About this episode

Molly Watts discusses the challenges of drinking less through the belief that alcohol is a reward and explores the psychological associations with alcohol as a treat.

In this episode of the Alcohol Minimalist podcast, Molly continues the series When Drinking Less Feels Hard, looking at the real-life challenges that make drinking less feel difficult through the lens of Alcohol Core Beliefs. This week’s focus is the belief Alcohol Is My Reward—the thought that shows up at the end of a hard day, a long week, while cooking dinner, on vacation, or anytime alcohol feels like the treat you’ve earned for getting through something. Molly explores why this belief can feel so reasonable, how the brain learns to associate alcohol with reward and transition, and why drinking less can feel like deprivation when alcohol has become the main way you mark completion, rest, or pleasure. Before the episode, Molly also shares a reminder about Mostly Dry July-The Daily, which includes daily support, weekly group coaching calls, weekly brain boosts, and a private daily podcast to help you practice drinking less with peaceful mindfulness and without all-or-nothing thinking. www.mollywatts.com/mostly-dry-july In This Episode Why alcohol can become tied to end-of-day and end-of-week rituals How the brain learns to predict alcohol as a reward Why “I deserve this” is…

People in this episode

Host: Molly Watts

Topics covered

• mindful drinking
• alcohol core beliefs
• reward system
• behavior change
• deprivation
• coping mechanisms

Keywords

• alcohol
• reward
• mindfulness
• behavior change
• deprivation
• coping
• completion
• pleasure

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Mostly Dry July-The Daily, www.mollywatts.com

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