Cuppa gives way to wine and looming rehab crisis
Stark addiction warning as alcohol consumption soars among women
Sunday October 21 2007
The traditional Irish cup of tea has been replaced by the nightly bottle of wine as a way to wind down at the end of the day, according to a leading addiction expert.
Stephen Rowen, Clinical Director at the Rutland Centre, says a growing number of middle to upper-class women are casually drinking bottles of wine as a way to de-stress.
And he says this "silent majority", which consists of a broad spectrum of women, from doctors wives to working class mothers, will be filling the beds of rehab centres over the next five years.
The warning comes as recent figures show wine sales have increased five fold in the past 10 years, with almost 100 million bottles of wine being sold here last year.
Drinking at home has now replaced a night in the pub -- but many women drinkers don't realise how alcoholic wine is and drink it like beer, which is weaker in alcohol.
According to the Wine and Spirit Association, in 1990 1.7 million cases of wine (containing 12 bottles of wine each) were sold in Ireland, compared to a staggering 8.2 million cases in 2006.
Mr Rowen has warned that a new trend of middle to upper class women who are consuming several glasses of wine each night in the comfort of their home are not aware of the high risk of alcohol addiction they are facing.
"There's no question about it, it's happening more and more. The doubling of women in the past five years that we have coming into the Rutland centre are typically women drinking wine at home alone."
He continued, "I think a lot of potentially addictive drinking is being done by the people who are having three quarters of a bottle of wine and more a night, which is way above the safe levels of alcohol consumption.
"They may not be [experiencing] the hugely tragic loss of control or extreme crisis outcomes. They are the silent majority of heavy wine drinkers who are just drinking unsafe levels of wine and sooner or later it's going to catch up with them. But up until now they're getting away with it."
Mr Rowen said the steady increase in the numbers of women admitting themselves for treatment will continue.
"I can tell you one thing for absolute certain . . . if they're drinking heavily today, they may not come to see us for another 10 years, they may be in to see us next week, but they are on their way, our beds will be filled, there's no doubt about that," he said.
In addition to the smoking ban and a crackdown on drink driving, Mr Rowen says the fact that people are now living in plush homes is also adding to our growing love affair with wine.
"People often have a very high standard of home nowadays in comparison to the past where you had 12 kids squeezed into a two over two and it wasn't easy to entertain guests. But now they have bigger houses, smaller families and nicer furniture so, with a higher standard of living, it's much easier to open a bottle of wine and have people over."
He continued: "Traditionally it was a cup of tea when you visited a friend or a neighbour [but] today the glass of wine has replaced the cup of tea . . . and when people are tired after a long day at work, they're stressed and they're feeling sad or uptight or just in the mood to visit someone socially, drink is all too often part of the equation."
Meanwhile, a new poll has revealed that 80 per cent of Irish workers are unlikely to socialise with their colleagues outside of work.
The research, carried out by Monster.ie, revealed how the shift to flexible working hours and a growing number of employees working from home, has led to a downturn in the traditional 'after work' drinks in the local pub.
- NIAMH HORAN
