Cognitive Dissonance and Addiction

cognitive dissonance theory and sober living

This incongruity leads to feelings of conflict, guilt, self-blame, and perceived loss of control, a syndrome that Marlatt has called the “abstinence violation effect.” Because of this despair, further drinking becomes likely and often leads to a full-blown relapse (Marlatt 1985). Although good pedagogy suggests that learning should proceed from the simplest skills to the more complex, some treatment situations require that therapists first provide training in complex skills, which are essential for abstinence, to prevent relapse and early dropout from treatment. Clients who live at home and receive outpatient treatment, for example, are likely to encounter high-risk situations daily that require complex skills. It often is necessary for therapists to teach their clients how to manage their anger or how to manage their thoughts about drinking prior to teaching more basic skills, such as starting conversations or nonverbal communication.

  • Successful coping with these antecedents requires that clients acquire skills for managing external triggers, handling their emotions, and countering cognitive distortions about themselves.
  • The discomfort or tension you experience as a result of that contradiction is called cognitive dissonance.
  • The overspecialization of its operationalization and its historically restricting paradigms could have explained part of this side-lining (e.g., Aronson, 1992; Swann, 1992).
  • Throughout our life, we are told that anything that causes great effort to achieve is always worth the time spent.

Aversion Therapy

Most investigations have focused on these regulation strategies, however they may have been done too early and some conclusions may have been drawn without sufficient understandings of the preceding parts of the model (see Weick, 1965; Greenwald and Ronis, 1978; Vaidis and Gosling, 2011). In the previous paragraphs, we made several suggestions for testing CDT in a more reliable way and, as the model is sequential, the suggestions should also respect a step sequence. In addition, a serious evaluation of the theory requires assessing the whole model and not only the last sequential part. In the current state, the general model of cognitive dissonance (inconsistency-CDS-regulation) has to be put to the test. This consideration could imply reexamining many former conclusions drawn in the first decades of CDT. All the information gathered from this examination could provide rich understanding for the theory and help in reconnecting the CDT to the whole field.

cognitive dissonance theory and sober living

Conflict of Interest Statement

  • Dr. Stacey Diane Arañez Litam (she, her, siya) is a licensed professional clinical counselor and supervisor, a national certified counselor, a certified clinical mental health counselor, as well as a board-certified diplomate and sexologist.
  • A more severe example is when a person in an abusive relationship rationalizes, justifies, or makes excuses to make the behavior of an abusive partner seem okay, Leikam says.
  • Moreover, with a little help from the community, crowdsourced research tools (e.g., Collaborative Replications and Education Project, 2018; Moshontz et al., 2018) could allow a rapid, clear and high powered evaluation of the theory.
  • Christina Kuzio has been a Registered Nurse for 39 years – the majority of those years working in a large South San Francisco Bay Emergency Room.
  • By doing so, it suggests listing the affects that could fit with cognitive dissonance and assessing all of them.
  • Becoming aware of how conflicting beliefs impact the decision-making process is a great way to improve your ability to make faster and more accurate choices.

In such a situation, your belief and action are not aligned with each other, and every time after a heavy drinking session, you would experience psychological discomfort due to the conflict between your action and belief. In addition to offering drug and alcohol counseling, Tim Sinnott is a counselor who is highly skilled and experienced in marriage and family counseling, treating anxiety and depression, and offering coping strategies for life transitions. Positive psychology is a treatment approach that believes all people want to lead fulfilling and meaningful personal and professional lives. His primary strengths include clinical insight into substance abuse/mental health, hard work ethic, and ability to work well under pressure.

Forced Compliance Behavior

The clients who benefited most from these approaches had skills deficits in areas specifically addressed by the treatment they received. The same report also noted that behavioral self-control training appears effective for clients who are not severely alcohol dependent. By incorporating both cognitive dissonance and self-efficacy in the “cognition-emotion-behavior intention” framework, this study provides a more comprehensive understanding of the discontinuous usage intentions of pan-entertainment mobile live broadcast platform users. This study’s third finding highlights the relationship between cognitive and affective dimensions in users of pan-entertainment mobile live broadcast platforms.

Cognitive Dissonance in Theory and Everyday Life

For instance, the absence of use of a single strategy does not suggest that no regulation has occurred through others, even more as we know very little about what influence the choice of a strategy (Weick, 1965; McGrath, 2017; Vaidis and Bran, 2018). Hence, a serious assessment of regulation strategies that avoid false negatives would have to include all possibilities. Because it is difficult to predict which strategy will be used, it seems unreliable to postulate the existence of CDS and its magnitude on the sole basis of the use of a regulation strategy. In this context, does CDT needs to worry about its future and could it be reclassified from major league to classic-but-wrong-theory? Until now, replication projects have not yet focused on CDT and have spared this theory. We did definitely learn a lot from the six decades of existence of CDT and it influenced many fields and theoretical descendants (e.g., Aronson, 1992; Harmon-Jones and Mills, 1999; Gawronski and Strack, 2012).

  • In addition, clients need to formulate plans for coping with persistent problems that cannot be resolved and are likely to present continuing challenges to sobriety.
  • However, our findings also indicate that a new identity and a new life do not imply a dichotomy between the life and identity as an addict.
  • Cognitive-behavioral treatments have scientific origins and have maintained a tradition of empirical validation of clinical procedures.
  • This approach thus may be considered a form of contingency management (discussed above).
  • These also were rated as the most cost-effective, falling in a range from minimal to medium-low on a scale of costliness.
  • On a regular basis, Matt collaborates with Elevate’s President, CEO, COO & Clinical Director to evaluate, plan and monitor program objectives and requirements.

What Is Alcoholic Nose? Rhinophyma Causes & Symptoms

Its goal is to help clients resolve their ambivalence and reach a commitment to change. This approach seeks to develop a conditioned aversion in the client by associating an aversive event with alcohol. Treatment involves either pairing stressful or painful stimuli (e.g., nausea or electric shock) with actual alcohol consumption or pairing images of drinking with images of unpleasant scenes or experiences. Effectiveness of the procedures is enhanced when they are combined with other cognitive-behavioral strategies (Rimmele et al. 1989). Aversion therapies have been implemented in only a few treatment centers and have not been adopted widely by treatment providers.

Category 7 developing a new identity

However, the state of cognitive dissonance, or CDS, is not always distinguished from the term for the theory, and they should be clearly differentiated. Proulx and Inzlicht (2012), for instance, mischievously suggest disanxiousuncertlibrium as a term for the state of cognitive dissonance, while Harmon-Jones et al. (2009) suggest keeping the term dissonance for the state and refer to cognitive discrepancy for the triggering situation. Casa Nuevo Vida, located in Los Angeles, California, provides a sober living program that allows you to rebuild your life in a safe, comfortable environment. We are the step that you need in order to feel confident in transitioning to an independent lifestyle.

  • These two conflicting feelings may give the person intense and uncomfortable feelings about smoking.
  • Considering recovery as a long-term process (Keith et al., 2021) poorly captured by controlled studies (Bjørnestad et al., 2020), qualitative studies are most likely to bring forward more processual knowledge.
  • It also requires taking into account the time course, as it is supposed to be relevant.
  • Tim also spent several years as CEO to Eric Clapton’s facility in the Caribbean, Crossroads of Antigua.

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cognitive dissonance theory and sober living

This absence of standard rules favors HARKing (Kerr, 1998) in the choice of indicators for CDS. In the following sections, we discuss the weakness of CDT operationalization and suggest methodological improvements. In our opinion, these major issues have to be addressed, and focusing on these points should help cognitive dissonance addiction the theory, the field and the whole discipline, to move forward. About twenty-six centuries before our time, Sun Tzu’s philosophy stated that “If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.” Knowledge of weaknesses is just as important as awareness of strengths.

Standard Assessment of Cognitive Dissonance State

Treatment interventions teach clients the skills they need to confront or avoid everyday situations that may lead to drinking. The skills I developed there regarding logistics and operations, combined with my personal interactions with those in recovery and self-help, greatly helped me to make a successful transition into the drug and alcohol rehabilitation field. Since working for Elevate, I’ve continued to develop skills related to linear thinking and problem solving, which have contributed to streamlining operations and successful risk management. Additionally, I maintain strong interaction and good relationships with my employees, which has proven successful toward accomplishing company goals. Mason Ungar is a Certified Alcohol Drug Counselor-Clinical Supervisor who manages the Elevate Addiction Services South Lake Tahoe facility.

cognitive dissonance theory and sober living

Category 5 discovering the value of the great, little things in everyday life

The participants stated that accomplishing this leave of identity required a “reset” in thinking, attitudes and even the way of speaking to communicate and get feedback from other people according to the new identity as a non-addict. To date, treatment outcome research has failed to identify any single approach that is superior across the varied spectrum of alcoholic clients. Therapists also may have to help their clients fill the leisure time they gain when they stop drinking.

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