THIS NAKED MIND: The myth-busting cult hit for anyone who wants to cut down their alcohol consumption.

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As a first step we must put down the weapons of shame and blame. Let ourselves off the hook and then understand our power. Annie Grace, author of This Naked Mind and the leader of this burgeoning addiction treatment movement, is an overachiever. She grew up in a log cabin without electricity, yet went on to become the youngest VP of a major multinational corporation. In spite of this, or in part because of it, she became an alcoholic. As an overachiever, she realized this was negatively impacting her life on many levels, and she set out to find out what was involved in quitting. I’ve been going through a similar set of questions personally, as I look at my life in my mid-sixties, and at things I want to change. This is emotionally manipulative drivel from a marketing executive peddling some truths couched in a whole bunch of lies. She is not a recovery expert, a neuroscientist or a psychotherapist and she manipulates data to get her point across. I also found it jarring that the author describes herself as ‘a moderate drinker’ but says she was drinking ‘two bottles of wine a night’ prior to stopping, which isn’t my definition of ‘moderate’ - far from it! Nor was I convinced that she is a hoot sober. Grace may well be great company and funny (she claims to be both), but here perhaps the book might have benefited from more ‘show’ and less ‘tell’ - as it stands the writing isn't witty. In particular there is no irony and as a Brit I longed for some.

I have now listened to the book 5 times and I continue to listen to 10-15 minutes every day. I never did finish the hard copy because I preferred the Audible book. Her voice is very reassuring, empathic and encouraging. It's like having 1-2-1 sessions with an old friend who knows all of your secrets (around alcohol) but still loves you and wants to help.

Dr. Mark Schaller, a psychologist at the University of British Columbia, says, “Sometimes nonconscious effects can be bigger in sheer magnitude than conscious ones, because we can’t moderate stuff we don’t have conscious access to.”114” Charlotte shares her story of being young and alcohol-free. Many of us wait until decades of drinking and poor decisions lead us to [...]

Some of the statistics shared are shared in a way that creates a bias. For example the stat around alcohol-related deaths vs deaths related to coacain. Clearly alcohol is used way more often, 87% of adults, vs. less than 1% percent for cocaine. Naturally, this means more deaths because of millions upon millions more use alcohol. If that many people used cocaine, we would be in real trouble. Cocaine is far more dangerous it's just not as widely used. Now, I have drunk some alcohol since reading this book, but I can count the number of times I’ve done so on one hand, and each time I’ve consciously thought about the decision to drink. I have imbibed less on each occasion, and there have been fewer occasions in total when I’ve had a drink than there would have been otherwise. Did your drinking ramp up during the pandemic? Don’t worry, you’re not alone if it did. Alcohol consumption increased more during the COVID-19 [...]Between her narrative, Grace intersperses a series of Liminal Points that challenge our ingrained beliefs about alcohol. Questions such as “Is drinking a habit?” “Are we really drinking for taste?” and “Does drinking make me happy?” are asked and answered in a manner that explains how our experiences, observations, assumptions, conclusions, and beliefs (a deliberately recurring theme) have led us to our current situation. MOVIE NIGHT WITH THE SOBER CURATOR: The Best TV Shows, Movies, and Documentaries About Addiction & Recovery No one saves us but ourselves. No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path.” —Buddha”