Learning increases the chances of making a response or emotion that has been reinforced with food, water, or some other
reinforces including
alcohol. Extinction removes the behavior that no longer produces reinforcement.
Alcohol drinking is a learned behavior, and in some cases becomes
too well learned. Some people receive so much reinforcement
so often (partly because of their genetic predisposition), that alcohol
drinking, and thinking about alcohol, come to dominate their lives
and cannot be controlled by normal means. Some are classified as alcoholics.
However, many more people are not yet alcoholics, but nevertheless are
drinking more than they should and more than they want to. So they will
try to "cut down" or they promise themselves that they will "stop" drinking.
But they fail, try again, and fail again. They soon >find themselves in
a vicious cycle of trying the traditional methods that are promoted as
the means to control their drinking. The traditional treatment of the
last fifty years, or longer, that to control alcohol, one must first
stop drinking.
The Sinclair Method Program
The
enjoyment derived from using alcohol involves the opiate system in
the brain. Neurons in the brain release endorphins when alcohol is
present. Certain prescription medications known as opiod inhibitors,
block the reinforcement from endorphins. By following the specific
Sinclair Method protocol, drinking and craving are extinguished. It
has been proven in other areas that combining medication with behavioral
modification, long-term habits that have been engrained for dozens
of years can be stopped or reduced to manageable levels. A common example
would be the patch called Nicorette® used for smokers. What Nicorette® is
to smoking and nicotine, the Sinclair Method is to drinking and alcohol.
The Sinclair Method reduces the desire for alcohol drinking. Taken
according to the established protocol it will not make you sick while
drinking. In fact, the specific clinical protocols are begun while
the client is still drinking, thus eliminating the need for abstinence
or detoxification.
Instead, your drinking decreases gradually as the treatment removes the
drive for alcohol. It differs from other traditional treatments that
impose an external barrier to drinking without removing their internal
cause. The Method is designed also to maximize beneficial effects:
in most complying cases those who complete and follow the program should
provide a long-term successful solution.
The Sinclair Method treatment is provided in an outpatient
program. You do not need to undergo detoxification or abstinence
prior to starting the program. The program is private and confidential
and you do not have to attend weekly self-help meetings unless you
desire to do so. Throughout the program you will meet with a medical
doctor and a licensed counselor (LMHC). Your response
to the medications are monitored. Alternatives to drinking are explored
and considered in individual, private counseling sessions.
The program focus is on thinking about the future and the various possibilities
provided by a new life style. Client dignity is assured; there is not
need for self-effacement since the motivation for alcohol is removed
by extinction.
Each client establishes his/her own goals for the program. The general
goals are to decrease the dependency upon alcohol drinking and to develop
the ability to control one's own consumption. Each client makes his or
her own healthy decision to drink less, and stay within moderate limits
or stop drinking completely. Using the Sinclair Method, you should not
experience any health, personal, social, job, legal, or financial problems
due to alcohol. If abstinence is the desired goal the Sinclair Method
is the key to success.
Clinical Evidence
The Sinclair Method has successfully helped moderate alcohol drinking
in the Scandinavian countries of Finland, Sweden and Denmark where
excessive alcohol use are major national problems. Other countries
where the Method has been adopted include England, Israel, Russia and
Argentina. Dr. Sinclair is a consultant to Florida's SINCLAIR METHOD.
A statistical analysis of the data obtained from clinics in Finland shows
highly significant reductions in alcohol drinking -- more than 78%.
In Florida the results since 2002 have been more than 85%.. During the
treatment program when shown on a graph a pattern emerges. It was always
a classical extinction curve: drinking and craving became progressively
lower with each week of treatment.
Internationally, hundreds of thousands of people have been successfully treated
with the Sinclair Method.
More than 80%of all the clients in the Program were successful in long-term
control of their alcohol consumption to abstinence or acceptable levels ("social").
For those who desired to control their alcohol intake, their drinking
was reduced to an average of 1 per day. These were individuals who
had previously reported their consumption to be 24 to 50 drinks or more
per week. Some of SINCLAIR METHOD's successful patients have drank more than 200
ounces per week.
To make an appointment Call 941-321-4104
The
Sinclair Method provides the first effective solution to the problem
of excessive drinking. It utilizes a new form of medical technology developed
by Dr. David Sinclair over the course of 20 years of research in the
Biomedical Research Laboratories in Finland (Sinclair et al, 1973; Sinclair,
1974; 1987; 1990; 1997).