Alcohol: “Sober January”, a month to take stock

the dry january, in good French for “sober January”, is a good thing for Dr. Pascale Soulié, but under certain conditions. “You also have to want to do it and not put yourself in danger. It is not for those who consume a lot and every day”, said the doctor from the addiction center of the Carcassonne hospital, who comes here to celebrate his permanence. And to warn heavy consumers about a risk of withdrawal symptoms that can be serious. If we are in physical dependence, it is something else. Sober January can be an opportunity to take stock of your drinking. I want to see if I can stop for a few days, see how I’m doing, if I’m okay. There is also no obligation to do it for a whole month ”, continues the doctor.

two types of addiction

It evokes “two types of dependence: physical, with withdrawal symptoms linked to a lack of alcohol, and psychological, in which you cannot do without alcohol consumption. There we are rather in the addiction”, continues Dr. Soulié. “Addiction is a disease of the brain, not of the body. I want to, I can’t…”. She evokes the promises made, with sincerity, where the consumer agrees to stop and where, in the end, he cannot. “There will come a time when we will not be able to avoid consuming, when we will have cravings, the irresistible desire to consume, even though we know that it is not good for us, for our health, for those around us. . It is like a force that is imposed on you. It is a treatment that can be difficult, longer; stopping is not the hardest. What it is, is to keep stopping ”.

It evokes the notion of pleasure linked to addiction. “At first we consume for pleasure, then we consume so as not to spoil ourselves. Addiction is a long and complicated disease”, estimates the doctor.

In the addiction center, it accompanies indistinctly the physical withdrawals that are carried out either on an outpatient basis, or with hospitalization for the most difficult cases. “They can also be people who consume a lot, who are alone or who have some comorbidity.”

Each type of withdrawal has its own treatment. “Rather somatic for physical weaning with medications, vitamins and above all hyperhydration. When the body is calm, most often it needs psychological support to find the causes and learn to say no to alcohol because alcohol is everywhere. Alcohol is social, convivial. Teetotalers must learn to identify situations in which they risk putting themselves in danger. For psychological withdrawal, what works is behavioral therapy, where we learn to anticipate.

However, she is tempered. “Whatever the situation, it is always the patient who decides. I support, guide, but it is he who decides. I never say that you have to… I suggest!

People come to see Dr. Soulié spontaneously or also sometimes on the advice of their doctor. Sometimes we are also sent there by the courts. The treating physician, in case of doubt, is the appropriate contact. “There are also tests, grids. Whatever the stage of the disease, whatever the age, it is never too late,” insists the doctor, lamenting “seeing more and more elderly people who consume because they are alone; it is always good to reduce, stop its consumption if it is toxic”. “We talk a lot about alcohol but the first addiction is to cigarettes,” says the doctor, who we go to for health problems linked to tobacco but, increasingly, for financial problems. “Smoking is expensive, it is a good motivation to quit. Here too we are in a behavioral addiction reinforced by nicotine, an addictive substance. Then there are drugs, like cocaine, which is being used more and more. drugs”.