About 16 million people in the United States have Alcohol Use Disorder and this is based on the data from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.If we compare that to the current population of the country, that's only about 7%. However, 16 million people is clearly not a small number. How can we stop this from increasing?
This leads us to find hope in other possible ways: a new strategy based on a research published by the International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology holds a promising method.
Other strategies that were utilized before required the participants to curb their cravings or to practice complete ignorance of the stimulus.
Mindfulness: A different kind of training
It is centered around an individual's capability to focus on the present. It teaches the practitioners how to recognize the presence of cravings and to be responsible for responding to such stimuli.
Time reports that the participants were a total of 68 adults who drank heavily but these individuals do not have Alcohol Use Disorder.
Initially, the researchers' goal was to observe how the people may benefit from an informal session.
The researchers also made use of the "double-blind method." This means that the groups were not informed of what treatment they were receiving. This is helpful to prevent any influence in the results. The participants were divided into two groups.
The first half had to perform just one simple task: listen to audio recordings. The 11-minute audio recording was all about mindfulness strategies that involved a person's undivided attention on his or her own feelings and sensations. On the other hand, the other half was introduced to relaxation training in order to reduce cravings.
They were instructed to practice these techniques for the rest of the week.
The researchers anticipated that there will only be small changes in the results for their drinking habits since the sessions were just similar and brief.
Results were quite unexpected
It was revealed that the group who practiced the mindfulness training drank less alcohol.
To be specific, 9.3 fewer units of the substance. For the other group, no significant changes were noted. #Alcohol Consumption
Sunjeev Kamboj, the lead author of the study, expresses that recognizing their own cravings makes them more aware of their intention to drink.
The researchers hope that those who are at risk for alcohol abuse may find this technique helpful. They can use this before they develop any harmful condition. #Alcohol Abuse