hagen
Everyday drug alcohol: For the first time, a clinic in Dortmund is addressing those who drink too much without being addicted. A victim reports.
The thing is to this day something like a Secret by Roland Meier. Only three people know it: his wife, the younger daughter, the family doctor now too. Friends and acquaintances should not know anything and certainly not the neighbors. “You’re ashamed,” says the man, whose real name is different. He is ashamed of others. And a long time before himself. Being there is his problem one that many people in Germany have. Without knowing it or admitting it: He drinks too much alcohol, risky a lot without being dependent. “I lied to myself and others,” he says today.
Cannabis? Cocaine? “Probably the most dangerous drug is alcohol,” says the doctor
All those who drink too much and fear that they are on the way to addiction are addressed to a nationwide new, outpatient therapy called “Early Intervention Alcohol” (FrInta) at the LWL Clinic in Dortmund-Aplerbeck. “It’s about doing something before the child has literally fallen into the well,” says Arne Lueg, chief physician of the Addiction medicine department in Dortmund. An offer with a lower inhibition threshold, with a lower degree of stigmatization. Fighting a problem that is widespread.
Ward P3 in Dortmund has 50 beds. All are almost always occupied. Amphetamines, cannabis, cocaine – Lueg knows the dangers of intoxicants. But he says: “Probably the most dangerous drug is the alcohol. This is because it is legally available and – especially in our region – is culturally accepted. Hardly a celebration takes place without it. And if you do without, people look at you funny and you have to be able to explain yourself well.” Alcohol is also a factor physically dependent, withdrawal is worse and more dangerous than other addictive substances. “Going cold turkey can be fatal.”
“I ended up drinking two bottles of wine a day”
Roland Meier has been a pensioner for a good ten years, a rather gaunt person, tall, he still does sports today, his car looks new and expensive. When he answers questions, he weighs his words carefully. “In the end,” he says, “I have every day two bottles of wine drank.” Half a bottle at lunchtime, half in the afternoon, and then the second bottle in the evening.
At some point, his wife asked him if he could think about drinking less. It didn’t seem like a warning signal to him, more like it an impudence. “I totally blocked it. I didn’t have a problem, I was convinced of that.”
It’s always the other people who have problems. But there are many. One have skyrocketed. In 2022, almost 118,000 working days were lost among AOK insured persons – almost 25 percent more than a year before. dark figure? High. According to a survey by Robert Koch Institute is almost every third adult in NRW binge drinker. They reported having consumed six or more alcoholic beverages on at least one day per month for the past 12 months.
Every evening and every morning the resolution: You don’t drink anything today
It all started when Roland Meier retired and continued to work as a freelancer. Almost more, but definitely more successful than before, as he says. In the past ten or twelve years he’s been drinking more and more. “I drank out of habit. And also to reward me for my heroic deeds,” he says ironically. But it’s true: he celebrated himself. Maybe, he surmises, because he lacked recognition as a child. You can’t do anything, you’re nothing, you won’t become anything – “that’s how I grew up,” he says.
Every night and every morning he regretted the amount he had drunk again. The evening taste in the mouth, the restless sleepthe hangover in the morning. “It felt miserable,” he says. “In the evening and in the morning I swore to myself that I wouldn’t drink anything anymore. But by midday all good resolutions were thrown overboard with the first glass.” He can’t explain it himself. “One fails every day.” He compensated for these defeats with professional success – and toasted himself again.
From amateur athletes to grieving widows
Everyone has their own story. Chief physician Arne Lueg remembers an amateur athlete who after his team’s games drank so much beer that the woman at home wouldn’t let him in. He took a hotel room after the games. Another patient drank against the sadnessbecause her partner died. Another against the stress because the mother in need of care had become.
“A risky consumption has, for example, anyone who daily more than 20 grams of alcohol eats,” says Lueg. That’s the equivalent of half a liter of beer. “Alcohol is a cell toxin that causes cancer. The story that a glass of red wine in the evening is healthy is nonsense,” says Lueg. Also at risk is someone who has an affinity for alcohol and whose mother or father was an alcoholic. The risk of becoming dependent yourself is then increased by 50 percent.
In May 2022, Roland Meier registered with FrInta on the same evening that he saw a TV report about it. “Subconsciously, I knew I was living a life I didn’t want to live. This program was the hint with the fence post that I needed,” says the Hagener.
Monitor yourself with the drinking diary as an app
Six outpatient therapy hours are part of the early intervention program, a team of doctors, therapists and social workers takes care of those affected and imparts knowledge and strategies on the subject of alcohol consumption. After three months, there is a final interview. There is also a voluntary group discussion for the time afterwards, which takes place every two weeks. Roland Meier goes there. “It’s kind of an anchor for me,” he says.
Since May last year he has been leading in a apartment on the cell phone drinking diary (from the German Head Office for Addiction Issues). He swipes back and forth on the screen to show his progress. The days when he doesn’t drink anything are highlighted in green, meanwhile four or five days a week. On the other days he drinks two glasses of wine with his meal. That’s a little over 20 grams of alcohol, which is just about the permissible amount for him (women: 12 grams). Green bar. Anything beyond that is shown in long red bars, last seen two weeks ago. There were three glasses there.
The alcohol hasn’t lost its temptations, says Roland Meier, but he has it better under control now. “I turned the corner again.”
<<< BACKGROUND >>>
A total of 90 men and women have already registered for the offer. Everyone who is invited is invited no pronounced alcohol addiction exists, but who themselves fear that one could develop. “If people recognize they have an alcohol-related problem of some sort, such as trying to drown their sorrows in alcohol, or if they have been told by friends or family that they are drinking too much, then it may help to reach out to us come,” like that dr Arne Lueg. “Regardless of what problems alcohol raises, we support you in better assessing your very personal situation and, if necessary, making changes to your behavior.”
The offer is part of a study on possible so-called early interventions in individual or group therapies. The therapy includes a six-week program with different therapy modules, based on a motivational, cognitive behavioral therapy. The plan to change or even stop alcohol consumption is encouraged. A final survey follows three months later. There are also medical examinations.
Interested parties can 0231 / 4503-2777 or by email at [email protected] Make contact.
More articles from this category can be found here: Rhine and Ruhr
