If you struggle with addiction and are trying to stay sober or drink in moderation, accountability is essential. When you promise yourself (or others) you’ll quit drinking, you need to show that you’re following through on this promise.
Research supports this. A Recovery Research Institute study found that 17% of Americans with a substance abuse disorder used support-based services or groups – which promote accountability – to successfully recover1.
Accountability is also critical because quitting or even limiting alcohol is very hard. And this is because there are many factors working against you.
You need all the help you can get to stay on track.

Why is it so hard to stay on track with sobriety?
Norrmally, “feel good” neurochemicals like serotonin keep our mood stable. When you drink in excess, you flood your blood stream and brain with alcohol. This can temporarily make you feel good or calm.
But when the brain keeps getting flooded with alcohol and feeling good, it gets kind of… lazy. It decides it no longer needs to work so hard to release the same amount of “feel good” chemicals.
With your level of serotonin depleted, your mood drops and you feel worse. Your brain now turns to alcohol to boost your mood. As a result, your brain starts to think it’s not OK and can’t feel good unless you drink.

In reality, the alcohol is causing harm to your physical and mental health, but your brain starts to think of alcohol as something beneficial it has to have. Addiction hijacks the brain.
Addiction also rewires the brain. Continuous drinking helps create neural pathways that make you think that the best way to feel better is to have a drink. So, strong chemical and neurological forces are basically telling you, “You need a drink.”
Plus, as humans, we tend to go back to what we are used to doing. If you’re used to drinking to unwind from work or out of boredom, you will tend to do what you usually do, unless you interrupt that pattern.
So, when you try to stop or limit your drinking, those neural pathways direct your thinking back to the old thought patterns, telling you that you could use a drink right now. Think of this as the “old addict” part of your brain.
This will keep happening until you eventually develop new neural pathways leading you to healthier behavior.
Addiction hijacks the brain.
There also may be people, places and things in your life that make you want a drink.
Perhaps you have some drinking buddies who call and ask you to meet at the bar. Or every time you go to a baseball game, you immediately crave some beers. Maybe you pass your favorite liquor store and it reminds you to stop in and pick up a bottle. Perhaps sitting down in front of the TV is a trigger for you to pour yourself a drink.
How accountability keeps you on track
So, a lot of different forces are combining to make you think drinking is a good idea and to keep you wanting and consuming alcohol. This means you need equally strong measures to keep you from going back to your old habits.
Because if the one and only thing keeping you sober is you deciding to be sober, that might not be enough.
What happens if some of those forces push you to drink? Maybe your brain goes down the old pathway, or your brain is low on “feel good” chemicals and your mood drops, or your buddy keeps pushing for a night of bar hopping?
You need reinforcements. This is why accountability is crucial.
Accountability helps keep you motivated. It provides checks and balances so you are not at the mercy of your “old addict” brain.
Accountability is also really important to establish when someone else needs proof of your sobriety such as for a DUI, custody case, for employment or for a treatment program. This gives you some proof of your sobriety.

How to build accountability through support groups
What are some good ways for an “alcoholic” to hold themselves accountable?
One way is to participate in a 12-step program like Alcoholics Anonymous (AA).
Ideally, this involves going to regular group meetings, getting a sponsor and “working the steps” and making regular phone calls to folks in your sober support network.
At the AA meetings, you will have an opportunity to get peer support from others also dealing with alcohol use disorder. You can attend meetings in person or virtually.
At these meetings, you and other members can open up about your struggles and successes with sobriety. They’re designed to offer fellowship, support and inspiration.
Below are three tips for making the most of your time in AA, which can also apply to other support groups and alternatives to AA.
3 tips for getting the most out of AA:
- Go to meetings several times a week.
This is generally a good idea, especially early in sobriety.
It takes commitment and discipline to get yourself to meetings regularly. Your fellow AA members can help with this and hold you accountable. - Find a sponsor who “has what you want.”
Another important part of the AA program is finding a sponsor and working the steps – and this is really where accountability comes in.
A sponsor is someone who has been sober longer than you. It’s often helpful to choose someone who “has what you want.” In other words, find someone whose lifestyle motivates you to stay sober.
Your sponsor will help you work on the 12 steps of the program, and they’re someone you can call when you’re concerned you might relapse. A sponsor also helps hold you accountable to your sobriety goals. - Ask for numbers.
Get phone numbers from people you meet at AA meetings. Build relationships with them. Call or text them regularly. Your fellow members will help hold you accountable, and this is another support system you can turn to if you’re struggling.
Other ways to build accountability in recovery
Telling friends and family you are not drinking can help hold you accountable.
BACtrack View is another easy way to hold yourself accountable by giving yourself regular breathalyzer tests.
There are also blood tests to test for alcohol. The CDT or Carbohydrate-deficient transferrin tests checks for elevated CDT which shows chronic alcohol use. Another test called the ethanol blood test measures the concentration of ethanol in the blood, which would mean recent alcohol consumption. But they require seeing a medical provider, getting blood drawn and waiting for results.
So be sure to keep in mind the importance of accountability in staying sober. Sobriety is hard, so set yourself up for success.
Sources
- https://www.recoveryanswers.org/research-post/1-in-10-americans-report-having-resolved-a-significant-substance-use-problem/ ↩︎