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There青瓜视频檚 a long-held belief that people drink alcohol in excess to drown their sorrows. But into mood and drinking has found the opposite is also true.

Using data from 69 studies (12,394 people in total) in the US, Canada, France and Australia, all of which employed surveys to assess mood and drinking levels, the researchers found no evidence that people drank more on days when they felt down. Rather surprisingly, however, people tended to drink 青瓜视频� and drink heavily 青瓜视频� on days when they were in a good mood.

The authors found that participants were between 6% and 28% more likely to drink on days they were in a good mood, and 17%-23% more likely to binge drink (having more than four or five drinks within a few hours) on these days.

These findings suggest that, contrary to popular belief, we may actually be more likely to drink in excess when we青瓜视频檙e happy than when we青瓜视频檙e feeling down. So, what explains this phenomenon? In , we have identified several possible factors.

青瓜视频楧esire thinking青瓜视频�

Drinking is associated with a thought process called 青瓜视频溓喙鲜悠禎. This is a way of thinking that青瓜视频檚 geared towards anticipating positive outcomes from certain experiences, based on the associations we have with that experience.

Before we drink, we tend to have an expectation of it based on past experiences 青瓜视频� such as how the alcohol will taste, the feeling of being intoxicated, or the idea that alcohol will make us more interesting. We may also have positive memories from other times we drank. If so, the next time we think about having a drink, we may immediately default to thinking of it in a positive light.

This can then lead to 青瓜视频溓喙鲜悠禎, where we remind ourselves of the reasons for drinking 青瓜视频� such as because you did well at work, or because the weather青瓜视频檚 nice. Both this and desire thinking can combine to maintain positive mood and expectations 青瓜视频� intensifying the cravings for alcohol.

Adding another layer of positivity to the mix, our research has also found that people tend to hold what we call positive 青瓜视频溓喙鲜悠禎 regarding the usefulness of desire thinking.

In other words, when desire thinking makes us crave alcohol by reminding us of all the good things that come with drinking, we青瓜视频檙e likely to trust that positive thought and see it as a good thing. Thinking positively about the positive experiences we青瓜视频檙e about to have may increase our motivation to drink more.

The downside to this potent cocktail of positive thoughts and feelings is that it appears to be incredibly hard to control and resist. For example, there青瓜视频檚 evidence that positive beliefs can make us feel like we青瓜视频檙e .

Taking control

In our clinical research with and various , we have found that being able to control the way we think about things 青瓜视频� whether that thinking is positive or negative 青瓜视频� is key to behavioural change and a balanced state of mind.

However, to take control of the way you think about something, you first need to become aware of your extended thought patterns. The better you become at 青瓜视频渢hinking about your thinking青瓜视频�, the easier it is to control both your positive and negative thoughts.

Let青瓜视频檚 say this thought pops into your mind: 青瓜视频淚 am feeling good 青瓜视频� I deserve to drink this weekend.青瓜视频� Instead of thinking more about this, choose to leave the thought alone 青瓜视频� a technique called 青瓜视频溓喙鲜悠禎. It青瓜视频檚 also worth reminding yourself that it青瓜视频檚 difficult to if you think about it a lot.

Try to think of the positive and negative thoughts you have as similar to receiving a text message. We don青瓜视频檛 always have control over whether the message we receive is good or bad, but we do have complete control over whether we choose to respond to it or not. This will help to show you that you have control over your desire thinking 青瓜视频� and therefore your drinking choices.

Positive mood has also been implicated in other addictive behaviours, such as , , and . This tells us that positive mood may not be the pathway to a healthy body and mind, as we might believe.

Instead, what may be important is the ability to be flexible in the way we think and behave around positive and negative moods 青瓜视频� and in particular, knowing that we can always make choices in how we behave, regardless of our patterns of thinking.

, Reader in Psychology, Psychotherapy and Counselling, and , Professor of Clinical and Experimental Psychopathology,

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