Amber HollingsworthRecovery Conversation Simulator, Amber's Recovery Practice Lab · Interactive learning tool trained on Amber methodoloy

Will An Alcoholic Ever Be Able To Drink Normally?

8 May 2023 · 1 min

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Amber Hollingsworth explains that for people with alcohol use disorder, returning to drinking after long sobriety (10–20 years) is very likely to cause problematic drinking again. She attributes this to biological changes — increased neuroreceptor sites and lasting higher tolerance — which can enter a dormant state if sobriety is maintained but do not disappear.

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Even if you're sober, like 10 years, 20 years, and you go back to drinking, it's almost 100% that it is going to be very problematic again. In a pretty quick timeline. From a biological level, you're building more neuroreceptor sites for those chemicals. The more you use, the more of them you build. Higher tolerance grows and grows. And those like monster mouths is what I like to call them. Once you grow them, they don't go away, they don't die, but they can and will go into hibernation. If you quit feeding that, they'll shut up and leave you alone almost 100% completely.