Thinking about Drinking. Stuart Linke

Whether having a glass or two of wine with a meal or drinking socially with friends and work colleagues, alcohol has a significant and enjoyable part in many people’s lives. Yet alcohol consumption, even in relatively moderate amounts, can also have an adverse impact on health, personal relationships, sleep, work, family life, and more. In this book, clinical psychologist Stuart Linke encourages us to carefully reflect on our own drinking habits. Are we drinking more than we realized? Why do we drink? How can we take steps to control or perhaps stop drinking if we choose to? Using questionnaires, worksheets and accessible examples of real situations, Thinking About Drinking provides clear, practical strategies for improving our relationship to alcohol. Linke shares his expertise and experience in cognitive behavioural therapy and motivational therapy to help both heavy and moderate drinkers: • Calculate alcohol intake • Think about drinking habits and patterns • Identify the risks posed by alcohol • Understand the process of change • Draw up a realistic plan of action • Successfully implement the plan • Skillfully handle relapses For people who would like to better control and alter their drinking but are not sure how to go about it, Thinking About Drinking is a simple and sensitive guidebook from an expert in the field, providing step by step instruction and advice to help promote a healthier and more balanced relationship to alcohol.

Stuart Linke is a Consultant Clinical Psychologist with Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust and an Honorary Research Fellow at University College London (UCL). Stuart Linke's interest in the problems associated with drinking developed from his observation that many people with psychological difficulties drink a lot of alcohol, this includes people who don't normally avail themselves of traditional sources of help such as the emerging cohort of young professional women who binge drink. In collaboration with a team of researchers at UCL, he helped create the "Down Your Drink" website www.downyourdrink.org.uk.