Many people seek help only after years of using alcohol to cope with unresolved emotional struggles.
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Alcohol dependence is not the stigmatised image of someone slumped over a bar counter drowning their sorrows, nor is it the rock star smashing everything in sight in a drunken rage.
Behind the stereotypes is a far more complex addiction that can be triggered by trauma, grief, mental illness, major life changes and years of using alcohol to cope with emotional pain.
Many people seek help later in life
Graeme Hart, an addiction counsellor at Netcare Akeso Stepping Stones who has been sober for almost 12 years, said he is seeing more people over the age of 40 reaching out for help.
“I think we came from a generation where you kept a stiff upper lip and dealt with your problems on your own,” Hart said.
He said many people believed alcohol was helping them cope, until they realised it had become part of the problem. Like me, their best friend of many years, has now become toxic,” he said.
“People have often covered up their dependency for years.”
Trauma is often the underlying cause
Social worker Ingrid Pollak of Inner Essence said the underlying problem was not alcohol at all, but unresolved emotional pain.
“Whatever you perceive as trauma, that triggers you, that is a trauma,” Pollak said.
She said what one person dismissed as insignificant could have a profound emotional impact on someone else.
