10 Harm Reduction Strategies for Alcoholics

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1. Participating in Brief Interventions

Brief interventions may be used to reduce your drinking if you have less severe alcohol misuse behaviors and cannot receive specialty treatment at an alcohol rehab center. These interventions are usually conducted by trained interventionists over one to four brief counseling sessions that last between 5 and 30 minutes.

The goal of brief intervention is to help you identify and change your behaviors and thought patterns that lead to alcohol misuse. These adjustments can help you either reduce alcohol use to a safe level or achieve abstinence.

During a brief intervention, the interventionist may suggest that you try abstaining from alcohol to see if you can successfully quit on your own or encourage you to participate in a peer support group such as Alcoholics Anonymous. Brief interventions may involve several different approaches. Some of these are unstructured and casual, while others are formally structured. This harm reduction model may also involve educating you about the dangers and risks of alcohol misuse and the warning signs of physical dependency.

A brief intervention typically consists of five steps:

Introducing the issue, which is alcohol misuse and related harms.
Screening, evaluating and assessing the degree of alcohol misuse.
Providing feedback in which the interventionist highlights certain aspects of the alcohol using behavior.
Talking about the possibility of changing behaviors, recognizing potential consequences and setting realistic, attainable goals.
Summarizing any decisions with the interventionist and reviewing the agreed upon changes.

Brief interventions can occur in person, online, or over the phone with a physician, psychiatrist, psychologist, nurse or social worker.

2. Educating Yourself on Alcohol Use

Education about alcohol, its effects and the consequences of alcohol addiction can be used as a harm reduction method to motivate you to make different choices related to your alcohol use. You may not currently understand how alcohol interacts with the brain and body or how alcohol use disorder (AUD) affects your relationships, career, family and overall wellbeing.

Alcohol and substance use education programs may be offered at local community centers, alcohol rehab centers and educational institutions.

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3. Drinking in Moderation

Some harm reduction strategies focus on drinking in moderation as opposed to strictly abstaining from alcohol. Drinking in moderation means drinking occasionally or having no more than one drink a day if you’re a woman and no more than two drinks a day if you’re a man. One drink is equal to 12 ounces of beer, 5 ounces of wine or 1.5 ounces of spirits such as vodka, whiskey or rum.

4. Tapering Your Alcohol Use

Tapering involves gradually reducing the amount of alcohol you consume over a period of time until you have reached a moderate drinking level or have stopped drinking. Tapering may help reduce the severity of your alcohol withdrawal symptoms, including alcohol cravings and seizures. Doctors, alcohol rehab centers, and harm reduction organizations may work with you to set up an alcohol tapering schedule based on the severity of your addiction. For example, tapering could involve consuming one less beer a week until you are no longer consuming alcohol at all.

Alcohol withdrawal symptoms can occur when you suddenly stop drinking, especially if you have been engaged in regular heavy drinking. Alcohol withdrawal can cause life threatening symptoms; for this reason, addiction professionals agree that the safest and most effective way to withdraw from alcohol is through medically supported detox.

5. Practicing Mindfulness

Mindfulness meditation is a common relapse prevention strategy that involves living in the moment and limiting your attention to current surroundings. In addition to helping you stay sober, mindfulness can also be used as a harm reduction method to help you consume less alcohol.

Mindful drinking is the practice of tuning out distractions and being aware of what you’re drinking, the amount you’re drinking and how it makes you feel. Mindful drinking involves taking a drink of alcohol, experiencing the taste and evaluating your current emotions, including whether drinking offers any benefit. If you find that you do not enjoy the taste of your drink and it is not improving your mood and well being, it might be easier for you to stop drinking.

6. Considering Medication Therapy

Certain prescription medications can help people limit or stop drinking. These medications include naltrexone, acamprosate, disulfiram and topiramate.

Naltrexone is shown to reduce alcohol cravings and alcohol misuse. Acamprosate may help reduce alcohol withdrawal symptoms and help you stay abstinent for several weeks or months at a time. Topiramate similarly reduces alcohol cravings to help you stay abstinent. Disulfiram produces unpleasant physical reactions such as nausea and vomiting when you drink any alcohol.

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7. Implementing Safer Drinking Practices

This harm reduction model involves implementing a series of drinking behaviors that reduce the risks associated with your alcohol use. This may involve drinking a glass of water after each alcoholic beverage or eating before and during drinking to avoid becoming intoxicated as quickly.

Other harm reduction examples of safe drinking methods include:

Designating a specific length of time between drinks, such as one hour
Limiting yourself to a specific number of drinks during any single occasion
Adding juices and non alcoholic mixers to drinks containing spirits
Drinking with friends and relatives who hold you accountable for negative behaviors or who can cut you off after a certain amount
Giving your keys and phone to someone you trust so you can avoid driving while intoxicated or hurting your interpersonal relationships
Avoiding drinking games like beer pong that encourage binge drinking and drinking in increasingly higher amounts
Avoiding alcohol use when you feel angry, depressed or when you are using medications that can amplify your mood or the effects of alcohol
Only accepting drinks poured in front of you. Either by yourself or with a bartender, so you can monitor the amount of alcohol in each drink and protect yourself from unknowingly consuming other substances
Drinking beverages with lower alcohol percentages to avoid or delay intoxication

8. Changing Your Drinking Habits

Certain drinking habits can be changed to reduce the negative impact of alcohol on your life and well being. Evaluate your current drinking habits and determine whether you can make any changes to decrease the harmful impact of alcohol use. A therapist or counselor may also be able to help you identify harmful alcohol use patterns that can be changed as a harm reduction strategy.

9. Choosing Where You Use Alcohol

Staying at home to drink may be a harm reduction method. For example, when you go to bars or parties, you use more alcohol or experience more severe consequences, including engaging in drunk driving or having encounters with law enforcement. Drinking at home may help to reduce these risks.

However, you should also pay attention to whether drinking at home encourages you to drink alone or to hide your alcohol use from others. Many people find accountability to another person to be an important part of harm reduction. This is because secrecy can allow for alcohol misuse to feel like it is going unnoticed and not harming anyone but yourself.

10. Seeking Treatment When You Need It

Though harm reduction can be beneficial, not everyone can improve their drinking behaviors sustainably with these methods. You may not be able to control or reduce your alcohol use using only harm reduction strategies.

If you continue to use more alcohol than you intend, spend a significant amount of time thinking about, getting or using alcohol or feel strong physiological urges to use alcohol, there is help available. An alcohol rehab center can help you safely detox from alcohol and develop an individualized treatment plan for you that addresses the root causes of your alcohol use disorder.

Call 800-948-8417 Sponsored to speak to a treatment specialist about nearby alcohol rehab centers and get help choosing the best facility for yourself or a loved one.