“Part of our consumption” alcohol “are linked to contexts” social, explained Saturday, January 1 on franceinfo Jean-Michel Delile, president of the Addiction Federation, while the Dry January, the month without alcohol, begins today. This makes it possible to realize that these consumptions are often linked to “a group conformity effect”.
franceinfo: Who is targeted by this month of January without alcohol?
Jean-Michel Delile: We can invite anyone who is an occasional or regular drinker to take this experience to see what it can be like to challenge themselves with a break during this January period. During the holidays, we will have sometimes been tempted to indulge in some excess. This will undoubtedly be more beneficial for people who are more regular consumers where the impact can be more noticeable in relation to weight, quality of sleep, but also financially, since alcohol costs a lot of money. .
Does this allow us to become aware of the place that alcohol takes in our social lives?
It is a central issue. We realize that part of our consumption is linked to contexts. They have become automatic. They do not really correspond to an expectation, a search, a desire, but rather an effect of group conformity. The interest of Dry January is to reverse this dynamic by making a collective pressure of challenges between friends. We realize that we can reverse this dynamic a little. On the other hand, it also allows people, especially young people in the context of an evening where they do not really want to drink but risk being a little frowned upon or being a little beside if they do not. not drink, to say: beware, I’m doing the Dry January. It is something that is part of a positive, playful dynamic and not in a kind of gloomy closure.
How to do to last a whole month? Is it not too long?
Do this together, as a couple, with friends, with family, with friends, outings, challenge each other. What can also be done is not necessarily to set yourself a radical goal if you think you won’t be able to reach it, but to give yourself intermediate goals, not to drink during the week or to limit drinks during an evening. And then, what is interesting is that it will make it possible to verify whether it is easy or not. And some people will realize that, perhaps without realizing it, they had started to hang on or to take a habit that it is time to fight to try to find a controlled pleasure, a real pleasure and not some something which is of the order of a constraint.
If we crack, does that mean that we have a problem with alcohol?
Not necessarily. But in any case, you have to be able to check under what type of circumstances you have cracked. It can be stress at work, in telecommuting, a context between friends where we tell ourselves that we will be seen in a funny way if we do not join in the party while drinking with others. That is to say, try to identify the factors external to yourself that will push you to have this type of behavior, which can then allow you to better control them.
Are there other ways to get help if you want to cut yourself off from alcohol?
In this type of context, they can really realize that there is a problem. And there, obviously, it is not the Dry January which will be a response and a warning signal. Obviously, you have to get closer to your doctor. We need to get closer to addiction treatment centers, so that people can have support that will help them in their journey to regain real freedom from alcohol.