Lawyers and liquor: after the long lunch ends
As the silly season approaches, have you wondered about the amounts you have been drinking? Do you ever feel like your body needs a rest?
While this year’s social events might not have a decadent flavour because of the pandemic, alcohol is still playing a significant role. Over lockdown, alcohol retailers have been declared an essential service and mental health professionals have noted how the added strain of a pandemic has led to more frequent and problematic drinking at home.
For many legal professionals, alcohol is part of the everyday experience, whether through entertaining clients, signalling the transition of working from the office to continuing that work from home, or simply relaxing after a hard and stressful day.
To address this important topic I’ve teamed up with addictions clinician Simone Barclay, founder of Think Straight (www.thinkstraight.nz) to provide a two-part series focussed on lawyers and alcohol. This first article aims to bring some much needed awareness around your consumption and relationship with alcohol. The second part, published in January, will focus on behaviour change for those who are considering altering their drinking habits.
About Simone
Simone holds a MSc in Psychology and has been working with people who want to change their relationship with alcohol for more than 15 years. She offers her clients a degree of insight and compassion, drawing from her own recovery from alcohol dependence over 20 years ago. Importantly, she also challenges the stigma associated with addiction.
Perhaps we think we know what an alcoholic looks like and maybe we wouldn’t readily associate a professional with this stereotype. It is hard to reconcile the image of a down-and-out alcoholic with someone who enjoys a successful career, family and friends.
But alcohol doesn’t discriminate, as Simone explains. “It seeps its way inside the lives of individuals from all ages, races, backgrounds and professions.”
Simone understands lawyers. She is married to one and many of her clients are legal professionals. She is aware of the high-pressure, high-performance environment that creates a perfect storm for problematic drinking: the dedication to putting the client first with a commitment to excellent results can push the health of the lawyer to the bottom of the to-do list.
How much is too much?
PoP: Lawyers who enjoy a wine, beer or a gin and tonic while entertaining clients or when at home might wonder whether they are drinking too much, especially as we approach the end of the year. When should they start to worry about their alcohol consumption?
SB: It’s pretty normal to have concerns about alcohol intake, especially in an environment where entertaining and socialising are routine. I advise taking an honest look at the effects of the alcohol, rather than focus on the frequency or quantity consumed.
If drinking is starting to create problems in your life, then it is time to assess whether you may have a problem with alcohol. Here are some questions that might help:
How does alcohol affect your sleep, energy and mood?
Are your relationships under strain because of the way you drink?
Has alcohol caused you to act in ways that are in conflict with your values?
Do you feel guilty or remorseful after drinking?
Have you caused injury (even minor) to yourself or someone else because of drinking?
Are you finding yourself getting through the day only with the promise of the reward that lies at the end – a drink?
The rise of the ‘sober-curious’ and those who want to reduce harmful drinking
PoP: Is it my imagination or is sobriety a growing trend?
SB: It’s absolutely a thing! The New York Times, Psychology Today, Marie Claire and Glamour Magazine have all featured articles on sobriety being the ‘New Wellness Trend’ of 2020. While some may view this as pious or self-righteous, others are seeing it as a form of rebellion – rejecting the mainstream view that you must drink to fit in. My take is that people are a lot more media and marketing savvy and are beginning to reject the perception that alcohol is the marker of fun times and sophistication, which has been created and promoted by the multi-billion dollar alcohol industry. People are no longer static consumers of advertising tropes and many are opting to eschew the glossy images around alcohol in favour of a more discerning perspective, which takes into account their lived experience of drinking – good, bad and indifferent.
PoP: If someone doesn’t consider themselves to be a problematic drinker, why should they cut down?
SB: Alcohol is so entrenched in our culture and society that we often don’t have cause to reflect on our own drinking until red flags are clearly evident. Yet, prevention is always more effective than dealing with deleterious consequences. It pays to remember that alcohol is a drug and that even moderate intake has physical and psychological side effects, which accrue insidiously. The other thing many people don’t realise is that even in low quantities alcohol is a depressant. So, while we may drink to relieve anxiety and lift our mood – the actual consequences are likely to be the direct opposite.
How even a few drinks can become a habit that’s hard to break
Anyone who drinks regularly could be on the path to having a drinking problem, explains Simone. Research into how the body manages the spike in endorphins from alcohol shows that if you drink consistently for long enough, the chances of you developing a problem with alcohol at some point (typically between the 16th -23rd years of drinking) are almost guaranteed. https://medium.com/ainyf-alcohol-is-not-your-friend/the-science-of-why-you-should-quit-bb4f21e41c9c
PoP: We’ve all heard about red wine being the healthier choice, so why should we be concerned about the health implications of regular alcohol consumption?
Moderate drinking is more harmful than previously realised and there is no safe level of alcohol consumption, according to The Global Burden of Diseases study, recently published in The Lancet. It was found that any health benefits – such as the much-touted reduction in heart disease from red wine – is outweighed by health risks, including links to seven different types of cancer.
Looking at the statistics can be sobering, literally! It’s worth remembering that being educated about health implications isn’t about fear-mongering: it’s about being aware of the realities and making more informed choices.
How just a few drinks a day can increase the risk of heart disease and stroke: The consumption of one alcoholic drink per day increases the risk of breast cancer in women by 5% and oesophageal cancer in men and women by 30%, compared to non-drinkers. But this risk increases rapidly the more people drink. For people who consume two drinks a day, the risk of developing one of 23 alcohol-related health problems increases by 7 percent over one year, and for those who drink five drinks a day (which is roughly ¾ of a bottle of wine or four x 5% beers) , the risk increases by 37 percent over one year. These health problems include heart disease, high blood pressure and stroke.
What moderation really means and what constitutes harmful drinking: Moderation is a term that’s often misunderstood – it is no more than one drink a day for women and two for men. However, the The Global Burden of Diseases study emphasised that drinking seven drinks in one day and not drinking the rest of the week will have dramatically worse effects on health than just having one drink a day. Heavy or high-risk drinking is defined as more than three drinks on any day or more than seven drinks a week for women, and more than four drinks on any day or more than 14 drinks a week for men.
PoP: What can lawyers who are starting to examine their drinking habits reflect upon during the silly season?
SB: Taking ourselves off auto-pilot in relation to drinking over the coming weeks can be a real eye-opener and if nothing else, is a good way to review the role of alcohol and its ubiquity in our lives.
I often challenge my clients to pick an occasion where they would normally drink – and to deliberately stay sober. It is a great time of year to try this and forces us to really think about the reasons we drink. Ask yourself, am I drinking because it is expected? Have I realised most people never give a second thought to what’s really in my glass? Does alcohol makes events more enjoyable? Am I drinking because I want to take the edge off a tough day? The answers to these questions can create reasons for further reflection. Why is the thought of not drinking at a social occasion so confronting? Why am I spending time doing things that I have to drink to enjoy? What else could I do that would help me relax and unwind at the end of my day?
Simone’s practice is based in Auckland New Zealand but she also conducts consultations online. If you’d like to speak to her confidentially about your relationship with alcohol, or any other drug, she can be contacted on +64 27 444 5798 or simone@thinkstraight.nz. You can find also Thinkstraight on Facebook (Thinkstraight substance abuse and addictions treatment) and on Instagram (Thinkstraightofficial).
Simone will return in January with part 2 of this series that will look at ways you can start to change your relationship with alcohol.
