Ang鈥檚 crutch was schmoozing.
As someone who works in the entertainment and hospitality industries, she鈥檚 done a lot of it.
Those situations almost always included a glass of wine. The glass soon became a bottle, and over time the visual evidence of where her life was going quite literally started to pile up.
鈥淚鈥檓 a smart person,鈥� Ang told the Vancouver Courier. 鈥淎s I would see the bottles pile up over the course of the week, I said to myself, 鈥楾his is probably a little over the top.鈥� Slowly over time it became somewhat more of a crutch, where I found I was drinking every night.鈥�
Karen, on the other hand, traces her relationship with alcohol back 25 years. She had just started high school and stopped playing organized sports.
The bottle replaced the ball, the team and the camaraderie.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 when everything shifted for me,鈥� she said.
Karen and Ang both spoke to the聽 Courier on the condition of anonymity. April is Alcohol Awareness Month and both women are at different places in their paths to sobriety.
They鈥檙e linked, however, by disturbing stats that suggest alcoholism is on the rise for women in particular. Numbers published in March by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) suggest women with drinking problems were less likely than men to receive advice (11.7 per cent compared to 19.3 per cent).
The Canadian Cancer Society notes that one drink per day increases a woman鈥檚 risk of breast cancer by up to 13 per cent. Stats Canada suggests binge drinking among women is on the rise, almost on a yearly basis.聽
Although they鈥檝e taken different paths to do so, Ang and Karen are resolute in their efforts to not be a statistic.
鈥淭here鈥檚 this weird saddle that is put on women,鈥� said Karen, 38. "You鈥檙e going to be a mother, you鈥檙e going to be taking care of babies, but you鈥檙e not going to be the breadwinner. Instead, you鈥檙e faced with pressure, isolation and you鈥檙e going to have this mom culture thing around you. There are a lot of women drinking by themselves at home.鈥�
Karen has been sober for two years and credits a 12-step program for her success. A registered nurse at a Vancouver hospital, she bottomed out while on the job.
She did six weeks of in-patient care in Ontario, and has attended recovery meetings upwards of four times a week ever since.
Karen is a spiritual person, but not religious. Most, if not all, 12-step programs place a focus on God, but Karen and others find a way to work around that.
鈥淚t looks cult-y, there鈥檚 holding hands and chanting and all of that stuff,鈥� she said. 鈥淏ut the biggest thing with meetings is that it鈥檚 a community. It鈥檚 a whole bunch of people who have to same problem as me, in a room who understand where I鈥檓 coming from, who understand the daily struggles and they don鈥檛 drink.鈥�
Karen said she had to stop drinking altogether, because once she started, she couldn鈥檛 stop.
A different path
Ang is tackling the issue in a different way. She鈥檚 one year removed from entering into a treatment method where abstinence is optional. Alavida has been operating in southern B.C. for two years and the model combines pharmaceuticals with intensive psychotherapy.
As medical director and co-founder of Alavida, Dr. Diane Rothon has worked in addictions for three decades and has treated thousands of alcoholics. She鈥檚 a former provincial chief coroner and associate at the Canadian Institute on Substance Use Research of B.C.
A reflection of those recent stats and studies, women were Rothon鈥檚 primary clientele in Alavida鈥檚 first year in operation. The gender gap has narrowed in the last year.
鈥淚t鈥檚 become very, very acceptable for women to drink like men,鈥� Rothon said. 鈥淚n fact, many women who believe themselves to be emancipated, strong, successful and self-determinant actually strive to drink like men. It鈥檚 like a badge of honour that they can hold their liquor and keep up to men, which is crazy because women are smaller beings and they can鈥檛 keep up to men.鈥�
The Alavida treatment method spans about two years. The first six months couple counselling with dosages of a drug called naltrexone, which blocks the release of endorphins brought on by drinking. The following 18 months are filled with counselling, goal setting and monitoring sessions with counsellors and doctors.
Complete abstinence, Rothon says, is unattainable for many. She suggests the success rate for those attempting total abstinence is less than 10 per cent. Of the roughly 225 people she鈥檚 treated with Alavida, that rate is 78 per cent.
鈥淚 think the hallmark of the abstinence model is failure,鈥� Rothon said. 鈥淧eople relapse on average seven times before they feel their first success and then they sometimes never go on to permanent abstinence. I think that repeated failure and the shame associated with relapse is tremendously damaging.鈥�
Ang says naltrexone helped her on the first go. She had two glasses of wine, and called it a day. She stopped taking the pills well before the six-month cut-off, and is a year into her new life.
鈥淚鈥檓 more assertive, I鈥檓 a little more calm and I鈥檓 probably less tolerant of things that I find I don鈥檛 like in my life,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 just don鈥檛 accept behaviours from other people and not say anything 鈥� I now say something. If there鈥檚 something that I don鈥檛 want to do, I am saying no. It seems to have given me a whole different level of confidence to keep this lifestyle that I鈥檝e got.鈥�
