Despite Charles Kennedy's experience, most people are respected and supported when they admit they have a drink problem. Theresa Judge reports
Charles Kennedy's forced exit from his job as leader of the Liberal Democrat party in Britain within two days of admitting he had a drink problem is not the most encouraging of stories for anybody on the point of accepting they have a similar problem.
People who work with alcoholics and those who have admitted to having a drink problem stress that this is an exceptional case. For most people, making such an admission is the start of a more successful personal and work life.
Clinical director of the Rutland Centre Stephen Rowan says people generally receive a lot of sympathy and support.
"Irish companies are very progressive and actually quite enlightened in recognising that it is an illness and that with a medical cert people can remain on the payroll for the duration of a six-week treatment programme," he says.
He says no employee should fear losing their job because of a diagnosis of alcoholism. While people often fear an admission will damage their career, he says, in practice, employers are often very sympathetic, probably because alcohol problems have affected practically every family in the country.
"It is just so common and because of that people generally tend to be very sympathetic, almost to a fault, because sometimes in fact they tolerate intolerable behaviour," he says.
It is generally found that 50-75 per cent of people who receive treatment for alcoholism and who adhere strictly to a follow-up programme, which usually entails very regular attendance at Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meetings, manage to stay off alcohol.
In the early stages of recovery a person may need to attend meetings several times a week, Rowan says.
If anybody is in any doubt about the scale of the problem in Ireland, the AA website gives an indication of the numbers.
While the AA does not keep membership records because it is based on the principle of anonymity, it estimates that there are more than 750 groups and more than 13,000 members in Ireland. There are some 76,000 meetings held every year.
An alcoholic, who has not taken alcohol in more than 10 years, says regular attendance at AA meetings was what enabled him to give it up for good. He had tried on many previous occasions.
"I made promises and each time they were broken. I'd stay off it for a few weeks or a couple of months and then it would be followed by worse binges."
He says that through AA he realised that he was not "suffering alone" and he learned to give up alcohol "for a day at a time".
Following the AA's 12-step programme made a crucial difference for him and overcoming denial was one of the biggest problems he faced.
"You can't see alcohol is the problem because the only refuge you have is alcohol."
Stephen Rowan says a client of his described AA as "a miracle" because "you have all these sick people in a room and they come out better".
Alcohol counsellor at the Mater Hospital in Dublin, Paula Rock, also stresses that a lot of workplaces now have policies, known as Employee Assistance Programmes, to help people who have a drink problem.
"Employers do support people and give them a chance. It works out that it costs less money in the long run to support people because they can often turn it around completely," she says.
Everybody who works in the field of alcohol addiction declines to comment directly on the case of Charles Kennedy because their work is based on the strict principle of confidentiality.
Rolande Anderson, the alcohol project director with the Irish College of General Practitioners, who has also worked at a number of treatment centres, says this principle has to be respected in every case because he and others working in the field have dealt with people in public life.
It is vital for people coming forward for treatment to know that confidentiality is guaranteed, he says.
He also points out that facing up to a drink problem is not as bad as denying you have one.
"There are an awful lot of people in all walks of life who are either unaware that they have a problem or are desperately trying to conceal it," he says.
"People put off the evil day, but we see lots of people who have known that they had a problem for years but they say they just didn't know what to do about it."
Anderson says the process of getting to a point where you admit to a problem is often complicated by the fact that people can be quite well. He says that while people are often fearful of the reactions of employers, in his experience, employers go to "reasonable lengths" to help them.
He says that while people need a lot of support and face "a long haul" he has a lot of anecdotal evidence of people who have turned their lives around. "If people get the help and support, they can go on to do bigger and better things," he says.
There is also universal agreement among alcohol counsellors that the individual has to decide for themselves that they have a drink problem. While it may sometimes be obvious to family and friends, the individual may not accept that their drinking is a problem. What constitutes an alcohol addiction also varies from person to person.
Paula Rock, who approaches patients in the Mater Hospital whose questionnaire responses upon admission indicate they are drinking too much, says she finds people are often more willing to listen to advice when it is put in the context of damage to their health.
She says a distinction can be made between alcohol abuse and alcohol dependence. Those who are alcohol dependent need to stop drinking completely, she says. They realise they cannot go back to drinking socially as they are unable to limit the number of drinks they take.
"You can't make people admit it - all you can do is to help make them comfortable to admit it," she says.
There have been numerous reports over recent years highlighting the ever-increasing consumption of alcohol in Ireland. Findings suggest that 30 per cent of men and 22 per cent of women drink more than the recommended "safe" levels.
Rolande Anderson says the consumption of alcohol has increased by 41 per cent over the 1990s.
"The figures are indicating that the binge-drinking culture of the 1990s is now coming home to roost and it is showing up on all the indices of harm, from liver cirrhosis to depression and suicide."
He says that while absenteeism has long been seen as a problem resulting from drinking, presenteeism is now also recognised, where people turn up to work having been drinking heavily the night before. "This is a very serious issue for health and safety," he says.