Alcohol Awareness Month
The older I get, the more cynical I get. I try not to be, but it happens. One area where the cynic shows itself is our ever-growing list of “awareness holidays”. For example, February is simultaneously Cholangiocarcinoma Month, Humpback Whale Awareness Month, and Return Shopping Carts to the Supermarket Month. March is Adopt a Rescued Guinea Pig Month and Colic Awareness Month among others.
For all of my cynicism, I refuse to be cynical about is the fact that April is alcohol awareness month. Nothing against the other causes and issue areas that make up the menu of awareness holidays over the course of the year, but alcohol impacts so many people in so many ways that I want to treat it with the seriousness the issue deserves.
It would not be too much to say that everyone reading this has either been impacted in some way by alcohol directly or knows someone close to them that has been impacted directly. So all-encompassing is alcohol, that for my money, it is one of those things that ranks up there with any far-reaching public health issue whether epidemic or pandemic.
According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), alcohol use disorder (AUD) affects some 15 million adults in the country and beyond that, estimates have some 88,000 people a year dying directly from alcohol-related causes every year. This translates into alcohol being the third leading preventable cause of death in the country.
While the stats say 15 million, my cynicism says that that number is an undercount in the same way I suspect the census folks missed several thousand people during the last census. When it comes to alcohol, there is the obvious fall-out we see every day.
For example, working the night shift for Code Blue to provide a warm space for the homeless, I would venture to say that most of the homeless in need of Code Blue is either actively struggling with alcohol or had done so in the past and has now moved on to some other substance. Such are the obvious impacts of alcohol abuse.
But I’m also thinking about everything that is not captured in the statistics, the stuff that is hidden, less visible; the slow and quiet deaths whether it’s of a marriage, a relationship between parent and child, a career, dreams, or whatever. These don’t get captured in surveys and statistics, but they’re real and ever-present.
There are many whose lives are less than they should be because while “functional”, they are still addicted and because alcohol and their relationship to alcohol is the central thing in their lives, they’re less present in their relationships, in their work, in their play, and in the moment.
How much parenting doesn’t get done because of alcohol? How much connecting doesn’t happen because of alcohol? How much potential goes untapped and how much talent gets left on the table because alcohol assumes a central place in someone’s life?
My guess is that what alcohol itself doesn’t directly steal from a person’s life is still stolen or compromised by the shame, guilt, worry and anger that mark the cycle of emotions experienced by those who struggle daily with AUD.
None of this is meant to condemn pass judgement on anyone who is struggling with alcohol. I know that for some people, it is an attempt to ease an incredible amount of pain or emptiness in their lives that led to the struggle with alcohol. For others, they started life down in the count 0-2 because of genetics and a family history.
Regardless of what contributed to the struggle, I think we need to leave in the past the mentality that condemns the person struggling with alcohol as weak-willed or lacking in character and recognize that this is a medical and biological problem and not a moral failure problem.
With that in mind, there are 4 medications that are used in the treatment of Alcohol Use Disorder including Disulfiram, Acamprosate, Topiramate, and Naltrexone. Some medications repair the chemical imbalance in the brain while others block the side effects of alcohol or make someone sick when they drink.
Short term, medications may be the place to start. Longer term, wellness will involve changes in behavior and confronting issues in one’s life, but these take time. For those needing a place to start, there is an alcohol treatment navigator at https://alcoholtreatment.niaaa.nih.gov/ . Let alcohol awareness month be your starting place.