A sobering reality

Studies suggest expatriates, including those living in China, are perhaps more prone to alcoholism, among other mental health problems. China Daily looks at how some overcome their addictions.

Jim can remember slouching in the corner of a dark bar alone with his head in his arms, feeling the alcohol spilling through his veins, teetering on the brink of a blackout.

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Once he gathered the strength to raise his spinning head, he would call out to the barkeep for another round.

"That is the essence of being powerless," says Jim, a recovering alcoholic who has asked to use a fake name to protect his identity.

After the bar, Jim would drag himself to his apartment bathroom, turn on a flickering light and stare into the mirror. What stared back were the bloodshot eyes of a trembling man losing his battle with alcohol.

Jim continued this same ritual for about three and a half months, during what he calls "the hundred days of rock bottom".

Every morning he would pray to God to stop the pain swelling in his head.

"I didn't even pray for help to stop drinking," Jim says.

"Drinking was so important to me that I would never turn my back on it."

Only after seeking help would he realize others felt the same way.

According to the World Health Organization, there are at least 140 million alcoholics in the world, the majority of whom are untreated.

The rate of alcohol consumption is increasing rapidly among low- and middle-income countries, particularly in Asia and Africa, Dr Shekhar Saxena explains in a WHO podcast.

Jim's battle with alcohol began in the United Kingdom when he was 14 years old.

He remembers stealing money from his mother's purse and giving it to a friend's older brother to buy booze for him. Whenever Jim walked down the street with a brown bag full of assorted alcohol, he "felt like a man".

He considered the behavior normal. He was young and naive, and the UK has the highest number of underage drinkers in the world, a recent Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development study says.

But when Jim moved to Hong Kong at age 16, alcohol became his worst enemy disguised as his best friend. It became easier and easier to binge drink but nearly impossible to tell it was a problem.

"If you didn't drink, people thought you were weird," he says. "Parents would stock their house with alcohol for house parties so their kids wouldn't lose face."

It was not until his early 20s that he realized something was wrong, although he struggled to figure out what it was. He consulted a psychiatrist who happened to be part of the British armed forces.

"Of course, the army had a big drinking culture, too," Jim says.

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