A close relative of mine who we had known to be a heavy drinker for most of his life, having faced a serious turning point in his life, decided to ditch the bottle. This came as a surprise to many of his relatives. He openly and proudly made this announcement to the surprise and joy of everyone. The only fear that kept revisiting my mind was the fear of jinx. What remains funny about my fear of jinxing a good thing is the fact that I have never really decided if I believe in it or not. I hope for his sake that it is a myth.
I noticed over a period of weeks that his appetite for food had somewhat doubled. We had a family commitment that lasted 3 days and I got the opportunity to be in close proximity with him and his increased appetite became more obvious to me. He was popping meals as frequently as a deer poops.
That was when I started to wonder what the matter was. I was with my friend Helen and we reasoned together. She said it seemed he had replaced his drink with food. Immediately, I thought how that was easy and good therapy… or so it seemed at that time.
Replacement therapy is simply replacing one addiction or habit with another one. The replaced addiction is often perceived as a bad one that needs to be stopped. Sometimes it is not the case. Sometimes the new addiction isn’t really always the best choice for us.
Is replacement therapy really good? I think it isn’t but I think sometimes it is the only solution.
In a long term change plan, I think it is not the best option because some day, the new habit may not be strong or sufficient enough and then the old one could resurface and come backs are often stronger.
However, if there is a strong need for a temporary change, one can easily replace one thing with another while they wait for time to pass. For example, we can replace carbonated drinks with lots of water during a detox or we can replace social media with novels and movies when we are on a social media fast. I have effectively done a few replacements myself and the results were quite fulfilling.
What do you think about replacement therapy?
