Telling an alcoholic who knows they are one and is trying to recover to “stop drinking” is probably useless. There are numerous alcoholics who are some combination of unaware or in denial and for whom that advice is not (necessarily) useless.

Yeah, being unaware of your alcoholism doesn't make it any less influential on your behavior. If anything, telling someone who is in denial about their alcoholism to "stop drinking" seems like the most useless option.

This is Newhartian Technique. See the master at work:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=Gjc6V4QaxIY

This is why I tried to develop A-B.fit. The hard part is working out what messaging leads to good outcomes, not what actions.

"You're overweight", says the Doctor, "you need to eat less and move more." "No s*t Sherlock with my IQ of 147 I'd never managed to put that one together myself," I replied.

There are probably better ways to discuss the topic with someone trying to help you.

> There are probably better ways to discuss the topic with someone trying to help you.

There are definitely better ways to discuss the topic with someone you are trying to help.