Drinking to oblivion- BBC
 

Hi everyone!

Watched a UK documentary with Louis Theroux last night called 'drinking to oblivion.'

Really sad, powerful stuff. The most difficult one to watch was the poor, bright young man in his early 30s (Joe) who was initially doing well then relapsed hard.

For those of you in the UK its on BBC iplayer- worth a watch.

The young man was sober again at the end and said something that struck a chord with me: 'It's not something that anyone ever likely thinks about, but now I feel safe.'

Totally get that. It's like now I don't have to worry about drinking any more and what it's going to do to me a huge weight has been lifted.

there are some updates here on page 2

http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/...ht-9pm-uk.html

I really want to see this....I've been trying to find it on youtube or elsewhere in the States. If anyone comes across it I'd be interested!

as an update, Joe has been 6 months sober now. Was in a newspaper :c011:

I've started watching it, I find it depressing but something that an alcoholic should watch if they care to learn more about the disease/disorder.

I found a youtube link for the episode. I am in the US so no BBC player.

How long is the full episode? The one I found is an hour long.

thats the duration yeah :)

D

yeah, if you can handle the little screen it's on you tube now

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8YOa65-olQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7fh2y2aDMc

^ subtitled for those who have trouble with accents :)

Ok wonderful In excited to watch it. Thank you Dee!!!

Finished watching it. Depressing, yet educational, and furthermore, if I did not put a stop to my own behavior, there was nothing preventing me from being like any one of those folks.

On side note, the English folks are so kind and articulate, its kind of fascinating. Particularly being born and raised here in the Midwest US.

Thanks for the link, Dee! Going to give it a watch after the chat meeting tonight.

I watched it too xo

Just finished watching it. Powerful stuff.

That was very powerful. I also really loved Louis' humanity and the caring way he interacted with the people.

I agree, I really like him

I was also struck by how kind, compassionate and approachable UK doctors were.

Are American ones less so? I haven't had to detox in hospital ( yet)

D your the man !

Thanks to our American friends for praising English folks for being kind and articulate. I'm afraid the programme also shows that we can be unkind and talk nonsense when we are drunk! Worth noting of course that only one of the main characters is English - the others are French and South African.

I found the programme sad and moving but it was also helpful to watch it with my wife so that we could discuss her response to my drinking problem in the light of the show. One thing that's missing from the programme is any mention of a response to alcoholism other than medical treatment - no talk of support networks like this SR or AA - although I understand that talking about AA on TV is difficult.

But when the South African man sobered up by getting a whole drawer full of medicine from his doctor I felt a bit worried. He said it was to treat his psychiatric problems and I'm not medically qualified, so maybe he's right. But to me, it doesn't look like a good long term solution to replace heavy drinking with a dependence on mind altering drugs. For me, using an AA programme, getting a sponsor and working with a counsellor have helped me address depression and anxiety and stop drinking without needing to replace the bottle with pills. I'm not saying medicine never helps but when he pulled open his bedside table drawer to reveal dozens of packets of pills I felt dismayed.