Many people fear that drinking could even be harming their health and wonder whether it has become too much of a part of their life. However, many oppose change because they believe giving up alcohol would result in hardship and deprivation and because they fear losing the enjoyment and stress-relieving effects of alcohol.
This Naked Mind provides a fresh, constructive remedy. Based on the most recent research, Annie Grace explains the neurological and psychological aspects of alcohol use in this article. She also identifies the social, cultural, and commercial elements that contribute to alcohol dependence in all of us.
This Naked Mind will make you realise the shocking role that alcohol plays in our society and how the stigma associated with alcoholism and recovery prevents individuals from seeking the treatment they require. It is filled with unexpected insights on why we drink as well as Annie’s own remarkable and honest personal narrative.
Read about Alcohol Lied to Me – Craig Beck with this detailed guide!
About the Author
Since day one, Annie Grace’s life has been different. She was raised in a one-room hut in the Colorado Rockies without electricity or running water, and at the age of 26, she was appointed the youngest vice president of a global company. Nevertheless, success brought her to drink too much and risk losing everything.
Annie acknowledged her issue, but she decided to tackle it completely differently. The New York Daily News, the Chicago Tribune, and Forbes have all highlighted Annie’s program. Living in the Colorado Rockies with her spouse and three kids, Annie is prosperous, content, and alcohol-free.
Review
I’m delighted I spent the time to read and consider this book since it’s really fantastic. I am not precisely its intended demographic because I already made the decision to quit drinking when I came to it. Still, it made me more determined.
My abstinence was supposed to include exceptions for really rare occasions, such as an expensive restaurant supper. In a few years, I also thought I would be able to resume drinking in a “take it or leave it” manner. After reading this book, I decided to give up those thoughts because they were the result of my intoxication.
I really valued Grace’s book’s variation from the standard AA methodology. In the latter, “normal drinkers” are distinguished from “alcoholics” and the addict’s flaws are highlighted. Grace focuses on alcohol’s negative effects and pernicious culture.
She presents the ex-drinker as someone who is more able to enjoy life and make decisions than people who drink, which is another reverse. The former drinker is portrayed in other ways as having an illness, a weakness, or a moral defect.
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It’s a lot of things that I’ve come to enjoy. I read it carefully through to the conclusion because of all of that, and it transformed me.
I wasn’t too sure about the book either. I provide these in an attempt to show how Grace’s approach might be strengthened rather than to refute it. It’s possible that she will release a second edition. They mostly relate to how the author consistently uses rhetoric and persuasion.
When these characteristics dominate the narrative, they may cause logical errors or outright contradictions because they are a bit too near the text’s surface. She claims that drinking is not a sickness at times. At times, she asserts that it is.
Which one is it? In her (mainly good) chapter on health impacts, she chastises people who have praised alcohol’s health benefits for confusing causality with correlation (see p. 62). Five paragraphs later, she acknowledges that alcohol use is a contributing factor in cancer cases.
Although her main point is valid, instances like these are unintentional mistakes that expose her account to unwarranted criticism. She also relied on certain scientific material that was so ancient as to be dubious.
Since I am dubious of most 1909 scientific findings (eugenics, anyone?) I had to question whether and why the research demonstrating that alcohol debilitates taste receptors was the most recent one she could locate.
Read about The Easy Way to Stop Drinking – Allen Carr with this detailed guide!
Regarding the severity and scope of the unconscious conditioning we experience around alcohol, Grace is correct. However, I pondered how much of her attempt to “reverse” the conditioning by dissecting alcohol myths would be convincing to a reader who is less devoted than I am after reading this book.
She destroys the myths in their most basic form, but I believe that the deeper and more nuanced emotional cues that give them their enduring force need greater study. She also categorises all the unpleasant feelings that individuals use alcohol to cover up under the heading of “stress,” before pointing out that drinking creates tension.
It is true that stress will persist after quitting drinking, but more focus should be placed on how to manage it in a healthy and productive way. Similarly, alcohol numbs many other feelings, including emotional ones, and I believe that this should be acknowledged and investigated further. The list is endless: trauma, loss, disappointment, poor self-esteem, etc.
Grace minimises this because she uses persuasive language to convince individuals that giving up alcohol will make them happier, healthier, and more content. It takes a lot of emotional work on the side of the former drinker to get there, though, in addition to comprehending the subtle negative effects of alcohol.
The fact that Grace has established an online community for This Naked Mind readers to help one another with their transitions to and experiences with the non-drinking life pleased me at the book’s conclusion. She emphasises the importance of people’s vulnerability to peer pressure throughout the book.
But talks about her method as if the ex-drinker needs to become a self-reliant trailblazer. Establishing a new peer group that will encourage the alcoholic to abstain from alcohol is one of AA’s brilliant ideas, despite all of its shortcomings.
It seems to me that this book would do a better job of emphasising the value of community; however, I haven’t looked into the online community around This Naked Mind.
In conclusion, I am grateful for this book. I’ll be sure to use it again and again, and I’ll surely tell others about it.
Read about The Unexpected Joy of Being Sober – Catherine Gray:with this detailed guide!
Summary
Annie Grace’s ground-breaking book “This Naked Mind” questions conventional wisdom around alcohol and presents a novel approach to changing one’s relationship with it.
This seminal study, which was published in 2015, dispels the myths surrounding alcohol and offers strategies for managing cravings and altering drinking patterns by fusing scientific facts, firsthand accounts, and useful ideas.
Annie Grace makes a strong argument for reconsidering how we view alcohol and provides a means of escaping its hold. In order to enable readers to challenge their preconceived notions about alcohol, comprehend its effects on the body and mind, and embrace a life free from its influence, this summary will offer a thorough rundown of the main ideas and revelations covered in each section of “This Naked Mind.”