Drinkers Like Me - Adrian Chiles

[Music] my name's Adrian child and I'm not an alcoholic how many times the past year we tried to cut down on stop drinking no at least I don't think I am we're ridiculous with it without being alcoholics I do drink most days but compared to a lot of people I don't put loads away quite quickly to get through three bottles in a knife to a psyche its pop I can tell you about lying in my bed and seeing spiders on the ceiling I've seen no spiders I don't really get drunk and I don't misbehave I'm not somebody you five saw gets involved with the wrong people when I'm drinking this isn't the program about drinking sherry in the morning or waking up in shop doorways if alcohol was discovered today unquestionably it would be illegal you won't be seen any blue flashing lights or emergency wards there's Matt this is about nice regular drinking many times on Troy form through here and the damage quietly being done to ourselves and society have a pine bye drinkers like me [Music] i tacked anyone who knows me thinks I'm a problem drinker I may drink six days a week but I don't fall over fight for fun myself too hungover to function I generally don't drink during the day either but they cease match day and even though it's nervy kick-off drinking for me and my cronies is compulsory they didn't take you long to get through that he said a marathon not a sprint I mean you got a bar in your house I did have you just sharing it cause he's 20 plus 10 that's going down a tree I think more is this a slippery slope am I gonna one of those people in Weatherspoon's are telling them what to notice yeah but I dunno lad you will start drinking December good especially as soon as they jump on the train so it's drinking and there's drinking right I don't think that's as bad keV I know some genuine alcoholics they all say words to that effect there's drinking and there's drinking and guess what I'm on the right side of the line because they're drinking some bucha cuz they're drinking more than me and they stay up later than me there's their kind of drinking's bad no I it's fine I made my own little rules yeah okay I know my limit Yeah right some people don't write more beer I'll finish mine what's the matter with you come on Maguire [Music] I wanted to make this program because I just became more and more fascinated in sort of why why our drink coming up some like that I'll need to drink a want to drink maybe some doctorate look at me and said I got bad news for your Adrian you're an alcoholic I don't know my feeling is that just because you're not waking up in a shop doorway at 4:00 in the morning or not waking up with a complete stranger you know and not drinking sherry in the morning just because you're not any of those things doesn't mean you're not alcohol dependent or I've got some kind of dependency issue with alcohol Oh God X radiant as well come on let's go after the match it's a lift home with two more old friends Peter and his daughter Sarah both know a thing or two about drinking it wasn't brilliant it was yet more disappointment we should have won really anyway Peters are recovering alcoholic who quit 13 years ago I'm absolutely clear that I am medically and technically an alcoholic something inside me was forever saying I want to drink I think people who just couldn't face the hair of the doll the starting again they're probably not alcoholics you know they just work clumsy binge drinkers if you like clumsy binge drinkers good expression yeah if you've got any of those in your family let's not think about this stereotypical once you start you don't see any reason to stop do you have a point I remember time when I stopped for a burger on the way home when I lived in London I wake up in the morning and there was ketchup everywhere I actually thought I might have been stabbed but the point was I didn't remember getting home with my burger but I mean are you now looking forward to having a drink both of you I'm not but only because I really have had one today and I've just you know are four points before bloody bath 11 oh yeah most thirsty don't you see the fact that you don't want to drink now Adrian it is a good sign if your concerns your kind of say if you ever don't fancy a drink then you're probably not an alcoholic which is you know one warrior looking at [Music] encouraged by that's after the footballer got a train back to London for a friend's 40th where there was more drinking to be done got it 200 you like this look now that is classic like most enthusiastic drinkers I've diligently avoided working out just how much I'm putting away but today's the day doctor say 14 units a week is the safe limit for both men and women that's either seven pipes a bottle and a half of wine or ten shots a week okay yesterday four pints of Guinness plus four bars of beer before dinner so let's call that two points bloody other side points not including wine yesterday champagne yes drunk one glass wine I must have had five glasses of wine this isn't looking good this doesn't link up to my doctor's okay it's you've had 16 drinks 32.4 units in one day I mean over a week I would I can't imagine I wouldn't be in triple figures bonkers I mean the worryin thing with that is he said I can't tell you I'm not gonna drink today because I well I won't have a lot I probably might have one at lunchtime don't know Monday night probably well sons at the garden Tuesday definitely will cuz I've got a couple of friends coming around Wednesday yeah why you know why wouldn't I thirsty I won't because I'm on air and then can we go again can't be good for you okay well that's depressing night is falling [Music] dark blackout settling over the amount of alcohol we buy in the UK is roughly double the amount we admit to drinking so it looks like it's not just me who has been kidding myself the recommended drinking limit for men used to be 21 units a week two years ago it was reduced to just fourteen the same as for women and where do they get this 14 units figure from anyway and how much more than that do you need to be drinking to be considered an alcoholic [Music] seat my friend professor knot is a new row psychopharmacologist not easy to say after a unit or two the big question that you must get asked all the time is when you how do you define alcoholism or alcohol dependency are they the same thing well we're trying to get away from that a bit these days people say well I'm not like an addict I'm not drinking very cheap cider and sleeping in the gutter so I'm alright and that's not true because we we know the third of the people coming into the liver unit with alcohol-related liver damage do not meet the criteria for alcoholism they're just like you they're just drinking more than they should so we've trying to get a conceptual change now and how we view alcohol and we're looking at this idea that it's heavy use over time for a drug like alcohol the more you use the much greater the impact so any reduction is good there's very publicized paper came out yeah a couple of weeks ago in The Lancet yeah amazing study they looked at 600,000 people looked at drinking in relation to the health harms so this graph shows mortality from any cause in relation to alcohol consumption if you yeah what me were to reduce our consumption from the old maximum to the new maximum we get an extra two years of life when you get to the higher levels of drinking then we are seeing people losing 10 or even 20 years of life and that is a problem without wishing to overshare here you know always suffered from bouts of despondency tense despondent some I call it just one pint would get rid of it there's alcohol cause that or was the alcohol the effect of that alcohol does calm the brain but the effect is transient and when the alcohol goes that brains actually a little bit more excitable so people who drink to deal with anxiety and we estimate maybe over half of all people who are alcohol dependent are drinking to deal with stress disorders like anxiety and depression but it never cures them because the brain adapts to the alcohol and the anxiety comes back more the depression comes back more yeah that's yeah that's that's fascinating all right my unit since last fall I never drink on Thursdays cuz I'm on air late on Thursday night Friday 16.1 in a day so that's the weekly thing gone 14 on Saturday like they just the eight units Sun and air and three point for Monday eleven choose the sixteen Wednesday last night you know this is miles ahead of that yes that's right you must cut down yeah and you really must [Music] the problem is alcohols been a massive part of my life since I was a teenager growing up in this house this is my mom who's always busy and this is my dad who never is this is the cocktail come out many times on rifle through here this is where the baby shun was kept but he ups it Thea we've been drinking absinthe somebody musta given it to me I'll gotta cool didn't even know he was there why are there four bottles of Irish Cream Liqueur you know for an Elvis or something what you bought five at least because that's some money's in it okay [Music] [Laughter] [Music] I went through a phase to think you were gonna be a rock god I don't know if it was gonna be there Farmar some family party in Birmingham and I must have picked up something drank some cider and I just suddenly felt about 12 or 13 just totally warm and just then how warm and all warm and focus but fuzzy at the same time you know thought wow this is great having acquired a taste for it drinking became a key part of my life indoors outdoors wherever if I could get hold of it I'd drink it and getting served in pubs like an actual grown-up was a real obsession I'm 16 it's 35 years ago desperate for a drink alcohol there was no point to life unless you get a drink me and my mates have heard tell of a pub of 2 miles walk away where the word was the barman would serve even if you didn't look a table so we set out on this Odyssey [Music] the discussion all the way here would have been about tactics who shaves who's got stub or lose tallest who's oldest's nobody would want the big responsibility of the one to go to the bar we talk about the nonchalance with which we walk in are we going to go together are we gonna go in separately so now the place holds interview pulse is racing my whole weekend my whole sense of self-worth hangs in the balance and it's in that pod fine my destiny [Music] the thought about in one minute or five minutes I could be just shambling Baghdad shamefacedly it was just too awful to contemplate [Music] and I try and walk in with the air of a man who just belongs in it's perfectly normal to saunter in and get a breakfast here we go good evening I don't come once I've see exactly the God think I'll press I'd sleep the kind of thing I would have done it was about friendship here's about waking up with a terrible head or what my what my gracias how'd you see what John did it was just the bonding thing Marat styling around some slightly older kicks and I'll go back I'll go back to my some friends of my own age John yeah yeah we were up there yeah you know we were at the Swan or we were at the yeah at the horse and groom that's some right Pines yeah yeah yeah Dan gotta you know hold the main let's go fetch the wanker quietly all the pubs are used to drink in say then am much more careful about underage drinking and in any case research suggests 16 to 24 year olds are now drinking less it's people of my generation with the real problem alcohol-related deaths in the over 50s have risen sharply since 2001 I'm off to meet a man who like me falls into this high-risk group but he's completely unapologetic about his intake with some Lebanese flatbread for a muddled and drink 20 points again is someone sitting you do a fine metrosexual one time stick mark is retired he lives with his wife Helen he loves cooking almost as much as he loves drinking what would you like to drink that is gin pomegranate juice and tonic water okay I'm just looking where the land is not yet at six is that your no I'm just saying I mean that's about now on the land I want my first trick well five o'clock is my is my new not before five depart from weekends a weekdays mark typically drinks two or three large vodkas followed by at least half a bottle of wine more at weekends he's averages between eighty and a hundred units a week that's about six times the recommended fourteen unit limit it's nice and refreshing chairs could help cheers mate no I can't say a goal with a netting without want to kick the ball I'm just gonna do what position with you right back oh you see the way control that's beautiful all right sticks to its face like glow I like wine I put this girl I like you ugly no you but I like you you know you you can't you know none of my kind of person well slightly worried about you a bit so okay I've got a you know raised blood pressure which you'd expect when you're obese and you know drink too much cholesterol level I have a drug for that and the beta blocker I have he's you know because I haven't been slightly enlarged heart that I'm not sure the cause of that but you know it's so I get alcohol car now yeah no one and I said that if I said to you right I want your limit you I want you to limit for me let's just make this Patrick we're gonna we're gonna keep it to 25 units a week could you do that could you commit to that on an ongoing basis yes no I'd find that would you know that would be an unrealistic target for me so the glass of wine then show any knife [Music] I'm sure you've got to the point why me I can't be full of crack unless you've had a drink I can't really enjoy that it's got a drink inside me well maybe you can make just own the possibility man well well as it stands a moment I wouldn't know because I'm always having that drink your whole life it's built around drinking there's an expectation of you to drink I'm exactly the same but I don't wake up in the morning thinking right if I don't have a few drinks tomorrow I'll have let myself down forever that's a fallacy that's the fallacy and we so similar because that's the fallacy I tell myself I don't want to drink anything in the morning but that doesn't mean that I'm not addicted to alcohol in some sense which I am I'm sure I am a you are yeah well yeah so it's a very weak we're addicted to it them without being alcoholics [Music] so vodka white wine red wine and eventually port between us I reckon we easily got through north of 50 units a heavy night even for me [Music] research by the NHS and the government suggest it's the middle classes who are likely to drink most regularly all this boozing comes at a price everyone I've spoken to the medics the public health experts talks about the damage the cost to the economy and the NHS of drinking public health England has it at 47 billion pounds a year it's coming from people I meet the constant drinkers the stoppers up I think we are the problem drinkers like me just job away on one company that was fun blood tests have always suggested my livers fine but given what I now know I think it's probably prudent for someone to have another look well depends what you mean by too much this is what we're trying to establish I'm certainly drinking more than the recommended 14 units a week how many units need drinking with not at all we would have to give me a son before bottling [Music] my blog did look slightly the color of guineas just slightly worked about that anyway I'm off from drink that's a joke by the way a couple tape late I'll get the results in a couple of days until then it's back to Birmingham for a spot of binge drinking not my usual thing but he goes quarter past six no units today so far no units no units these are my first two point three units with a 2.3 I'll take one for how much of the guineas two point three no that'll be just my two point three units of Guinness please a typical Friday night out for my friend Sarah the woman described by her recovering alcoholic dad as a clumsy binge drinker the NHS defines binge drinking as drinking lots of alcohol in the short space of time or drinking to get drunk I suspect there's a bit of both going on here I'll be very interesting to compare units because I think I'll be bringing you close if not overtaking her own a body back Guinness [Music] what follows is a routine played out in most pubs around the country a bit of silliness do you think I could get rid of this premise here followed by giddiness then a bit of the old deep and meaningful binge drinking can that turn into the form of drinking that is everything you ever go tambien while mark and then back to giddiness when you came to me the other day that I'm you were emphasizing that I am in control I'm not mad I'm not going to turn to what my dad was you said look I'm not a vomit that's the height of virtue that you don't actually Bob we tell people on a normal night is drink I mean that's dumbing yourself with faint praise walnut drink until baby anyways play stop drinking it because very Baba so you're all right you just drink ball without vomiting that it's not certainly a good thing I got out for a way can someone get us right [Music] [Applause] [Music] it seems to me every drinker who doesn't identify as an alcoholic has reasons why that label doesn't apply to them Farah says she's a Binger and nothing more as to why she drinks like this she has quite a compelling theorem [Music] chemotherapy you lose my hair yeah just no nice I was told what we had like no future how long I can live I think life change five five years of ambition awesome last week its mentality of like lives - you sure you know I definitely like live every day like it's my last and I won't go out with the best of them and I have there how was it female clear off missing out so I would always be out the party NHS guidelines say as little as six units at one sitting is binge drinking that's three medium glasses of wine or three pipes I think Sara and I have just about exceeded that this evening I couldn't keep up with you I've had this is probably my seventh so I'm on a good let's call that 15 16 units you've had all right Intelli them that's probably 20 [Music] I literally feel like it's awesome and I love my life and I had a few drinks and it's all amazing bitter tastes like it's raining we're in very good I think give [ __ ] by the rain yeah bye guys protective for me every night it's not an I like that but oh you know you know I'll be in the pub tomorrow lunchtime at Newcastle watching West Bravo Dallas have a drink zombie a Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday and other not particular keep an eye on myself I'm someone looking down on everybody not only Sarah when you know perhaps I'm the one with the problem [Music] this drinking diary is the least satisfying diary to look back on my weekly intake is something like 75 units I mean pardon the terrible pot is he sobering and that is just mad I'm back at the doctor's to find out if I have managed to get away with drinking so much for so long so I have the blood results back and the liver function tests are essentially normal so how can that be when I drink so much I mean a lot hunting now I've started counting but for the purposes of making this program you know feeling quite pleased with myself if I don't do the weekly allowance in a night we know very well that you can have normal liver function test and you can have significant scarring of the liver and in some cases cirrhosis of the liver okay well let's do the fiber scan then can hardly wait literally my luck will run out now if there's any scarring on the liver or signs of poor function this fibrous can will pick it up short lines at the back so core jelly so straight away Adrian instead of the normal median probe I'm using a bigger probe too so that just shows you kind of the level of fat etc it's a marker that you're probably overweight you're carrying so much fat you're gonna use a bigger probe to get oh it's a bit of alcohol good for the liver give you something to do you might just get bored otherwise yeah no I don't think you have to worry about that I think the liver has enough to do without you worrying about its boredom [Music] so Adrienne yeah I mean this six shows us exactly that even though their blood tests were almost completely normal the the fiber scan was abnormal and with a fiber scan score of 8.9 we would classify that as a mild or even moderate fibrosis of the liver and on top of that you've got significant liver fat which we call hepatic steatosis which is something that we also see with heavy alcohol consumption if I just carry on like I am well I mean the short answer to that is you can't carry on like this you're at risk of disease progression disease progression to cirrhosis cirrhosis end stage liver disease and liver failure and death and death over a period of time if you are abstaining completely from alcohol we would expect to see some improvement in that level of fibrosis you know it's never too late to stop drinking alcohol that's the that's really a key message that we need to get across I mean my advice to people is you go for those three to four consecutive days that you don't drink and you bring your overall alcohol consumption in line with the weekly allowance on the other days and that's a healthy intervention and that's the kind of that's the recommendations that we'll be making I was shocked it hasn't really sunk in actually but in the end I can't be surprised you know I feel lucky to have had access to him I suppose and give me that concrete warning that he'd got a drink less I mean that that's the fact of the matter so I've got to take that on board but let's feel a bit of an idiot for having always drunk so much I mean what was I thinking goodbye forever [Music] [Music] it's dawning on me that I've been kidding myself all along that alcohol hasn't affected my health evidence to the contrary as after all being staring me in the face I do have high blood pressure you know I do have sort of gastric issues and I'm do have some anxiety depression all of which yeah the alcohol is a factor in all of those someone mind all the time like now I'm thinking we do the filming I got back to London he looks like I'd be early enough so I'll pass my mate SAS where I normally go for a couple of pints within so one we're dealing that now I could there'll be fuzzy all night slide Lee probably have two three four pints with him get home nine half nine truffle out of food and then go to bed with heartburn high blood pressure and some anxiety so on earth on the plane I also got the tyranny of the flipping up on my phone now it nags where you haven't you downloaded your young name putted your data smush the freaking thing up that's not what they did you have anything to drink last night yeah like you're a pretty business the prospect of changing the way our drink is daunting don't let these body plan sky when one goes away but I do have the perfect person to talk to like me my dad always put a lot away but six months ago had to radically cut down you always drank a lot and we always thought always livers gonna go but you live and always look to alright and yeah but then finally you had this blood clot and yet some blood thinning things as warfarin which you can't drink with just a small amount so you have to go from drinking a lot to not very much chi today you have three dots that's as far as it goes right yeah he's one of very few now how's that changed things for you i'll do you feel better for drinking less my sister-in-law's so he gets his cost wait for you but in terms of mental health as you know i've always suffer from sort of anxiety depression slightly bit of medication i've always struggled with that and then you know that could be alcohol yeah who knows what the absence of alcohol well now you might know but seriously I mean you don't think that can be an issue for mental health please a depressant but you don't believe in depression anyway don't you think it's all rubbish depressions robbery going if you get better definitely get better so my mum thinks depression doesn't exist and my dad says drinking less is just boring I need some encouragement from someone who can tell me it is possible to radically change your drinking habits and be happy about it example where I've just been stuck on a delayed train for hours looking at the sunshine outside and thought make the most of it I'm in West Yorkshire to meet Charlie a woman who has somehow managed to bring her seriously excessive drinking under control I think just going back to the beginning do you drink as a teenager thank you I wasn't obsessed with it but I did drink and it wasn't until my thirties that I kind of started thinking home can I have a drink in a school night people kind of say that I was the party girl and little Joker in becomes self fulfilling that doesn't yeah there was a point it's sort of 3-4 years ago where I really hit rock bottom you you job went wrong relationships were going wrong everything literally everything was stacking up and I just got to the point where I was at my lowest point was drinking 3.3 what was a wine and I I'm tracking myself even work I don't know I know well I could think about on the way I was getting about the wine and then I can't get anyone then again get another one Jeremy was like its pop I poured that for you about five minutes ago yeah I don't think you've even touched it yet in the day that would that would have gone yeah easily yeah it's scary you think has had an effect on you on your mental health yeah definitely the anxiety it was horrendous because I was in such a dark place I knew that I had to do something I actually put myself into an alcohol program see on three bottles of wine a night and what are you now doing about a week what would you probably a bottle a week why did you feel you couldn't give up completely or didn't want to give up completely I would love to be abstinent but it's one of those things it's like if you never tried alcohol you would never know kind of thing but once you've had it once it's brought so many positive memories and amazing impromptu times and great chats and stuff like that it is difficult I would love to be abstinent I just don't think inherently I have it even if I only drank one glass of wine a year I think that would be me in this long discussion about moderate drinking I've got a party lager we've got a bottle wine look it's not a half separate we go straight home go all right like you'd like to memorize yeah I was doing all I was doing all right with that not drinking much until that flippin idiot from Birmingham Lauren Stein asked the longer I want the more confused I get about absolutely everything [Music] now I don't know why I need it but don't know why many people need me but I don't know why I don't know why I need it I don't know why I can't just come here I'm the beautiful pop in our lovely spot in Yorkshire I know I don't know why just drink make a difference well why not just drink more I don't understand I'm well I wish I could be released from it do you ever drink to relieve emotional stress occasionally how many times in the past have you tried to cut down or stop drinking no I need to look a bit deeper into what's motivating my drinking so I'm off to see a therapist to ask how alcohol might be affecting my mental health for the moment take 20 milligrams of citalopram a day which is a bog-standard cove antidepressant 20 milligram pretty much a standard dose but nothing after populations on that what I'm led to believe so how's the unit's going Harley because I've had a word with myself um I'm now down to about 50 60 plus units a week so I would still say I'm a I'm a drinker in the redzone John McCone is a psychotherapist specializing in addiction you know yes there's not a catch or something I should take that option of lying down if you'd like so drinking and depression can coexist yeah have you ever been diagnosed or felt that you diagnosed sweet self and anxiety I suppose it was particularly bad after I sort of got booted off doing breakfast television and then I was just doing football so paid loads of money when you were working you were just presenting football yeah bet are gone the horrible state I just got this unbelievable amount of adrenaline surging through my system and then occasionally it would just stop and I'd be left with nothing and that's when I did feel I was depressed then where for days or weeks I could just barely move the only way I could saw that out would be to out one or maybe two pints that would kill it for the evening and I'll suddenly I say that life was full of possibilities and wasn't horrendous I don't know I've never talked specifically about drinking probably because I've always lied about what I drink right so you've covered it up well to a certainly self but I've never actually done that I've never counted it till now I might be as deluded as the next manner that I well in somewhere you are because of the amount you're drinking what do you feel when someone says you can only drink 14 units a week before I looked into it with this program one thing well it's so low I'm just gonna ignore it yeah there's different rights for different countries around the world as I'm sure you know it's then you you go well who knows but nobody knows anything so I'll just crack on that sounds quite arrogant nobody knows anything well I mean why if it's so clear then why is there a different right for every country well that's where maybe the whole thing of denial being part of addiction what the scientists are saying seems to be backed in a lot with a lot of evidence pancreatitis other things other health issues that are now coming to the fore more more and yet what you're saying is I know better so no I do accept it so you know under accept it's it's a problem and needs to come down mmm you're already alcohol dependence you're still dependent on where alcohol does for you that relief or that bores or that that ability to relax I mean it does seem to be an emphasis on that mood shift that mood change I feel better when and and and we could challenge if you didn't drink at all what would you feel like I don't know that the sort of road here seems to be leading to I need to change my mood because I don't like how I feel yeah I don't like Who I am yeah I know it's getting a bit deeper but no I think that's yeah all right you know it's like well strip it all away be yeah how's Adrian yeah yeah who is he if we don't like ourselves then then what do we do to be likeable just just going back to this this this idea that do I drink to feel better yes I do so your friend said to me really sticks in my mind she said without alcohol for me the world's a very beige place the world's a beautiful place everything is looking up to the tree in the sky beautiful place but why does it feel beige when you don't drink and I felt exactly the same seeing your best mate is a beautiful thing something you've known for 40 years why on earth do you need to share four or five pipes to do enhance six well you don't need to but you're used to and you associate those good times with alcohol and actually until you kind of stop and go back and start changing some of those beliefs and you'll always do the same thing [Music] it's extraordinary especially given up an so much static on Greece another over the years it's extraordinary I've never had that specific conversation with anyone amount because of all the therapy are generally paid for I've never said right drinking I want to talk about my drink I've never done that I'm feared in all the directions where maybe alcoholism it's not the root of it's a major sort of effect of it yeah I don't know I felt felt like a way off my shoulders to actually simply talk about it like that how most of me having seen John McCone that counselor the other day out quite shocked myself though all right there's always a reason to drink he was my mates birthday I went to moon for a drink and I got more drunk than I've been in a year I've drunk a colossal amount of wine teak scent was falling over when I got out I think oh why am I doing this what am I trying to prove to myself having just had two hours with an excellent counselor very intelligent on and bought into everything he said what bidam we decided it was a good idea to go out and get absolutely Trollied I wonder whether it's partly because thought hang on the end is nigh in tonight I'm gonna die and I think but in just in terms of I'm gonna have to really cut down my drinking some props I thought were just getting in a massive session under the wire maybe oh don't tell me they saw me and smacking that's a disappointment with the onion in the past that might have driven me to the bottom not tonight though I don't know if they're gonna change around here question is now do I have to abstain completely or can I drink more responsibly to use the world's most boring phrase but cannot do it and still get the joy out of drinking while drinking a lot less that is a question I have an alcohol free friend coming around for lunch I wanted to feel on a violet tea towel by anyone's measure Frank Skinner was once a full-blown alcoholic or as he puts it a Pernod in the morning kind of drinker more than 30 years ago he decided to stop and hasn't touched a drop since you know I could tell you about I had temporary blindness I can tell you about lying in my bed and seeing spiders on the ceiling but that wasn't why I did it I did it cuz a lot of the time it was brilliant that life was just some adventure I have never replaced that white heat of joy that you get from alcohol if the crack was so fantastic when you drink it he was so brilliant and white stop in the end then I'm I'm not quite clear on why you stopped I mainly start from fear I know the couple of mates died quite young they were heavy drinkers and I think I'm no pun intended I bottled it she don't get annoyed when I say so found myself almost envying you right because I thought at least when you saw you having Pernod in the morning then you thought right I've wet the bed I have to stop it's not that clear with me whether you absolutely need to stop or to moderate I kid myself that my level of drinking which is nothing like yours was but it's still 40 50 60 units a week I've convinced myself it's normal cuz I surround myself with people who a bit like me my my social life has never recovered from from stopping drinking that's one of my issues with abstaining there's lots of more relationships they start on getting smashed but just on going out meeting two or three pints and I just wonder what would happen to those relationships you think you need beer in order to carry on your social abhi I'm young tested me trying for you know three months in what happens what was rather wrong you won't will you I might actually well you won't for some strange reason you need some sort of handrail in your social life something that that takes you somewhere that makes you a person that you aren't or you don't feel you are normally that's the question you go to out on earth what that is it's a bit hot that bread it's only just or heart bread now you can take this with you as well I've got some top of we're ready for you so what would you advice be to me would it be I in terms of just stop or don't stop and be if it did stop what's your advice to me I had to do it my advice to you would be down stop because when you talk about meeting people and having two or three beers or it sounds great to me of course it does damage when it's done to excess but if you're one of the people who can just keep this side of the dark side if you like it just can be so brilliant now I'm quite confused cuz when we were talking over there you're saying which try just stop drinking for three months I thought you were getting to the point saying just stop I envy your relationship with alcohol it may be a bit above the norm but it's near enough to the norm not to sacrifice all the good stuff if you came to me and Sam seen spiders on the sea and I would say stuff oh nothing I want to do have a pint go on that's what I used to say to me when I quit I have a point but I didn't Franco's are fascinating as ever are these kind of to intelligibly give a binary answer really Frank envies my level my level of drinking but my level isn't as low as he thinks I'm still not quite entirely sure what the answer is perhaps or to just look at completely stop [Music] Frank quit on his own he farmed to quit though I'll need help so I've come to smart recovery a program for people with addiction problems hello everyone hello are you doing most of this group are abstinent now you know a lot of people that in one of their fears about giving up drinking completely is how will I be able to socialize I'll never be able to enjoy myself I'll never be able to do this I'll never be able to do that and that's what stops them taking that final stab but but it's simply not true I still don't really know how to navigate my way around particularly meeting somebody new they say well let's go for drinking and you sit and have a few drinks and talk for three or four hours and have a fascinating conversation I don't really know how to do that why does it have to be in a place where this alcohol what about doing something else and also this whole thing about you know getting to know people well we all know that once you you start drinking it's a more of a chemical thing that's going on it's not really you is it you know so where people really getting to know you or they just getting to know one side of you but also are you sort of self-fulfilling here because now you you've sort of set a boundary that this person these people that you've met expect to be inside yeah so the next time oh we'll meet in the pub again so we all drink for different reasons but ultimately we all drink for the same which is to change the way we feel that's why people do it what if you don't like the real you what if you stop drinking or this is me oh my god it's awful that's something they actually hit me when you were talking I'm thinking well how does agency himself what does he feel about himself does Adrienne love Adrienne now now god no so the alcohol is there to to disguise the person you are now you have sat here today without alcohol yeah you've bonded you've connected we've had a bit of a laugh and you've been yourself I'm assuming this is who you are yeah and you've not needed alcohol to do that just you seem perfectly likable is it possible to drink sensibly responsibly you have plenty of days off you enjoy the drinks more that you do drink if you can do it that and I I'm beginning to think it's difficult I just wonder whether you think it's whether it's possible or do you think I'm kidding myself you think it is possible you can do it in moderation just set yourself a limit you don't have to like do it all in one go you set yourself a limit it is possible to moderate you drink not for me that isn't possible but for yourself the way you're talking it is possible you have to be aware and be truthful about your thinking before you go in and not tell yourself lies before you go ahead and convince yourself and rationalize and I think it long as you have an understanding of yourself you can take everything in Stratham in control abstinence what might beats the only answer in a way I think maybe be ashame [ __ ] get a grip on it and do it enjoy moderation then I think that's in a way that's a more honest step a try and key to 14 units I'll never go above 20 units a week if I pull that off I'll be pleasing myself I think that's a start the problem is alcohol is the only drug you have to apologize for not taking I'm on the way to an event run by club soda an organization for those wanting to stop or cut down their drinking without killing the social lives luckily I have a wingwoman it's Sarah's first time too I've been over sharing like Matt for weeks and months on this project now so I would drag you into into my web - what led you to this then in the you know simply why did you want to drink less I think I just realized that over the past few years I'd started drinking more and it was very much that you get home you know you're tough to commute out both in and out of town you've had a day at work and you kind of walk in you'd have children going what's for dinner when is it yeah right I need wine so you undertook to try and drink less and actually that's difficult when most of you relationships and friendships are based around baster and trick I'm gonna going out and getting smashed but you know sitting around two or three hours in a or a restaurant getting through you know you did some units a Munich yeah and I did worry about that you know I worried about if I turn up to where people I know will expect me to be drinking how will they behave if I don't because in you saying you're not drinking obviously everybody goes oh just have the wall yeah no and I've decided I'm not drinking today and then they wonder it's almost like a reflection back to them it is but it would be different if you say right I may or may not be an alcoholic but I am not drinking at all anymore then at least that's straightforward and they either can or can't do with that you're in this gray area it's difficult because then do they take it personally that maybe we're not drinking with them but you might have a better friend somewhere else who you are drinking with no I don't think so because my close friends I've been very honest with and said you know I'm not saying I'm never going to have a glass of wine with you guys yeah but I will choose the occasion to do it when I feel like doing it rather than just automatically doing it it's a beautiful day there's a load of people you're not met before yeah you've been filmed we've ever this called for a cold one it's now but you definitely you don't drink at all I think it's for people who do want to stop drinking if they want to or people you want to get down or people who want to decide when and where they have a drink I'm getting quite nervous on your behalf and my own actually for going in club soda champions what it calls mindful drinking I'm not quite sure what that means but I'm hoping for some practical tips from the co-founder Laura because even if your moderating your drink you should be able to manage as I'm trying not drinking and for us it's back patching a new behavior in a familiar settings know on it you can not drink in the pub and just go work on it if I having met you I reflect upon mine you know maybe alcoholic sings and tonight went to the pub sat quietly maybe just had one pint of Guinness I really thought about it and interesting you say you didn't have an off switch see I've got an off switch but I've also got a very eager easy to switch ON switch so I drink I'll drink every day and stop but the fact is I'm drinking every day so there are some key tips to moderating the first is to really plan when you aren't going to drink and nobody day they are I'm can buy care for your alcohol Phoenix so actually we're no different to anyone who's not looking to go out for free you still need to plan for triggers and things that might stop along the data frames the second is is to have somebody clear wrong but you know will you drink at home about your drink out the other is is not to drink for your first two drinks you've had so you can see whether you're definitely enjoying it or not and then you might want to have a drink often by the second drink everyone else is willing to get a bit boring as you go you know why I've managed to now it's amazing how often we drink what their events would not enjoy it do you ever get that thing said you'd wake up in the morning you think wow what a great night that was I do I get that all the time now I mean really no no just oh nice night I mean really wow what a great night that was with a dream that's possible I'm happy to report Sarah and I both had a good time and I even got a club soda party bag full of alcohol free beers sky smiling at me nothing but blue skies do I see yes paka connects please I've made a concerted effort through having non drinking days drinking an all full of alcohol-free beer I'm drinking a tiny proportion of what I was drinking before but I gotta tell you I'm still probably he with all those efforts twice the recommended living I'm still around 25 units away some begin to think I must have been in the hundreds before I started making this brand but the terrifying things is taken actually making and TV documentary that's forced me to face up to how much I'm drinking and just what a quiet sort of vice-like grip it had on my life and extricate yourself from that isn't easy I don't do optimism but I think I can change my life to drink less and in so doing maybe get more out of drinking and more out of the times when I'm not drinking but I absolutely pledged never to allow myself to be pressured into drinking something I don't want to drink and never again am I gonna pressure anybody else to drink something they don't want to drink anyway Cheers our first one this week and it's the first time I've been able to say that things all about 16 years old so that's something you know that life is short talk is cheap be makin promises that you can keep because your man [Music]

Channel: Steve Potz-Rayner

Views: 2,228,714

Rating: 4.7726684 out of 5

Keywords: Adrian Chiles, not for profit, alcohol

Id: RX2opvj7WE8

Length: 59min 13sec (3553 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 28 2018

Reddit Comments

[u/mrsdooley]

Thank your for this. A lot of people think that you have to be stumbling drunk all the time to be an alcoholic. Sadly a lot of people who seem like social drinkers are actually functional alcoholics.

[u/CosmicDnB]

"The problem is alcohol is the only drug you have to apologize for not taking." Couldn't be more true. Great documentary!

[u/[deleted]]

Congratulations Adrian, great documentary! This is so well done, and a real eye opener for me. I would like to know the app he was using to track the units per week for alcohol.

Cheers!

[u/Tommytriangle]

Let me see if I got this straight. Alcoholic creates a "dependency", nto an "addiction". You need the alcohol to function, or you go through withdrawal. You're not "addicted" to it though. The difference between addiction and dependency seems rather subtle.

[u/drunkcounselor]

Lots of people are mentioning the fact that they are worried about their own drinking so I thought I’d post some things on the topic.

r/stopdrinking is a great way to reach out and get support to cut down or stop your drinking.

AA meetings are a great place to go if you want to just hear from or talk with people who have been in a position where they felt as though they drank too much. It’s a judgement free place and I received a lot of support there. They also have online meetings where you can ask questions (just please join the right chat) http://aa-intergroup.org/directory.php

I did this dance for years before things got to a point where I finally decided enough was enough. Feel free to PM me if there’s something you’d like to ask or just want someone to talk to about sobriety.

Been sober for a year and two months and this documentary reminded me how fortunate I am to not be stuck in that same rut of trying to make drinking work in my life. Thanks for posting OP.

[u/geordano_bruno]

Never drink more than one day in a row. Never drink more than 3 days in a week.

Try and only drink on the weekends - never drink on a Sunday.

You will very quickly learn if you are an alcoholic - and this is a great way to reduce your intake and maintain control easily.

[u/Postarmageddonbruce1]

you can work out how many units there are in any drink by multiplying the total volume of a drink (in ml) by its ABV (measured as a percentage) and dividing the result by 1,000.

[u/Goongagalunga]

There’s a saying in the program that you can’t know how great your life could be without alcohol until after you stop drinking. So many people have a self-fulfilling prophecy of boredom if they quit against their will, but the trick is to will yourself to be satisfied without alcohol. He keeps talking about the issue with anxiety and depression being cured by alcohol, but has he considered that the nature of an addictive substance is to trick your brain into feeling awful without said substance? If you can’t admit that alcohol is causing the anxiety and depression, then it’s difficult to find joy outside of consuming it. Once you break out of that feedback loop of getting drunk, feeling bad, and drinking to make the bad feelings go away, you can finally experience life beyond that cycle. Big, creative, exposed, engaged, raw life.

[u/Paddlesons]

I'm not one to throw around the term alcoholic as much as some but this guys is definitely an alcoholic lol