How can alcohol consumption become a burden?
Did you know that Moldova is the number 1 country in alcohol consumption per person worldwide? The average of pure alcohol consumption per person (15+) every year is 15.2 liters. This equals 2 bottles of wine every week. The following high scoring countries in SEE are Bulgaria with 12.7 liters pure alcohol and Romania with 12.6 liters pure alcohol. The worldwide average is 6.4 liters.
I can already hear you think: why is this such a big deal when we are looking at mental health in South Eastern Europe? Well, I will explain this to you shortly in this blogpost keeping in mind that excessive alcohol consumption as being the non-communicable disease of the double burden of mental health issues. This post will be about alcohol consumption. Overall information about the SEE region can be found in our previous posts.
Let’s first have a look at how alcohol consumption and mental health are related. These two are related in two different ways. Research has found that people with mental health issues are more likely to drink alcohol as a way of self-medication. But, the causality can also be switched. People who drink more alcohol, are more likely to develop mental health issues.
So why are people with mental health issues more likely to drink more alcohol than others?
Much evidence has been found to show that people with anxiety and depressive thoughts drink alcohol in order to overcome fears and to relax themselves. Alcohol has a direct and indirect effect on the brain and other organs and systems in our body. Short term effects are behavioural changes such as increasing talking and reducing social anxiety. Most of us might have experienced this in their lives. But, consuming alcohol brings a higher risk on long-term effects as well. These long term risks are for example different forms of cancer, liver disease, heart disease and… mental health issues!
So how does alcohol consumption cause mental health issues?
People who drink a lot of alcohol are building up an alcohol resistance. This means that more alcohol needs to be consumed in order to feel short-term effects from the alcohol. These people who do not stop drinking excessively are becoming alcohol dependent. This is called alcoholism or alcohol abuse. Alcohol abuse can cause symptoms of depression, anxiety, psychosis, and anti-social behaviour.
But why is this such a big problem in South Eastern Europe countries?
Well, there are a few opinions about the cause of excessive drinking in a country. Some sources say that some of these countries drink more because of the political history of the country (ex Soviet Union countries or communist countries). Other sources tell us that people in these countries consume more alcohol because the price of alcohol is lower than in other regions. As you can see in figure 1, most countries in South Eastern Europe are under the 100% index level of the European Union.
In order to lower the burden of mental health issues due to excessive drinking, the governments in SEE countries need to come up with policies that can lower alcohol consumption. Two examples could be spreading awareness of the dangers of drinking alcohol and implementing higher taxes on alcohol. But, there are more possible policy strategies that these countries can implement. Can you think of a few? Don’t hesitate to ask us questions or write comments.
Next post: HIV/AIDS and mental health in SEE.
