Drinking and intrusive thought

[Lolimbi]

So I know I shouldn’t get drunk, especially by myself because that’s when the intrusive thoughts of self harm enter my head. But I do because I want to be normal and I’m not ready to accept that I can’t drink and be like other people. I could be feeling completely fine and not sad at all but I’ll still have a thought or too that’s like “come one you know you want to do it no one will know” it’s makes me feel like an addict, which can be frustrating given that I’ve been clean for over a year. How do y’all deal with intrusive thoughts? I want them to be gone completely, and it’s frustrating that I might have to deal with these for the rest of my life?

[Cpt_Stunning]

It's all about breathing techniques, when you don't have enough fresh oxygen in your brain for it to function OK.

The problem is that your brain is the last place in your body to get oxygen, so it could take a while, deep relaxation. The problem is with alcohol is that it can mask the intrusive thoughts for a while, but not completely.

[justvisiting1219]

I plug in music, ideally something peppy and happy, or put on a show that's light hearted enough to keep me in a good mood but something I'm involved in enough to give me something to distract me. But I feel you and I'm sorry bud, keep it up! A year is awesome !!

[Auror.]

Basically, I try to acknowledge them and accept them as they come and try to keep some distance from them. You can have a thought without giving it any power or weight. Which sounds hard and is a bit complicated at first and is a bit circular. But for example, if I am panicking, and I start thinking something like, "oh no I am panicking, I'm not supposed to be panicking," that is going to make it worse and likely make me panic even more. Where if I think something like, "oh no, I am panicking. Yup, this is happening, okay," I'm much more likely to be able to calm myself down. It's sort of about taking away the judgement associated with the thoughts and just acknowledging that yes the thoughts exist, and they can just come and go without you doing anything about them.

It's part of something called ACT if you want to have a google. One of the big things is cognitive defusion, and the biggest metaphor/thing we used for it is the leaves on a stream exercise. I think I've posted it on here before but may have deleted it.