Support service urges understanding of our relationship with alcohol
Turning Point says alcohol dependency can happen to anyone
A support service in Wiltshire tells us it's vital to understand our relationship with alcohol to help us not becoming dependant on it.
Turning Point says reliance on alcohol can affect anyone, for various reasons, and it can sneak up on us.
"Nobody wakes up thinking, I'm going to get myself dependent on alcohol," Sandie Garrad-Parry said. She added that the risks may be underestimated by people due to social acceptance of drinking, although she said it's not an outright negative that it is.
She told us that early intervention is crucial to address dependency and prevent it escalating, while those who are already reliant on it shouldn't stop immediately, as that can have life-threatening consequences.
Anyone who feels they are dependant on alcohol is urged to reach out for help.
What can cause alcohol dependency?
Sandie described the issue of alcohol dependency as being "as wide as it is broad", telling us that there is no single reason for people to begin drinking at such levels.
She said: "People can use it as a way of a coping strategy if they have lots of stress going on in their life. It could be if there's any particular trauma.
"It really doesn't discriminate against anybody. I think if anyone that drinks over a long period of time, is at risk of becoming dependent on alcohol."
Because of the social acceptance of drinking, it can be a culture of encouragement, with people either forgetting or unaware of the harms that could be caused by excessive drinking.
Sandie said the impact is a like a stone being dropped into a river: "The ripple effect outwards can be catastrophic for people, not only the individual who is dependent on alcohol, but for family, wider society and community."
As a chronic condition, it can affect people's livelihoods, their work and their mental health.
Alcohol is depressant and while people may use it to cope with other issues, believing it to be a solution, it can end up creating more problems because of how it affects the brain.
"You have the psychological dependence as well as the physical dependence. So it's very, very complex," Sandie said.
Understand your relationship with alcohol
Sandie told us that our connection to alcohol is completely individual. How it affects us depends on our body makeup as well as our genetics.
"Some people can drink for years and years and years and not have an issue and other people not so much. So it is very much individualized," she said, adding that people should consider their relationship with alcohol.
"Is it because I enjoy it? Is it because it's a need?"
If people feel they need help, Sandie is encouraging them to ask for help, which can be found through a self-referral to Turning Point, local GPs and self-help groups.
She said that Turning Point can facilitate registering for assistance or simply answering some questions about their situation.
"We take a multidisciplinary person-centered approach and helping people and meeting people where they are some of the most vulnerable people in society as a result of alcohol dependency."