Confirmation Bias: This Is Why Your Sobriety Won’t Stick

It’s called confirmation bias, and it’s the reason we humans are so tribal. When we see others repeat an activity or opinion that we embrace, the “others” solidify our belief system.

I know what you’re thinking. Awesome, this guy is going to write about politics and how broken our society is because of tribal stubbornness and because we only listen to people who sound like us, right? Wrong! I’ve got news for us all. Confirmation bias impacts a lot of aspects of our lives beyond the polarizing issues of politics. In fact, your confirmation bias might just be the biggest hurdle keeping you from long-term sobriety.

I’m a high-functioning alcoholic now in permanent sobriety. The clinical definition of high-functioning alcoholism talks about maintaining career, family, finances, cleanliness, a running automobile and a working knowledge of civility and etiquette in spite of an abusive relationship with alcohol. In other words, when I was a drinker, I looked like I had my shit together. Maintaining that appearance was of the utmost importance to me and my immediate nuclear family — all of whom were in on the denials and lies of normalcy.

If I was going to pull it off and ooze the perception of happy averageness, I was certainly going to emulate the drinkers I admired. You know them — the people who drink…