fiddlehodl@nostrplebs.com on Nostr: I have no experience with drug addictions, so these suggestions can apply to other ...

I have no experience with drug addictions, so these suggestions can apply to other addictive behavior but not sure about hard drugs. Some folks use them successfully for alcohol but I haven't coached that.

Rather than think that you have to heal past trauma (which is likely an overwhelming thought and tends to make us spin in more unwanted behavior), you can make a plan relative to the behaviors and allow the feelings that come up when the plan and your cravings collide. Simple in theory, challenging but effective in practice.

An example with addictive/emotional eating: make a detailed explicit plan for tomorrow's food. Generally best not to make it super austere, just something you'd like to stick to tomorrow.
Tomorrow rolls around, and let's say that all is well - you've followed your plan to a T - until it's 8pm and you desperately want the snacks that you usually have around that time. Your brain is used to the dopamine hit, your body is used to the sugar, and everything in you is screaming that you MUST have the snacks.

That feeling of desperation is just a sensation in your body. If you sit still for a moment you can start to identify it: tightness in the chest, a feeling like someone is pushing closed the entire upper part of your back, rocks in your stomach... something like that.

Here's the good news: the feeling rarely lasts more than 90 seconds and it's usually around 60 seconds. Your brain will tell you that it's an emergency, that the feeling will surely kill you, but you can learn to just sit and allow the urge to move through you. Don't analyze it (not "this is because XXX"), don't fight it, don't argue with it, don't mock yourself for having it, don't try to distract yourself from it. Just allow it.

Over time - as you practice allowing those urges without acting on them - they start to lose power. You basically re-train your brain so that it stops interpreting the denial of the urge as an existential threat. People who practice this find that they can allow intense feelings even while going about their day, but in the beginning it helps to stop everything and just sit gently with yourself as you let the wave move through you.

If allowing the urge seems unbearable, get curious about the feelings: the sensation of rocks in your stomach - what color are the rocks? what shape? are they round or jagged? And so on. It keeps you in an observer state without resistance.

I've seen this work for porn, eating, destructive relationship habits. I know that it can work for alcohol but haven't seen it directly. The benefits go beyond the dissolution of the habit; you start to develop a kinder relationship with yourself based partly on respect and gratitude for keeping your word to yourself (by sticking to the plan).

The 24 hours in advance is important because you need enough distance from the urges to be thinking clearly about what's in your best interest.