We can have fun and not be drunk

Everybody enjoys a little tipple now and then but that little tipple can all too often turn into more - much more.

So is alcohol an important social lubricant or a worrying social cocktail?

On Wednesday, the Office for National Statistics released data which put Brighton in the top bracket when it came to binge drinking and revealed Sussex had some of the highest hazardous drinking levels in the country.

In light of that, and the news we are drinking one-third more than had previously been thought, The Argus spoke to former director of The Priory rehab centre, Nick Gully, who is now director of Brighton-based Sanctuary Therapy Services.

"Enjoying a relaxing drink at the end of the day is nothing new for us," he said. "However, the pressure and pace of modern life mixed with the availability and acceptability of alcohol is creating a worrying social cocktail and one which is all too often leading to tragic consequences."

But he's not just talking about revealing too many of our embarrassing stories at a dinner party, or making a fool of ourselves on the dance floor at our daughter's wedding. He's talking about the inevitable outcome of alcohol addiction - jails, institutions or death.
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"Each of us is affected in some way by the significant harm caused by alcohol abuse and dependence in our culture," he continued.

"There is no family where with some degree of scratching at the surface, we couldn't find at least one person who has an alcohol problem or dependence.

"Our standard of living in the UK has never been higher and one knock-on effect is that most of us have created the kind of pressure in our lives that requires a fairly hefty release of tension. Alcohol is cheap, readily available, socially acceptable and very effective at enabling us to step outside of ourselves for a short while.

"Warnings about the harms caused through alcohol abuse fall largely on deaf ears. It is only when the problem hits each of us in a personal and direct way that we will finally take stock and make the necessary changes.

"We have become conditioned to view alcohol as an important social lubricant. However, the idea that we need alcohol to relax and have fun is simple nonsense. In my view, less is more."

Mr Gully, a leading addiction specialist who has worked in the field for almost 20 years, thinks that part of the cause of the worrying level of alcohol abuse in our country is due to a crisis of identity he believes we are experiencing.

"We no longer know who we are and where we belong," he said.

"Our families are more fragmented, our moral structure is fractured, social controls are increasing, finance without effort is available at the touch of a button, there is a growing confusion between happiness and materialism and most importantly, our willingness to take personal responsibility is diminishing.

"We can blame the politicians and drinks industry as much as we want but until we stand up and take personal and social responsibility for the mess we are creating for ourselves, our society and future generations will continue to be blighted by the effects of alcohol abuse and dependence."

Sanctuary Therapy Services helps dozens of patients a week at its Portland Road premises in Hove, but its visitors might not be quite what you imagined.

"Unlike the commonly held assumption, most of the alcoholic men and women we see are not morning drinkers whose lives are in tatters and can be readily identified by the waft of booze wherever they go," Mr Gully said. "Ninety per cent of our clients are functional alcoholics holding down a responsible job, staying on top of family commitments and can stop drinking when they have come to the end of their most recent binge.

"They are people who are facing up to their alcohol addiction and getting help before things have gone too far."

The data released by the Office for National Statistics put some of the blame for increased alcohol consumption down to ignorance.

Wine and beer have both become considerably stronger in recent years. Pub wisdom suggests a regular glass of wine contains one unit. But under new guidance a small glass of wine counts as one unit, an average glass as two and a large glass as three.

It means 31 per cent of men, 7.1 million, are drinking at hazardous levels of between 21 and 50 units a week and 20 per cent of women, or 4.9 million, are in the hazardous category as they consume between 14 and 35 units a week.

The Argus