Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Alcoholics have many different kinds of memory deficits. One of the most interesting and
problematic for them is the deficit in prospective memory. That is, they have trouble planning
things and then remembering what they've planned. So they need help with that. Part of what
are tool like ipromises can do is it can help them organize around their memory. They can
write down who their sponsor is, what their most valuable meetings are, and when they
want to attend them. They can share them with other people who have the same problem in
remembering where they want to go and when they want to be there. The second problem
with memory that people who are recovering from alcoholism have has to do with emotional
memory. In that they have difficulty in recalling negative situations. They can't always consciously
recall their triggers. So when they go through therapy and when they work their steps they
become much more aware of the things that trigger their craving, that make them want
to use, and they learn to respond to that by going to a meeting or calling their sponsor.
Part of what we can do is when they are in that lucid moment, when they're thinking about
their triggers, they can write them down. What ipromises, the application, does is,
it asks them to rate their mood and their triggers everyday. It forces them to stay
conscious and cognizant of what those triggers are and if their experience increases in one
of their trigger areas to do something about it. So again, it addresses this problem of
emotional memory that people who are in recovery from alcohol face.