Shy Drinker

Drinking causes 5% of all cancers and 20% of breast cancer

2011-05-01T19:08:00.000-07:00

The Cancer Council of Australia has recently released a position statement on drinking and risk for cancer. The full report is available at http://www.cancer.org.au/Healthprofessionals/PositionStatements/alcohol.htm and a briefer version was published in today's Medical Journal of Australia (http://www.mja.com.au/public/issues/194_09_020511/win10641_fm.html)

The risk
The report estimates that 5% of all cancers are due to drinking alcohol. Drinking alcohol is as big a risk for cancer as smoking and asbestos says Cancer Council Head Professor Ian Olver in recent media coverage (http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/05/02/3205240.htm). 20% of breast cancer is caused by drinking.

They recomend
"the Cancer Council recommends people limit or avoid drinking alcohol. Those who do not drink should not take up drinking alcohol. For people who do drink alcohol, recommended amounts are an average of no more than two standard drinks a day for men, and an average of no more than one standard drink a day for women."

Andrew

Alcohol vs Heroin - Impacts of Alcohol acknowledged

2010-11-03T16:00:00.000-07:00

One of our CASP team Prof Maree Teesson was in the media yesterday talking about UK research on the harms of alcohol compared to other drugs.

Here is the front page of the MX newspaper from yesterday covering the story.

You can see Maree on yesterday's Ten evening news

The original research is David, J. N., Leslie, A. K., & Lawrence, D. P. (2010). Drug harms in the UK: a multicriteria decision analysis. The Lancet. published online 1 Nov 2010.

This research gives us more information about the ways in which alcohol problems can impact on a person's life, their work, family and friends.

Andrew 3Nov10

Calls to re-think alcohol sponsorship of Big Day Out music festival

2010-01-21T20:53:00.000-08:00

The Sydney Morning Herald 22nd January reports that addiction campaigners have condemned sponsorship of the Big Day Out music festival by major alcohol companies. Held in six cities around Australia, the Big Day Out is open to attendees aged 15 and above, and is expected to attract 100,000 festival-goers in Sydney alone. Professor Currie, addiction medicine specialist at St Vincent's Hospital expressed concern that the promotion of alcohol to young people undermines efforts in preceding years to provide education about the potential dangers of excessive alcohol use.

To read the full story, visit the Sydney Morning Herald online: http://www.smh.com.au/national/addiction-campaigners-condemn-big-day-out-alcohol-sponsorship-20100121-moae.html

What do you think? Comment below.

Australian Patriotism and our Love of Booze

2010-01-19T17:32:00.000-08:00

The Northern District Times and the Mosman Daily have picked up on CASP researcher Kristen Tulloch's Australia Day opinion piece about "the puzzle of why Aussies love a drop". Visit the magaizine websites or read the full piece below:

There are lots of things to be proud of about being Australian. The mateship, the laid-back attitude, the ‘fair go’ outlook for anyone willing the give it a burl. A zest for life, love for the outdoors, and the freedom to enjoy a few drinks with friends. I reckon we owe a lot of this to our rough beginnings. The settlement and big changes the European settlers adjusted to surely meant that helping out a mate was a highly desirable personal characteristic, especially in times of drought or famine - thus, the Aussie Battler was born.

The settlers certainly enjoyed a few drinks with friends; in fact those early years in Australia’s settlement are considered a period of greater alcohol consumption per person than at any other time in human history. Alcohol was such an important commodity in those times that rum was used as currency at one point, and it is reported that the first fleet brought with them enough food supplies for two years, but alcohol supplies for four. What a nation of drinkers we were!

Track forward some 222 years and it’s looking like we still enjoy more than the odd tipple. According to World Health Organisation and Australian Bureau of Statistics data, we’re the fourth biggest beer drinkers in world, consuming on average over a whopping 100L per person over the age of 15 years per year. We’re one of the world’s biggest and best producers of wine, with the quality of our vino rivalling that produced by traditional powerhouses France and Italy - and as we’re consuming it at rates of on average over 28L annually per person aged over 15 years, we’re not afraid to drink it.

Alcohol seems to form part of our cultural identity, with famous Australians showing us how it’s done. Before going on to become prime minister, one young man made it into the Guinness Book of Records in the 1950’s for sculling 2.5 pints of beer in only 11 seconds. On an infamous flight to London in 1989, a test cricketer known casually as the “keg on legs” worked his way through 52 tinnies of full-strength beer. It should be pointed out that this translates to nearly 73 standard drinks. Given the usual recovery rate is one standard drink an hour, this guy was possibly under the effects for three days after that effort.

While these examples are on the extreme side, it seems that risky drinking is not uncommon for Australians. Last month the Australian Bureau of Statistics released data showing that nearly 13% of respondents had consumed alcohol at risky levels in the week prior to their interview. It would seem there are definitely some of us taking the responsibility of keeping the alcohol industry afloat a little more seriously than others - but at what cost?

Risky drinking resulted in the deaths of 32,700 Australians over the ten years between 1995-6 and 2005-6, and with current climates of binge drinking and related violent crimes and drink-driving incidents (4 in 10 Australian motorists admit to driving while over the legal limit, which is a bit of a worry given 6 in 10 people will drive to their Australia Day celebrations), there’s no sign of this trend slowing or reversing. The drinkers not covered by the death toll of alcohol include the thousands of people who experience chronic medical conditions as a result of their drinking, including problems such as cancer in the oesophagus and liver, cirrhosis of the liver, kidney problems and epilepsy. The statistic also doesn’t include the 10% of individuals who will experience a potentially irreversible alcohol-related brain impairment, -or those who develop ongoing mood problems including depression, bipolar disorder and anxiety disorders (between 20 and 30% of heavy drinkers will develop social phobia in their lifetime).

When there’s all these risks associated with drinking alcohol, you’ve got to wonder why we do it. Everyone has their reasons and for moderate consumption (two or fewer standard drinks a day), it’s not a problem. Some people like the taste, others use it to relax at the end of the week, while some people use it to get through or cope with a social situation. If you feel like you can’t relax with others unless there’s a drink involved in social situations, even the minor ones, is it time to pull back a bit?

Watching how much you drink can be particularly relevant if you are someone who finds socialising intimidating. There’s that delicate balance between telling too much about yourself and appearing awkward and too uptight. What will I say? What if I have nobody to talk to? People will think I’m weird if I’m just standing there. Better have a drink. This may not be such a good solution though - using alcohol to feel more comfortable can lead to drinking too much or too often and in the long run can make the uncomfortable feelings worse. It’s a good thing our inner Aussie Battlers can help keep the drinking to a healthy level.

If you or someone you know uses alcohol to cope with socialising, the CASP (Combined Alcohol Social Phobia) team at Macquarie University are offering a free treatment to suitable people. Contact 9850 8670 or go to http://www.psy.mq.edu.au/casp.

Some Tips to keep drinking safe this Australia Day:

Alternate your drinks with water, juice or soft drink: one of alcoholic, one of non-alcoholic
Make sure you have had something to eat before and while drinking.
Keep count how many drinks you have been having.
Don’t top your drink up before you have finished it. If you do, it is much harder to keep track of how many drinks you’ve had.
Know the content - 30mL of spirits, a 285mL middy of heavy beer and 100mL of wine are each one standard drink and will take approximately 1 hour to metabolise. This varies depending on your sex, weight, height, metabolic rate and a range of other factors. If wine is being casually poured, chances are you will end up with much more than 100mL. Prepackaged drinks are required by law to label the number of standard measures of alcohol they contain - make sure you check them.
Keep moving. If you’re sitting down a lot, make sure you get up and take a little wander every now and then - go to the bathroom (and check the mirror while you’re there), get some fresh air, go and say hi to people across the room - there may be physical cues to intoxication you haven’t noticed while seated. These can be a good indicator to slow down your drinking.

Opionion piece by Kristen Tulloch

2009-10-14T00:12:00.000-07:00

Sun Herald reports: Survey reveals millions of women drink alcohol before sex because of lack of body confidence
The Sun Herald on 24 September 2009 reports that 75% of the women surveyed liked to drink alcohol to become less inhibited before sex with their husband or boyfriend, while 6 per cent had never had sex sober. Alcohol would appear to pay an integral role in sex and dating, particularly for women lacking in self confidence, however the resulting loss of self control may be reason for concern. To read the full story:
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/lifestyle/the-other-side/research-finds-many-women-need-alcohol-to-enjoy-sex/story-e6frfhk6-1225778898667

Sound familiar? Any comments?

Researchers pioneer new treatment for social phobia and alcohol abuse

2009-07-21T21:16:00.000-07:00

A couple of sites have picked up on Lexine's recent media release about the Combined Alcohol Social Phobia study (the original is at http://www.pr.mq.edu.au/events/index.asp?ItemID=3852 )

Andrew

Survey reveals nearly half have had sex they regret because of alcohol

2009-07-21T21:13:00.000-07:00

Sunday Telegraph for Sunday 10th May (http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,,25450673-5001021,00.html) reported that “nearly half of Australians have had a drunken sexual encounter they have later regretted”. Alcohol can be a part of a big night out but for some it can lead to regrets the next day. For some shy people alcohol is the way to fit in and it can work very well - so well in fact that you can come to rely upon it. Perhaps drinking is the way to put on a confident or funny mask - to be come the person that its hard to be sober?

For some shy or socially anxious people alcohol can start to be come a problem - perhaps you end up doing embarrasing things and cant just explain them by being drunk. Perhaps you get into other problems with alcohol - related to the Sunday Telegraph article might be unwanted pregnancy or sexually transmitited diseases? Perhaps its coments from family or friends or the boss. Maybe its drink driving or a health problem like being overweight or liver problems. Perhaps the mondayitis is getting worse?

This report is a good place to kick off this blog. I am an academic and a clinical psychologist and I’m interested in shyness and social anxiety and its relationship to alcohol and problems with alcohol. With my colleagues Claudia Sannibale, Maree Teesson, Ron Rapee, Paul Haber at Macquarie University, Sydney University, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital & University of New South Wales I’m conducting research into alcohol and shyness (http://www.psy.mq.edu.au/casp). On this blog I’ll try to track and comment on issues related to drinking and social anxiety that come up. Please leave your comments or visit our other sites.
By the way - Its not clear how representative the survey was of all Australians so I’m not sure how justifiable it is to say the results apply to all Australians.

Andrew

Social Anxiety Disorder is not just made up by drug companies to sell their drugs

2009-07-21T21:12:00.000-07:00

From time to time we see sceptical posts on blogs which argue that Social Anxiety Disorder is just shyness and by inference is just a normal human emotion that should be endured and not treated. Naming it social phobia or social anxiety disorder is argued to create a market for new pharmaceutical drugs.

In the last couple of days this sort of comment has turned up in post by Sarah Frostenson on thedartmouth.com in a review of a new documentary by filmmaker Liz Canner ( http://thedartmouth.com/2009/05/18/arts/film/)
“Orgasm, Inc.” draws attention to how drug companies market their products. In a clever use of text and digital animation, Canner demonstrates the proliferation of those endless acronyms — “Social Anxiety Disorder” for “shyness” and “Restless Leg Syndrome” for “creepy crawly leg.” Canner shows that there is a profit of many billions to be made in convincing healthy people they are sick.”

I’m quoting from this post and I’d encourgae you to read the whole post. I’ve not seen the film and I’m only hoping to reply to content of the post and its implications.
Social Phobia and Social Anxiety Disorder are mental disorders as defined by the American Psychiatric Association and The World Health Organisation because there is an agreed set of symptoms that describe a unique human experience, and that set of symptoms is associated with significant distress, disability and effects everyday life. At this stage social anxiety disorder is a syndrome in that there is an agreed set of symptoms that describe the disorder but there is no widely agreed underlying processs that causes the the disorder. There is no blood or laboratory test to make the diagnosis - the diagnosis is made when the symptoms are present. This does not take away from the “realness” of the disorder. The distress and impairment that go with social anxiety disorder show that it has real impacts on people.
Social Anxiety Disorder is common. In Australia in 2007 it has been estimated that 4.7% of Adults (3.8% of men & 5.7% of women) experienced Social Anxiety Disorder in the past 12 months ( http://www.ausstats.abs.gov.au/ausstats/subscriber.nsf/0/6AE6DA447F985FC2CA2574EA00122BD6/$File/43260_2007.pdf ). Sometimes Common and Normal are confused.

In women Social Phobia has been estimated to be the 24th most burdensome health problem causing 0.9% of the total burden of all health problems for women in Australia (see http://www.aihw.gov.au/publications/phe/bdia/). For men Social Phobia is ranked as the 37th most burdensome problem casuing 0.6% of the total. Burden here combines the impact of death and disability so that the impact of different health problems can be compared.
How useful are terms like social phobia and social anxiety disorder? They are useful for researchers and clinicians to more specifically define problems. For many people who are very shy, finding out that there is a name that describes much of what they have experienced helps them not to feel alone.

The studies I’ve linked to above and my expereince as a clinical psychologist leads me to be confident that people who have the symptoms of social anxiety disorders are distressed and the disorder is having a big impact on their lives. So I don’t beleive Social Anxiety disorder was invented by drug companies to sell their drugs.

Andrew

Personal account of drinking and social anxiety

2009-07-21T21:11:00.000-07:00

For one person’s story of alcohol and social anxiety see - http://insearchofsimplicity.com/2009/05/24/alcohol-a-personal-perspective . This post gives an eloquent account of experiences that are similar to those I see in the research literature and hear from my own clients.

Andrew