Cravings, Decoded – Part 4 of 7
Part 1: What Causes Alcohol Cravings
Part 2: The Craving Escalation Cycle
Part 3: When Mental Cravings Feel Physical
Part 4: Double-Barrel Alcohol Cravings ← you’re here
Part 5: Hidden Triggers That Mimic Alcohol Cravings
Part 6: How to Weaken and Destroy Cravings (For Good)
Part 7: Practical Tools for Managing Alcohol Cravings
When we quit drinking, most of us think we’re tackling one big problem: cravings.
But in reality, we’re facing two.
This is a double-barrel problem: two different kinds of cravings hitting from different directions, often at the same time. One comes from the body. The other comes from the mind.
If we don’t understand both, we can get stuck in the same cycle again and again.
Let’s break it down.
The First Barrel: Physical Cravings
The first type of craving is physical.
It shows up when we stop drinking and our body starts adjusting to life without alcohol.
Think of alcohol like a chemical stabilizer. When it’s gone, the body has to rebalance. That rebalancing process is called withdrawal, and it can bring all kinds of symptoms: irritability, restlessness, brain fog, poor sleep, and a deep, vague discomfort that’s hard to pin down.
These physical cravings usually last from a few days to a week.
Here’s the tricky part: they don’t always feel like cravings. They can feel like being moody, on edge, or just “off.”
That’s why they’re dangerous.
A lot of us don’t even realize we’re in withdrawal. We just think something’s wrong with us or that we’re having a bad day.
So we drink. That resets the withdrawal clock. Which means the next day, or the next time we skip drinking, we feel those same symptoms again.
If we never stop long enough to let withdrawal fully run its course, we end up living in a constant loop of low-grade withdrawal.
It’s not dramatic. It’s more like a steady, dull misery. And because alcohol seems to temporarily make that feeling go away, we keep going back to it, without realizing we’re treating the very symptoms it caused.
The Second Barrel: Mental Cravings
The second type of craving is psychological. And for many people, it’s the stronger one.
Even after your body’s detoxed, mental cravings can pop up, bringing sensations that feel almost identical to physical withdrawal.
They start in the mind, not the body. These cravings come from thought patterns, beliefs, and old associations telling you that alcohol is the answer to whatever you’re feeling.
The tricky part is they feel physical.
You might notice a pull in your stomach, a tightness in your chest, or a restless urge somewhere in your body.
And because it’s happening in your body, you assume it must be physical withdrawal.
It’s not.
It’s your brain creating a physical sensation in response to a thought.
Why Mental Cravings Can Feel Physical
Think back to a time you were upset, angry, anxious, or completely overwhelmed. Where did you feel it?
A lot of people feel it in the gut. The stomach churns. The chest tightens. The skin tingles or crawls.
That’s not imaginary. That’s your nervous system reacting to an emotional state.
Cravings work the same way. If you tell yourself, “I need a drink to relax,” your brain doesn’t just think it. It signals your body to get ready, and tension follows.
That tension is real, you can feel it. But it doesn’t mean your body needs alcohol.
It means your brain just pulled an old message out of storage, and your nervous system is following the script.
And this is where things overlap. What starts in the mind can feel just as real as withdrawal, which is why the two often feed each other.
How the Two Cravings Work Together
Physical withdrawal creates discomfort. Mental cravings interpret that discomfort as a reason to drink.
And the two together create a powerful loop:
- Your body feels off.
- Your brain labels that feeling as needing a drink.
- You believe the thought.
- Your body reacts to the thought with even more tension.
The cycle feeds itself.
Even after physical withdrawal fades, mental cravings can mimic the same sensations, keeping the loop alive long after the body’s stable.
Why Recognizing Withdrawal Changes Everything
I didn’t always see this. For years, I thought I was just moody, easily irritated, or tense. I blamed work, life, and other people, anything but alcohol.
But the truth was simpler: my body was missing alcohol.
Once I saw that clearly, everything shifted. I realized I wasn’t broken. I wasn’t failing at life.
I was stuck in a chemical loop. And loops can be broken.
How to Separate the Signals
Cravings get a lot easier to handle once we learn to separate the signal from the story.
If it’s physical withdrawal, the best approach is to ride it out. Let the body complete its rebalancing. It will pass.
If it’s a mental craving, the key is to challenge the thought that created it.
A simple question can help:
“What am I actually feeling, and what have I trained my brain to think that feeling means?”
That one question creates space. And in that space, you get your power back.
Two Barrels, One Exit
Physical cravings fade with time. Mental cravings distort reality. But both can be undone.
You don’t have to fight harder. You just have to see more clearly.
When you understand what’s really happening, you stop solving the wrong problem. And once that happens, cravings, whether physical or mental, start to lose their grip.
That’s when freedom begins.
— Brent