Teenage Drinking by Dr Audrey Coatesworth

Opinion – based on experience as a psychiatrist. Written 2007 by Dr Audrey Coatesworth

I ask the question – ‘In the last 30yrs, has there been a major change to our bodies?’

I am writing this article as I confess to being somewhat bemused.

I have retired from all clinical practice now, but I was a Doctor for 45yrs. I kept up to date as was possible in the field of my chosen speciality - psychiatry. Yet, now I fear that during that time I have missed some major breakthrough in knowledge.

Let me explain.

In the course of my studies for my higher degree - MRCPscyh - I had to work in different specialised fields for a limited time and included in the programme I had to work six months in an alcohol unit. I always loved working except for this period of time. To help people to get well and leave pain behind as much as possible, in whatever field of medicine one chooses, is very rewarding .For me, the mind is and always has been the most important organ in the body. If the mind doesn't function , then it's like having a car where the steering wheel doesn't work accurately – not the best vehicle to drive on complicated roads.

So why was this work experience different? Because it was for me one of the most depressing periods of work I ever encountered - for one reason and one reason only. All the people I worked with were there due to their own behaviour - not bad luck, not innately ill, not accidental, no - as a result of their deliberate actions. Put simply, they didn’t control the movement of arm and hand to mouth.

Now, people who become diagnosed as ‘an alcoholic’ may well have an inherited tendency to dependence on alcohol - in their genetic makeup. The tendency to alcoholic 'inheritance' is visible and often known in another family member. Alcohol dependence is to the 'alcohol'. If you compare this to allergy to cats - a person may have an allergic reaction to cats - he/she may love cats but has choice - deny themselves that contact or take the consequences of eg asthma attack. Their choice -once the knowledge of the allergy is apparent.

Life is hard for many - having an inherited tendency to alcohol addiction or any other addiction means that person must keep off the addictive substance. Allergy to nuts can kill - that person must never eat nuts or they may die. I may sound unsympathetic -on the contrary, it is my great concern that prompts these articles.

However, the majority of young people who drink excessively do so because they like to do so, their peers and friends do so, it is the only thing they so socially etc etc and they do not think of the consequences .