Alcohol addiction: Why quitting is not enough

Getting an alcoholic to confront his addiction isn’t easy. Every time our maid’s son S got into a post-binge brawl, he would shrug off his behaviour. “It happens to everyone — hota hai sab ko,” he declared proudly. S’s family participated in this denial, since their son was functional most of the time: he had a job, owned a motorcycle and was engaged to a girl who would make a good daughter-in-law.

S’s love affair with the bottle began two years ago, on weekends. When he got intoxicated, he would pick a fight with whoever was around, and occasionally end up at the police station. More recently, the frequency of his alcoholic bouts rose and the Jekyll and Hyde behaviour escalated. His mother wept in protest, like a martyred mother in the movies. But S didn’t budge. Like thousands of other alcoholics, he refused to take responsibility for his addiction, leaving his family to deal with the disastrous consequences. S’s parents were forced into action only after their son’s life fell apart: he lost his job, his fiancé broke off the engagement and it became his pastime to drink and abuse people.

Something had to be done. Since S refused to acknowledge his problem, solutions were limited. One of the best-known institutes for the treatment of mental health issues and addictions is VIMHANS, which has comprehensive services. Another option is a mental hospital situated outside Delhi. In both places, the addict and his family need to work out a course of action with the counsellors and doctors. Both avenues of treatment required S to take responsibility, so they had to be rejected. Instead, the family chose to send S to an NGO-run rehabilitation centre catering to the underprivileged. Though the details of the programme were unclear, their website looked good and the coordinator M, seemed confident that S would benefit. A car with some tough guys arrived to take S away. Around six months were required for recovery, and no contact with outsiders was permitted for the first two.

Four months later, S was back with his family — he had been “clean” for this period, and appeared more alert. But his morale was low. The dilemma of his livelihood and future loomed heavily, and clearly needed addressing. His problems with his parents also surfaced, and a constructive dialogue was called for. Though de-addiction had been accomplished, rehabilitation was another issue altogether.

An increasing number of people are becoming addicted to alcohol. The most recent data from WHO shows that on an average, every person in the world aged 15 years or older drinks 6.2 litres of pure alcohol per year. It has been suggested that at least 14 million people in India are alcohol dependent, and more than half of them are “hazardous” drinkers. “About 3.3 million deaths are caused by alcohol abuse,” says Dr Samir Parikh, Director, Department of Mental Health and Behavioral Sciences, Fortis Healthcare.

Yet current addiction management programmes are inadequate both in number and quality, and serve a limited purpose. “Success doesn’t come from merely quitting the substance or handling the withdrawal. Addiction management is about improving overall well-being and enabling a person to develop better coping skills to manage their lives,” says Dr Parikh. “The key to a successful rehabilitation programme is long-term psychological work done with the individual and family.”

Also, recovery from drug and alcohol addiction is a poorly understood process, which explains the high relapse rate. “Clinical psychology education in India continues to regard addictions as "bad habits" and until this changes and we start seeing addiction as a complex problem that needs to be worked through, the scenario for addicts seeking reform is bleak,” says Pulpit Sharma, Clinical Psychologist, Imago — Centre for Self.