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The Sophisticated Alcoholic
 
 

The Sophisticated Alcoholic [Kindle Edition]

David Allen
5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)

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Review

The Sophisticated Alcoholic is welcome addition to the literature on excessive and addictive drinking.The book is aimed at those who know they are drinking too much, want to drink less and need to find out how. Its pragmatic, practical and optimistic approach to alcoholism is a useful counterweight to those who take the view that alcoholic addiction cannot be reversed but can only be held in abeyance by abstinence and a life time of regular attendance at self-help groups. It takes the view that the disease model of alcoholism is defeatist, irresponsible and wrong (and depressing). Central to the book is the argument that changing beliefs and perceptions is at the heart of tackling excessive and damaging drinking. Changes in perception are most effective at the unconscious level using hypnotherapy. The aim is to completely change a person's relationship with alcohol so that it is no longer important. It has useful step-by-step guides and an illuminating section on the importance of spiritual enlightenment. The book offers the refreshing and optimistic view that everyone can change. you are not a slave to your genes or an incurable disease. --Ed Mitchell, (Former ITN Newsreader and Journalist. A life almost destroyed by Alcohol.)

Product Description

The book breaks all the rules about treating alcoholism. It’s not just about the stereotypical alcoholic but for the invisible majority, the middle class drinkers, the people who are in control of their lives but with one significant exception that they have already concluded that their use of alcohol is excessive. These are the silent majority the ‘Sophisticated Alcoholics’. Nobody really knows how many there are but there is a suspicion that the number is very large indeed. People who come to see me privately for help with their own personal battles with alcohol are invariably members of this group. The book would be about a cure were alcoholism to be an illness instead of a behaviour but, instead it is about resolution, a permanent change of relationship between the person and the bottle so that alcohol ceases to retain any importance in a life. I belonged to this group for too many years and now I don’t. People can completely change their relationship with alcohol if they address the real issues lying behind and driving their actions because I and others have done so. Alcoholism, as it turns out has nothing to do with alcohol.


Product details

  • Format: Kindle Edition
  • File Size: 506 KB
  • Print Length: 222 pages
  • Page Numbers Source ISBN: 1846945224
  • Publisher: O-Books (16 Nov 2011)
  • Sold by: Amazon Media EU S.à r.l.
  • Language English
  • ASIN: B00652HXD4
  • Text-to-Speech: Enabled
  • Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #79,241 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
An excellent book 16 Dec 2011
Format:Paperback
The Sophisticated Alcoholic is a remarkable book and I'd highly recommend it to anyone who finds it hard to put the cork back in the bottle. Unlike the view espoused by the likes of the AA, author David Allen - a trained hypnotherapist - insists that problem drinking can be tamed. It doesn't necessitate a lifetime of total abstinence. The book explains why drinkers who lead apparently normal, healthy lives, consume harmful quantities of booze - in a semi controlled fashion - behind closed doors.

The writer explains why heavy drinking habits are largely the result of deep underlying causes, which can often be traced back to childhood, which create negative emotions that lead to problem drinking. Once recognised, these basic behavioural drives can be negated.

I've bought a copy as a Christmas present for my wife.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:  1 review
A New Idea About Problem Drinking 28 Feb 2012
By Anna from InannaWorks - Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback
Therapist, and hypnotherapist, David Allen acknowledges that the program he outlines in this book is at odds with most current practice for treating alcohol-related problems. He believes in behavioral change and has devoted a lot of his career to applying the psychology of change to alcohol-related issues. He believes that people can alter their relationship to alcohol, enabling them to drink occasionally without reverting to abusing alcohol. (Recovering alcoholics need to be cautious about adopting these ideas too quickly.)

He tells us that a thorough understanding of the causes of alcohol abuse is required in order to change one's relationship to alcohol. He describes the tools which he has successfully used to deal with the underlying causes of abusive drinking, and introduces the reader to the use of hypnosis therapy and Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) in relation to the problem. The last part of the book details his step-by-step program for altering core beliefs and creating permanent change.

He intends to talk specifically to those drinkers who manage their abuse of alcohol so that it only minimally interferes with their functioning. Having been one of those drinkers himself, he clearly understands how hard it is to consider alcohol a problem when there are no serious consequences of the behavior to point to. The success of his protocol requires that a client acknowledge the ways in which drinking undermines his or her well-being, resulting in a solid willingness to change. The decision comes first. Once it has been made, this book will provide readers with the information they need to successfully put that decision into practice.

Allen extensively explores modern concepts about alcoholism and its treatment. He acknowledges both modalities that parallel his, and those that are at least partially contradictory in approach. As the child of an alcoholic, and someone who monitors her relationship with alcohol because of that, I found this book to provide new and thought-provoking insight into the problem. It is much more innately hopeful than most of the literature in the field. It is clear, however, that a serious commitment to do the work is necessary for the program to be effective. This is not a program for dabblers.

(InannaWorks.com received a free review copy of this book.)
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Whenever you make changes to your life as significant as removing alcohol from it, other things will invariably change as well. Be prepared to face these challenges and give yourself time to adjust. &quote;
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