Capturing Drunk

[A Brain]

Being drunk has many attractive qualities. Inhibitions fade. Confidence rises. Fears vanish.

It would seem to me that this is a useful state. Would it be possible to somehow either

a) anchor these positive attributes of intoxication
b) explore and elicit them outside of the otherwise damaging state of being drunk.

I enjoy being drunk, but of course its negatives mostly outweigh these temporary benefits.

The dissipation of (useless) fear seems most attractive. How to do this without liver and neuronal destruction?

Any information would be very helpful. Thanks

A Drinker

[Merlin]

I guess you've never seen a stage-hypnosis show?
Obviously no inhibition by the audience volunteers.
Even when pretending to interpret martianese, or eating a delicious onion.
Nor (it seems) have you checked the archives where we have discussed hypnosis inducing selected aspects of alcohol or drugs.

[Terry]

I notice you sign yourself "a drinker", you did not sign off as "a drunk", so were is the liver damage etc? If you enjoy drinking, it is likely that you have a secondary gain in the company you keep etc, which has little to do with the feelings of relaxation, and loss of inhibitions......Imagine not drinking any more? What would you do with your time, and were would you find friends to replace your drinking buddies? Nah, best keep on drinking (G) Terry

[skip]

Damn!

Sounds like you want most of the downside without much of the upside.

The variety of tastes, the social interaction, the fun of teetering right on the edge of a buzz.

If you just want to be out of control, lose your fear of what others think, and have a blast, without depressing your nervous systems ability to discern what is going on around you. Making love when you are drunk is considerably less satisfying than masterbation, and is about as pretty as well. And that doesnt even count the message you are sending to your partner.

"I want to learn hypnosis so I can act drunk."

What do you need the hypnosis for?

Why dont you consider what it is that you want to be able to do because you are drunk, that you cant when you are sober, and see if hypnosis wouldnt be able to help you with that?

skip

[A Brain]

Firstly, I apologize for falling into the trap I see so many on web messageboards falling into.. namely not doing a search before I ask a dumb question. (There's actually a website devoted to this particular foible.. http://www.****inggoogleit.com)

I'll go back and see what I can find out. But just as a cap on this particular thread - I was actually more interested in what NLP might offer in this regard. If hypnosis can do the trick though, I'll be interested to read about it.

As for what I'm after, it's probably what you would expect. Mild euphoria, loss of inhibitions. Not a loss that makes you don a lampshade-hat, but simply the ability to feel confident doing things that otherwise make you nervous.

I actually drink pretty rarely, but the last time I did I noticed that in the space of one evening I answered every email sitting in my inbox that I'd been loathing to answer. It was easy.

My personality is pretty stoic. I have difficulty mixing in social situations, in speaking up, etc. Drinking seems to ease that all, and it would be nice to have a tool to unlock that comfort level on a par with having a beer.

And as for liver damage, I'm sure you realize that any amount of alcohol makes your liver rather unhappy. I doubt I'll be having cirrhosis any time soon, but if I can effect a positive mental change without using toxins in any amount, wouldn't that be cool?

Thanks for the replies.

[skip]

Ah much better, IMO.

Either hypnosis or NLP would be excellent in assisting you to accomplish this.

This is bread and butter stuff.

NLP would take 15 min to 1 hour, hypnosis maybe a bit longer depending on the practioner.


skip

[oznlp]

Gedday folks

I spent a decade in the drug & Alcohol field, most of that time applying NLP within the Health system context and learning how to sit the technique array within the Motivational Interviewing model.

I think this discussion is on the right track in that it is pointing to answers to the question "What would you miss if you stopped drinking?"

The trick is to identify the areas that would be missed, and the ones that are missed once drinking has ceased or reduced.

These areas then become a list of skills to acquire or to improve on.
eg; lowered inhibitions, confidence, social skills (and grace?)
This shifts the parqadigm from "How do I stop drinking?" to "How do I learn to be more confident?"
Then, we break down confidence to smaller chunks and apply them....

oznlp

[Merlin]

Now we are approaching the essence.
Do you want some of the attribues of being drunk, or do you just want to improve on your life?

[A Brain]

Well, you hit it Merlin. I guess the point for me is that I hadn't realized a deficiency in social skills, over-inhibition or lack of self-esteem and confidence until I'd had a few drinks (the first time I'd had more than a sip or two in quite some time).

This was not a very excessive bender, two beers. But I sat marvelling at how different I felt. The reason I posted here is because I've been following NLP, listened to some audio tapes and met with a practitioner a while back.

The big epiphany from my meeting with her was this concept: if I've ever felt a certain way, it means I can feel that way. The context here was "can you remember a time when you felt successful?" or some such. After my re-acquaintance with alcohol, that thought came back up, "well, if I can feel <disinhibited, courageous, happy, self-confident, etc> when I drink, why not when I don't drink?". My mind can actually perform the operation of "feel confident" et al, which is a desireable state for me, so from what I understand of NLP I should be able to direct my mind to feel that way again - through some of your "magic tricks". =)

[Merlin]

Very true. You can access those feelings, or even create new ones.
If you can, why not write down specifically what you want to feel and when. List and prioritize them.
Then you'll know exactly what you want :)