Onet
In the case of high-functioning alcoholics (HFA) Addiction can be hidden for years, even from immediate family members. These alcoholics are primarily people who hold managerial positions, are highly respected at work, earn a good income, and have an organized – if not ideal – family situation. The American dream, which actually turned out to be a Polish nightmare.
Businessmen, lawyers, doctors, journalists and celebrities. Many have alcohol problems. This is the image of “success in Polish”, “drinking in Polish style”.
There are hundreds, if not thousands, of such cases. High-functioning alcoholics are the norm rather than the exception in Polish society. — This is not surprising, since alcohol is usually sold in stores as food, and we are dealing here with a highly toxic narcotic substance, because this is actually alcohol, says Mikhail Shverchik from the “Desiderata” addiction treatment center in Rabka. -Zdrój to Onet.
Michał Świerczek has been dealing with alcohol problems for many years. He is a Certified Addiction Coach and a graduate of Kerr Brook College of Psychotherapists and Addiction Coaches. As a young man, he himself struggled with alcoholism and had not drunk for 38 years. He has been trying to help others for many years.
“The state benefits from the sale of a highly toxic substance.”
— We had a patient, a lawyer, who had excellent career prospects. He died of alcoholism a few days before his 36th birthday, shortly after quitting further treatment, Mr. Michel Onnet told. – I’ll tell you directly. When asked where high-functioning alcoholics come from, there is only one answer. He asserts that these things were created by a society in which drinking is the norm.
-Alcohol is common and acceptable. It is available everywhere, 24 hours a day. Per day. It is considered a food product, and a product that is in first demand, because even during the pandemic its sales were not limited. It hits us in the face at every grocery store, at every gas station. He points out that it is everywhere.
– At the same time, alcohol is a psychoactive, narcotic and highly toxic substance, punishable by the state, which profits from its sale – says Šwierczyk.
— Yes, everyone knows that the state should do something about it, but the alcohol lobby is very strong and will not allow any changes. Moreover, on Wiejska Street, in the House of Representatives, people also drink. why not? This is very normal. The therapist confirms that everyone says that to themselves until the crisis occurs.
There are no recent studies in Poland that would allow to estimate the number of high-functioning alcoholics. In the United States, one in five people has an alcohol problem, or 20%. Among alcoholics (data from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism – Ed.).
The last study of this kind in Poland, regarding high-functioning alcoholics, dates back to 2011. At that time, the University of Education for Social Rehabilitation in Warsaw examined the level of alcohol consumption among bankers and corporate employees in the capital and elsewhere. As it turns out, 18% of workers in the corporate world drink alcohol on a daily basis. who are they. As much as 40 percent drink alcohol several times a week.
— Frankly, the entire achievements of the government agency for the solution of alcohol-related problems, which included excellent therapists who benefited from experience and training, among others, in the USA, were lost in 2022. Then PARPA was liquidated and merged with the National Office for the Control of Drug Addiction, creating in its place National Center for Addiction Prevention. Shortly before that, the director of PARPA was fired because he was against the proposed form of implementation of this merger and also spoke the truth about alcohol-related problems in Poland. This made the Minister of Health at the time “lose confidence” in the director. In this way, one of the best systems for monitoring alcohol problems in Europe was dismantled. It was the only institution the alcohol lobby took into consideration. Now the alcohol problems are being “softened” among other problems that KCPU deals with. Attempts are being made to introduce various ad hoc procedures, which, however, no longer have the characteristics of regular procedures. Therapist Michal Schwaerczyk says that it took more than 30 years to create such a system.
“There is no training, especially in schools. Children as young as 12 start drinking.”
— This is not a misleading phrase: “high-functioning alcoholic.” Because for some time they work perfectly and brilliantly – says Onet’s interlocutor.
— I had an alcoholic patient in my care who abused alcohol for many years to get promotions and climb the career ladder. With the help of alcohol she went to sleep, with the help of alcohol she did business. She says she simply couldn’t get out of bed until one day, after a long-awaited promotion.
— Alcoholism is a chronic, fatal and progressive disease, often leading to depression and voluntary isolation. All this so you can drink in peace. Our patients included doctors, university professors, and a girl who worked in Cambridge, whose husband spent two weeks searching for her in bars, Swierczyk describes.
He confirms that real addiction prevention in Poland is currently insufficient, even in schools. — There were such programs, and I participated in them myself. We spoke to middle school and high school youth about truth, freedom, and love in the context of alcohol. Well, the young people were well aware of the topic, and some of them, from the third year of middle school, wrote to us in anonymous surveys that they were already addicted and saw no opportunity for themselves. These programs and training courses stopped after 2015, because since then it has become practically impossible to attend schools, says the therapist.
— We tried to organize a training for a school in Małopolska. The administration responded that they did not need it because they “did not have drug addiction or alcoholism problems.” Strange, in the case when the initiation of alcohol consumption occurs already among children aged 12-13 years! – confirms our interlocutor.
– This is life itself. Among these high-functioning alcoholics we have many doctors. Besides, Prof. Zbigniew Religa himself admitted that because of his alcohol problem he had to stop performing surgeries on patients for some time. The center’s patients include people who run successful businesses and can take a week off just to drink. We have highly paid specialists who are sent from abroad and whose treatment costs are paid by their bosses. Because they know that it is difficult to find similar specialists on the market, and those – if they recover – will work with them for many years. There are a lot of such people. There must be a very deep crisis for them to realize that they have a serious problem. The therapist indicates that they have a serious illness.
– Because the addicted person, before he hits rock bottom, will try to continue drinking. He will develop a system of veiling to justify himself to himself. He drinks because he has a stressful job, he drinks because he needs to relax, he drinks because it’s not a bad thing… There are many reasons. And then comes the big boom. The wife says she will leave and take the kids or else he will cause an accident while drunk. Then you have to face the problem, which is simply alcoholism, says therapist Michal Schwierczyk.
“They are covering up for the president who wasted.”
The therapist asserts that without this trauma, a high-functioning alcoholic could drink himself to death without leaving the house. – Of course, outside of work hours, because work is sacred to the high-functioning alcoholic. It gives him his only sense of stability. The family can and usually does fall apart, because these high-functioning alcoholics, even when they are at home, are not there because they are drinking. But you have to show up to work sober and ready to face challenges and successes, as our interviewer emphasizes.
– It also happens that they have well-trained co-workers who cover for the boss and do not let anyone in when he is not in proper shape and when he is drunk and sleeping in his office.
– All this until the high-functioning alcoholic becomes unable to control the amount or frequency of drinking alcohol, and worse, loses control of his life. The therapist indicates that he is no longer able to function.
— It sounds very bleak, but we are fighting to save every human life. But first they have to accept their illness. Because without this, he acts like a sick person who leaves the doctor’s office, tears up the prescription and then complains that he’s not getting better – he points out.
“The state does not see the problem. Because it does not want to see it. The nation’s existence is in danger.”
—More people with great future prospects and careers are dying. They die from alcoholism. The therapist confirms that this is the case in a country that makes temporary and visible profits from the sale of alcohol.
—Unfortunately, it is not said that the losses from alcohol problems are three or four times greater than the profits from its sale. We have permission to drink everywhere, and alcohol and its advertising attack us basically everywhere – describes Michal Świerczek. Even children.
— There has recently been a scandalous promotion of non-alcoholic drinks, which children can also buy, as they are supposed to be zero percent. It’s not zero, but sellers have a hard time turning down the sale. If they refuse, there are “thieves” in front of every store who will buy supposedly safe alcohol for these children for a small “dollar.” Since it is so widely available, it is not surprising that the problem of alcoholism has become just as common. Including “elegant”. However, you can drink branded wine as well as “Jabula”. The therapist confirms that there is no difference.
– The situation is very tragic today. After the pandemic, pure alcohol consumption rose from 10 liters per person over 15 years old to 12.5 liters per year. Meanwhile, research shows that drinking more than 10 liters per year poses a threat to the biological existence of the nation – points out Michal Šwierczyk. – It is like a relay race between generations. He asserts that drunk mothers give birth to addicted children who have fetal alcohol syndrome at birth – fetal alcohol syndrome.
— To get treatment reimbursed by the National Health Fund, you have to wait up to two or three months. Well, an alcoholic who drinks alcohol can drink himself to death within three months. In addition, only “alcohol-free” people, that is, those who do not have a single gram of alcohol in their body, are accepted for detoxification in centers funded by the National Health Fund. Most alcoholics I’ve met would never be able to “control themselves to zero,” the therapist says.
– Consequences are what they are. Day by day we see that the number of patients is increasing dramatically, and no one is investigating the problem. He says that the problem lies in addiction to the strong tissue poison, which is alcohol, which destroys the body.
“Monkey” everywhere. Colorful, seemingly harmless. It can kill
From Michal Szwierczyk’s point of view, the solution for Poland is to immediately stop treating alcohol as a food product and ban its sale in grocery stores. All advertising and promotions are prohibited.
We must follow the example of Norway and the Scandinavian countries. There alcohol is available only in specialized stores, and not everywhere, as in Poland. For example, in a population of over 600 thousand there are only five alcohol stores in Oslo. What about us? How many shops and stations are there? .. – indicates the wizard. – It will also be necessary to set a minimum price for alcohol and determine the hours of sale and the number of points of sale throughout the country, he says.
Let us emphasize that research conducted by Synergion in 2019 shows that 3 million so-called monkeys – 1 million of them by noon. The “monkeys” are carried in women’s purses, in their pockets, drunk in the elevator or in the toilet, littered on the side of almost every road, and most likely thrown out of a car window. Most likely, it was dumped by the driver of the same car, who may have bought it at a gas station. Attempts have already been made to withdraw alcohol from gas stations, but it turns out that the alcohol lobby has become stronger.
– I wonder whether the current government will be able to deal with the alcohol lobby? This problem affects several million people in Poland, including those close to addicts. The problem is so huge that it is invisible – the therapist sums it up.
