Thinking about quitting or reducing your use?

Thinking about quitting alcohol or other drug use or reducing your use?

If your alcohol and/or other drug use is causing problems in your life and you have decided to do something about it, this section will give you some guidance and tips on how to reduce or stop your use.

In this section we refer to both quitting and reducing.

By quitting we mean stopping your use of alcohol and/or other drugs altogether, either permanently or for specific period of time.

By reducing we mean cutting down the amount you use/drink and/or the frequency with which you use/drink.

Depending upon how long, how much and how frequently you have used alcohol and/or other drugs you may find it difficult to stop or reduce your use.  There can be both physical and psychological reasons for this.

Physical

Your body may have become dependent on the alcohol and/or other drugs, and need them to keep functioning. Reducing or stopping too quickly can lead to your body experiencing withdrawal symptoms.

Psychological

You may find that you have become dependent on alcohol and/or other drugs emotionally. You may find yourself believing that you need alcohol and/or other drugs to feel confident, to have good sex, to have the energy to do things. Life without alcohol and/or other drugs may seem less interesting or exciting.

It can be helpful to think about changing your alcohol and/or drug use as a process rather than a one off event. It is important that you do what feels right for you and make changes where you can. Most of all: Don’t give up! Every change you make is a step closer to you being in control of your alcohol and/or drug use rather than the drugs controlling you.