{"id":4593,"date":"2015-10-15T10:56:29","date_gmt":"2015-10-15T16:56:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/scramsystems.com\/blog\/?p=4076"},"modified":"2021-08-26T11:46:38","modified_gmt":"2021-08-26T17:46:38","slug":"getting-sober-isnt-easy-talking-about-sobriety-can-be-just-as-hard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scramsystems.com\/blog\/2015\/10\/getting-sober-isnt-easy-talking-about-sobriety-can-be-just-as-hard\/","title":{"rendered":"Getting Sober Isn\u2019t Easy. Talking About Sobriety Can Be Just as&#160;Hard."},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Sporting events. The after-work happy hour. A girls\u2019 night&#160;out.<\/p>\n<p>In a culture where drinking is a common part of socializing, explaining why you don\u2019t drink\u2014or why you\u2019ve stopped\u2014can be tricky and uncomfortable, according to researchers from North Carolina State University and Texas State&#160;University.<\/p>\n<p>In a study published in the journal <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/26360915\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><em>Health Communication<\/em><\/a>, the researchers talked to people who were overcoming a drinking problem to find out how they communicate their sobriety to others. Their findings show that many former problem drinkers conceal the reasons for their abstinence in order to fit in at work and in social&#160;settings.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Getting Creative With&#160;Excuses<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Interviewees used a variety of techniques to avoid explaining why they weren\u2019t drinking. One woman simply evaded invitations to grab a beer by vaguely agreeing to meet up \u201csometime\u201d down the road. In another interview, a man explained that he told people he couldn\u2019t drink because alcohol interfered with the medication for his toe fungus, and he continued to use that excuse even after his condition cleared up. <a href=\"http:\/\/nymag.com\/scienceofus\/2015\/10\/how-former-problem-drinkers-talk-about-drinking.html?utm_source=Stay+Informed+-+latest+tips%2C+resources+and+news&amp;utm_campaign=77514523b1-JT_Daily_News_Justice_Department_Will_Release&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_term=0_34168a2307-77514523b1-223331549\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">As one news report noted<\/a>, it says something when a person is more comfortable talking about toe fungus than\u00a0his&#160;sobriety.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Worried About What Others&#160;Think<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>In general, former drinkers expressed concerns about being stigmatized, being labeled as a \u201cbuzz kill,\u201d or becoming the center of gossip if they talked about their sobriety. They also stated that their choice not to drink was frequently commented on by those around them. Ultimately, researchers concluded that most of the interviewees actively hid their motives for sobriety unless the benefits outweighed the costs, such as helping someone else struggling with an alcohol&#160;problem.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>An Important Part of Staying&#160;Sober<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Because alcohol is\u00a0so prevalent in many social settings, the researchers noted that in order\u00a0for former\u00a0drinkers to\u00a0maintain their sobriety, it is key\u00a0for them to\u00a0find some level of comfort with having to explain their choice not to\u00a0imbibe. The researchers hope their findings will give treatment professionals and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scramsystems.com\/programs\/community-supervision\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">others who work with problem drinkers<\/a> insights to help their clients successfully deal with some of the communication challenges they face around their&#160;sobriety.<\/p>\n<p>What suggestions do you have for people who are faced with having to explain\u00a0why they don&#8217;t&#160;drink?<\/p>\n<a href=https:\/\/www.scramsystems.com\/clients\/client-voices\/?utm_source=sobering%20up&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=client%20voices\" target=\"blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.scramsystems.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/client-voices.jpg\"><\/a>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sporting events. The after-work happy hour. A girls\u2019 night&#160;out. In a culture where drinking is a common part of socializing, explaining why you don\u2019t drink\u2014or why you\u2019ve stopped\u2014can be tricky and uncomfortable, according to researchers from North Carolina State University and Texas State&#160;University. In a study published in the journal Health Communication, the researchers talked [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[27,49,50,218,223,296,621,626,627],"class_list":["post-4593","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-alcohol-addiction","tag-247-sobriety","tag-alcohol-abuse","tag-alcohol-addiction-2","tag-drinking-alcohol-problems","tag-drinking-problems","tag-feature","tag-sober-days","tag-sobering-up","tag-sobriety"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Talking About Not Drinking Can Be as Hard as Getting Sober<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Researchers talked to people overcoming a drinking problem, and their findings show that many conceal the reasons for their abstinence in order to fit in.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scramsystems.com\/blog\/2015\/10\/getting-sober-isnt-easy-talking-about-sobriety-can-be-just-as-hard\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Talking About Not Drinking Can Be as Hard as Getting Sober\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Researchers talked to people overcoming a drinking problem, and their findings show that many conceal the reasons for their abstinence in order to fit in.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.scramsystems.com\/blog\/2015\/10\/getting-sober-isnt-easy-talking-about-sobriety-can-be-just-as-hard\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sobering Up\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SCRAMx\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-10-15T16:56:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-08-26T17:46:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.scramsystems.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/woman-thinking-sobriety.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1170\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"700\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Sobering Up Administrator\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@scramsystems\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@scramsystems\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Sobering Up Administrator\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.scramsystems.com\/blog\/2015\/10\/getting-sober-isnt-easy-talking-about-sobriety-can-be-just-as-hard\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.scramsystems.com\/blog\/2015\/10\/getting-sober-isnt-easy-talking-about-sobriety-can-be-just-as-hard\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Sobering Up Administrator\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.scramsystems.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d81eb856e7b30e26591614b66cb58512\"},\"headline\":\"Getting Sober Isn\u2019t Easy. 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