The normalisation of alcohol in Australia has been happening since the First Fleet when rum was the only drink of choice. The Australian Government (who take their cut via bond) normalises it by allowing it to be advertised during sporting events when children are watching. (Of course there is gambling too - another government "sponsored" addiction!)
I missed the SBS Insight program called "Wine O'Clock" and will watch it later on iView but I suspect it's going to make me very angry. Angry for all the pain and shame that people are living in when the cure is close at hand. If no one talks, no one knows...about both the problem and the cure.
I missed the SBS Insight program called "Wine O'Clock" and will watch it later on iView but I suspect it's going to make me very angry. Angry for all the pain and shame that people are living in when the cure is close at hand. If no one talks, no one knows...about both the problem and the cure.
The promo on the SBS website reads, "Recent statistics from the Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education show drinking is on the rise among mid-life women.
“This is not a teenage story. These are women who are usually highly functioning, career-and motherhood oriented, who then begin or return to drinking later in life,” says Dr Janice Withnall, a Western Sydney University researcher who conducted a seven-year study on the issue.
Why are women drinking more in later life?
“I probably felt I'd gone from having quite a big career to now being at home with kids and you can't leave at 4 o'clock and go for a run,” says Sally Doran, 42, a mum of two who travelled the world as a theatrical producer before having children.
After her second child was born she was up to a bottle of wine a night.
“So it's like this is how you relax, you're a mum, have a wine.”
She says it was normalised on social media. “My Facebook messenger is all of my mum friends, it's 5 o'clock we're having wine. It's so acceptable that's how you deal with being a parent.”
Helen Pennington, 69 – who says she can drink up to a bottle of wine in one sitting – started drinking regularly in her late forties when she moved from regional Western Australia to Perth. By then her children were grown and gone. She says socialising with her neighbours was the reason she started.
“They were wine drinkers and they introduced us to wine which I'd never really had much to do with and so it's gone progressively from there.”
Others say it’s because drinking is ingrained in the culture.
“I was raised to think that it’s un-Australian not to drink,” says mum of three Karen Murray, 50, who drinks three to six Canadian Club whiskies almost every day despite health issues.
“I've really kind of tried to be as healthy as possible, but it still creeps back in and I don't understand why. Why can't I just stop it for the sake of my own health?”
This week, Insight explores why women over 40 are drinking more."
“This is not a teenage story. These are women who are usually highly functioning, career-and motherhood oriented, who then begin or return to drinking later in life,” says Dr Janice Withnall, a Western Sydney University researcher who conducted a seven-year study on the issue.
Why are women drinking more in later life?
“I probably felt I'd gone from having quite a big career to now being at home with kids and you can't leave at 4 o'clock and go for a run,” says Sally Doran, 42, a mum of two who travelled the world as a theatrical producer before having children.
After her second child was born she was up to a bottle of wine a night.
“So it's like this is how you relax, you're a mum, have a wine.”
She says it was normalised on social media. “My Facebook messenger is all of my mum friends, it's 5 o'clock we're having wine. It's so acceptable that's how you deal with being a parent.”
Helen Pennington, 69 – who says she can drink up to a bottle of wine in one sitting – started drinking regularly in her late forties when she moved from regional Western Australia to Perth. By then her children were grown and gone. She says socialising with her neighbours was the reason she started.
“They were wine drinkers and they introduced us to wine which I'd never really had much to do with and so it's gone progressively from there.”
Others say it’s because drinking is ingrained in the culture.
“I was raised to think that it’s un-Australian not to drink,” says mum of three Karen Murray, 50, who drinks three to six Canadian Club whiskies almost every day despite health issues.
“I've really kind of tried to be as healthy as possible, but it still creeps back in and I don't understand why. Why can't I just stop it for the sake of my own health?”
This week, Insight explores why women over 40 are drinking more."
I feel like ringing Insight and telling them to take a look at Claudia Christian's TED Talk and then visit our Australian TSM thread at Options Save Lives to see that there are other options (better options) to AA in this booze loving country of ours.
Yes, I agree that this is a middle aged and middle class issue. I am smack bang in the middle of the middle! I am the demographic to a tee - educated, business owner, wife, mother, high functioning, perfectionist, cultured but never did I imagine that alcoholic would be on my list of attributes.
I'm not pleased to know that this is a common issue because the knowledge of this makes me ache for mankind. I do take heart in the knowledge that I am not alone but it's the aloneness of the illness - the isolation - because no one wants to talk about it and not even with their own GP.
I read recently that Yumi Stynes has announced she has had a problem with alcohol since her teens and now joined AA. I feel like contacting her to say, "Yumi, you don't have to white knuckle - there is a cure and it allows you to get on with your life".
You would think with Yumi's profile, she would have access to the best information which would have lead her to Naltrexone and TSM. AA isn't the answer with its very low success rate. A C Three Foundation moderator informed me that AA has a 7%-9% success rate that drops to 1% by year 5.
With her public profile and social obligations, Yumi's going to be in a bad way surrounded by drinkers. I feel really sorry for her. Would it help if Claudia Christian reached out to her via social media? Yumi is on twitter and the exchange could bring a lot of positive exposure.
I guess being a celebrity doesn't automatically mean you get the best information. It was only luck that I typed in what I needed to type to find "The Cure For Alcoholism" via either the TED Talk which lead me to a discussion about Naltrexone or the Sinclair Method.
SBS Insight! We need to talk! We need to save lives!
Yes, I agree that this is a middle aged and middle class issue. I am smack bang in the middle of the middle! I am the demographic to a tee - educated, business owner, wife, mother, high functioning, perfectionist, cultured but never did I imagine that alcoholic would be on my list of attributes.
I'm not pleased to know that this is a common issue because the knowledge of this makes me ache for mankind. I do take heart in the knowledge that I am not alone but it's the aloneness of the illness - the isolation - because no one wants to talk about it and not even with their own GP.
I read recently that Yumi Stynes has announced she has had a problem with alcohol since her teens and now joined AA. I feel like contacting her to say, "Yumi, you don't have to white knuckle - there is a cure and it allows you to get on with your life".
You would think with Yumi's profile, she would have access to the best information which would have lead her to Naltrexone and TSM. AA isn't the answer with its very low success rate. A C Three Foundation moderator informed me that AA has a 7%-9% success rate that drops to 1% by year 5.
With her public profile and social obligations, Yumi's going to be in a bad way surrounded by drinkers. I feel really sorry for her. Would it help if Claudia Christian reached out to her via social media? Yumi is on twitter and the exchange could bring a lot of positive exposure.
I guess being a celebrity doesn't automatically mean you get the best information. It was only luck that I typed in what I needed to type to find "The Cure For Alcoholism" via either the TED Talk which lead me to a discussion about Naltrexone or the Sinclair Method.
SBS Insight! We need to talk! We need to save lives!
Comments
Post a Comment