2. Personal experiences of alcohol dependency

Listen to Justin's story about how alcohol was affecting his life.

"My name is Justin, I started drinking when I was about 18 years old as a result of probable peer pressure. I started to drink more and more at later stages due to hidden bullying at work that nothing was really done about and I used drinking as an escape route.

My drinking eventually started to have a major impact on my life.

I was admitted to hospital 7 or 8 times, probably four times for seizures related to alcohol and four times for a planned detox.

I thought I was okay but it was probably not until later did I think otherwise.

At work there was pretty much a drinking culture, it was widely acceptable though hints were given I was drinking too much and I did eventually lose my job, but that actually helped me because I had some time to reflect on the reasons, deep down it was the bullying, I was just glad not to have association with the place.

I didn’t realise the impact it was having on my family until after about 15 years and a few incidents, for example a pretty big argument with my brother that ended up in fight which should not really have gone that far.

Some of my friends were quite supportive and knew I had issues, others were a bit more blunt, one particular incident probably was quite a wake up call.

Despite my drinking, I did most of what I wanted to do, but on reflection I should have changed earlier."