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'Huge rise' in number of women seeking help for alcohol addiction
Sophie Goodchild, Health and Social Affairs Correspondent23 Dec 2009
Soaring numbers of women are seeking help for drink addiction in the run-up to Christmas.
Clinics are reporting a 200 per cent overall rise in admissions this month compared with the same time last year. Doctors warn people are putting themselves at risk by "self-medicating" with alcohol to cope with the recession.
Capio Nightingale Hospital, which has treated Pete Doherty and Amy Winehouse, said that this month it had seen a 10 per cent increase in women patients, and a 200 per cent rise in all patients with drink-related problems, compared with the same period last year.
An Office for National Statistics report has shown alcohol-related diseases in the UK are now killing nearly twice as many women as 20 years ago.
Raymond Dixon, lead addictions therapist at the clinic in Marylebone, said: "There are many contributing factors to alcohol abuse but the economic crisis has inevitably played a part.
Drinking can become more of a problem in the run-up to Christmas with people "drowning their sorrows". This year, London Ambulance Service booze "field hospitals" have had to open early to ease pressure of A&E units. The Liverpool Street tent saw 54 cases last weekend, taking the total to 174. This compares with a total 141 last year - including Christmas Eve.
Supermarkets are accused of encouraging binge drinking by selling alcohol more cheaply than bottled water. Tesco, Asda, Morrisons and Sainsbury's are among those selling beer at just over 5p per 100ml.
Addictions expert Professor Ian Gilmore, head of the Royal College of Physicians, warned: "Voluntary partnerships with the industry aren't working. They must be backed up with measures from the Government to tackle heavily discounted alcohol this Christmas."
Signs of a possible Drink problem
You want to drink at a time when it is not appropriate
You have difficulty controlling or limiting what you drink
You wake up sweating and shaking
You drink every day
You need increasing quantities to get the same effect
You crave alcohol
Your drinking starts to take over other areas of your life. The Department of Health said: "Too many people in the UK regularly drink more than is safe."
