm home I struggle to not do it, which I find frustrating. I've been self medicating with alcohol for most of my adult life, as it takes the edge off but I'd really like to quit drinking for good. I feel like I need to develop some better coping strategies to quieten my mind, but I'm not sure how to go about this.

Has anyone experienced anything similar as I feel so stuck in a rut.

Speak to your local addiction and recovery service. Substance abuse, including alcohol, is often more prevalent in neurodivergent brains for the very reason you've described. You can get dry, with help and support. You don't have to wait for services to kick in before attending AA.

My best friend is auDHD and is in recovery, nearly 5 months sober. However, he'd got to the point of hospitalisation and no mobility. He's very lucky to be alive.

Amazingly, he's starting to thrive. He'd not been fully sober for 25 years. It's great to see the real person.

@bigfoot40 well done on taking the first step!!

I had/have an alcohol use disorder but I’m not neurodiverse. However, I think the biggest majority of problem drinkers start off drinking too much as a coping strategy for x, y, z. In my case, it was to stop intrusive thoughts about abuse I suffered as a child.

I’ve tried just about everything! CBT and mindfulness did nothing for me but I’ve recently started learning how to mediate and using the Balance app and it’s helping me massively.

I actually look forward to going up to bed and doing my mind exercises before going to sleep. I used to dread going to bed/had terrible insomnia because my mind would go into overdrive and I’d imagine myself and my DC into all sorts of horrific situations. (I’m also doing work around the alcohol dependency side of things).

I’m personally not a fan of AA but I’ve joined a couple of other online sobriety groups and I read extensively about the areas of alcohol dependency that interest me - mainly the impact on the brain and gut. I’m slowly getting to the point where I can really imagine myself not wanting to drink again - this has never happened in the past when I’ve gone AF - I’ve always been dreaming of the day when I could drink again.

good luck! 💐❤️