E81: The Difference between Abstinence and Sobriety

Send us a Text Message.The dictionary definitions of "Abstinence" and "Sobriety" look very similar. For the purpose of living a happy, joyous and free life in recovery, they can mean very different things. Overall, Matt, Steve and John identified Abstinent as being dry. This is a state where alcohol has been removed but nothing has come in to replace it. To get sober, you have to replace alcohol as the solution to your problems. We drank because it numbed the pai...