I feel it immensely interesting that people worry in the abstract about alcohol however don’t seem to have considered how it might be related to mental distress and in the longer term to mental health problems. This article in the guardian talks about growing concern about alcohol and peoples’ ability to do the jobs they’re being paid for and that professionals hide it and go abroad to help end their suffering.
I find myself feeling that they have not delved far enough into the problem to find the really worrying part to this. Alcohol is drunk for many reasons for instance: to relax, to make friends, to be less inhibited, to be happy, more confident. Most of which are changes in the persons mental state and therefore may be because of mental distress and then need to escape it.
The charity Turning Point have released a report suggesting that 50% of all alcoholics and drug addicts suffer from mental illness, in the UK.
Though I abhor the idea of these professionals being drunk at work I feel that just removing this addiction would not necessarily make these people fit to do the jobs they are doing.
This trend speaks fathoms to me about the amount of mental distress there is in these professions but also about the lack of understanding and help that is available for them.
The type of illness that most associated with alcohol is
Anti-social personality disorder (ASPD) – is described by the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, fourth edition (DSM-IV-TR), as an Axis II personality disorder characterized by "...a pervasive pattern of disregard for, and violation of, the rights of others that begins in childhood or early adolescence and continues into adulthood
people with ASPD have 21 times the average population risk of experiencing alcohol abuse or dependence. In the UK, drinking at hazardous levels has also been shown to be more likely in those with ASPD. In one survey, 59% of those (men and Alcohol and women combined) with ASPD were classified as hazardous drinkers, compared with 25% of those without.
This compares with:
• Schizophrenia – 3 times the population average risk of alcohol dependence;
• Depression and affective disorders -1.9 times the average population risk of alcohol dependence
• Anxiety 1.5 times the average population risk of experiencing alcohol dependence
So with alcoholism linked to mental health illness I find it interesting that people are not thinking that this trend in alchol use might be linked to mental ill health in the work place, however it does depend on why people are drinking.
A Survey carried out for the Samaritans4 found that on average around one third of respondents reported using alcohol for ‘stress relief’, with more men than women (35%compared with 28%) reporting doing so
So for me the question is will these stressful working environments result in mental ill health?
Whether it is or not there is certainly a very worrying trend in peoples’ avoidance of their mental distress and disappearing off to foreign countries to try and solve the problem is really avoiding the root cause and I feel will ultimately not solve the problem long term.
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