“I’ll just have one, who will know?”
“One wine with dinner, that’s it!”
“It will be different this time.”
These are permissive thoughts/beliefs common amongst people beginning the process of stopping substance use. These permissive thoughts are automatic because they pop into one’s head automatically during the day, usually in response to cues and triggers associated with drinking/using. One doesn’t plan or intend to think a certain way-these thoughts just happen due to the habitual nature of the thinking patterns. Since most people are constantly thinking and imagining, it is easy to see that automatic thoughts are constantly occurring.
Driving in to work this morning, you probably drove part of the time on “automatic pilot” and had little consideration about every little thing going on around you. That’s because of automatic thoughts.
Other automatic thoughts are those that we are more conscious of and are often stated as verbal messages to ourselves. For example, “I’m a klutz”, “They shouldn’t have cut me off”, “It’s awful that they don’t like me,” “I’m bad at math,” They will never promote me,” “She doesn’t like me,” I need a drink to be more sociable,” etc. Get the picture?
Assumptions and beliefs are an integral part of automatic thought processes. Assumptions are usually stated as self-talk as “If…then…”sentences or “should, need to” statements. Assumptions are the way that people interpret specific situations which influence their feelings, motivations and actions. These interpretations are shaped by the relevant beliefs that become activated a specific situation e.g. “I’m anxious in a crowd,” “Alcohol makes me more sociable hence I need to have a drink,” I’ll only have one.”
Beliefs also dramatically influence an individual’s reaction to their biochemical response to stress/anxiety (a craving). For a person attempting abstinence, these beliefs are driven by core beliefs (how they view themselves), anticipatory beliefs (“I will feel better if….”), and relief-oriented beliefs (“I can’t stand feeling anxious. I need a drink”), and permissive beliefs (“I’ll only drink this one time”). All of these automatic thoughts/beliefs are self-talk within a person’s mind.
Lynne Namke, author of Avoiding Relapse: Catching Your Inner Con, refers to this automatic thought process as the “Inner Con.” She writes that the Inner Con is a seducer who attempts to get you to respond to brain chemistry imbalance by returning to your addiction and ignoring the severe emotional and interpersonal consequences of continued use. Ms. Namke says that the Inner Con is the part that fears facing the powerful emotions that addiction hides. The Inner Con is made up of anticipatory, relief-oriented and permissive automatic thought/belief systems. These can be adequately dealt with through the use of honest and open Journaling, talking to a sober-accountability partner or therapist, and learning how to challenge thoughts. These and similar techniques allow one to learn to develop Control Automatic Thoughts for lapse prevention.
