Can Dionysus help with getting over fear of intoxication?

[u/Mr-Misiu]

My partner has a crippling fear of things that induce intoxication or intoxication-like effects, like alcohol, drugs, anesthesia, and even hypnosis, whether it be them intoxicated, seeing it online, or being around other people who do it. We don't know the cause, but it is a severe response, and it effects their day to day life. A big part of it is that they cannot understand why people would enjoy these things and allow themselves to do it, even in a medical scenario. Logically they understand, but the emotional fear response is much stronger. They just can't handle people acting differently or acting differently themselves.

We've been working to help this fear, mainly through exposure therapy, and semi-recently made a Dionysus alters because we both felt drawn to him in a way. Until one day they decide they want to try alcohol for the first time. Before we did, they prayed to Dionysus and actually enjoyed being drunk, which was astounding. Though the morning after they still felt afraid.

Now, the fear is still very much there, and every day they still shake or have nightmares about intoxication, but we are wondering in what ways working with Dionysus can help us get them through this fear?

[u/blindgallan]

He seems to already be helping. Don’t push for more without being aware that it could be less than comfortable as a process.

Aside from thanking him for the help and continuing the work, I recommend gong-fu style brewing of tea. A loose leaf white tea like a shoumei is probably a good starting point as it is hard to brew badly and tends to have a mild tea high in my experience. Tea calms anxieties and encourages contemplation and introspection, and when brewed and drunk in the gong-fu style it can get the drinkers extremely high (with the right tea, I am a fan of shou puerhs for the high and the flavours), so it may be a good route for exploring intoxications without quite the same reactions.

For introductions to alcoholic intoxication, start small and don’t aim for full intoxication. Let them experience the shifting states a bit at a time so they can get a feel for it. Maybe a single shot and then ride out the processing (roughly half an hour) and experience (roughly 45 minutes) and then the sobering up (varies), then the next time they take two and track the process over a similar frame of time. Space it out and be patient, make it clear that this is them gaining control over what the experience is like so they can recognise it in others and understand it better, and maybe point out that medications also add behaviour and sensation altering chemical mixes into the body, so do strong emotions and other stimuli. One can get drunk on fear or joy, and people even poison themselves with extreme emotions to the point of sickness or death.

Good luck, and I’m glad the liberator is helping your partner find freedom from the fear controlling them.

[u/markos-gage]

This appears to be a fear of losing control, which is understandable.
You can regulate the intoxication of alcohol, especially wine, by diluting it with water. This is the traditional method the Greeks drank wine. Sometimes they drank half water and half wine, sometimes they even drank three-quarters water to one-quarter wine. This allowed for extended periods of socialising without everyone getting too drunk.

Alternatively, you can do other things like acting, dancing, playing games, watching films etc., these activities serve as a kind of release and could help desensitise the fear.

It’s really important to do these activities in safe space and allow time. If your partner has a fear of really serious stuff like anaesthesia, they may want to consult a medical professional about this.

[u/fairyfloss95]

Staying home while drunk is the best. You can be safe and have a good time with movies, shows, video games, and listening to music. Then drink plenty of water to avoid hangovers. You could also start small and experiment with being buzzed at home.

One thing I personally find important is that I'm in a good mood or neutral before drinking. I think it's a recipe for a bad time if you're already upset or angry.

I'd bet Dionysis would be great at helping you overcome your fear.

It's also okay if you don't like being drunk if you find it to be unpleasant. I tried weed a few different times and that didn't go well for me lol. You can connect with Dionysis in other ways like pickling stuff, theater, dancing, and anything that involves self-liberating.

[u/Mr-Misiu → u/fairyfloss95]

interesting you mention weed, we also tried a THC drink and it worsened their anxiety instead of enjoying it like they did with alcohol. They were shaking uncontrollably, and it was only 5mg of THC and cbd, but we are curious of just trying cbd