Question:
This is the only category where alcohol is specifically mentioned,
though liver problems are also commonly associated with heavy drinking
(cf. George Best, Alex Higgins etc.). The figures for "chronic liver
disease" tell a different story, however, with a lower death rate from
this cause for men in the Highlands (maybe because they have all died
young due to "mental and behavioural disorders"?) and a slightly
higher rate than average for Highland women (though still lower than
that for their menfolk).
Maybe Highland men's livers are genetically predisposed to the
consumption of alcohol without causing problems, whereas their brains
are not? There certainly is a very high incidence of certain mental
conditions - schizophrenia, for example, in the Highlands.
Answer:
I've just been checking the information on deaths by sex, cause and
administrative area for last year on
http://wood.ccta.gov.uk/grosweb/grosweb.nsf/pages/00sect6
and note that deaths caused by "mental and behavioural disorders due
to alcohol" in the Highlands are, indeed, running at a rate almost
twice as high as for Scotland as whole. For men in the Highlands
there were 19 such deaths (out of a total of 1199) and for women, 7
(out of 1211), whereas for Scotland as a whole there were 239 (out of
27511) and 91 (out of 30288) respectively. This is the only category where alcohol is specifically mentioned,
though liver problems are also commonly associated with heavy drinking
(cf. George Best, Alex Higgins etc.). The figures for "chronic liver
disease" tell a different story, however, with a lower death rate from
this cause for men in the Highlands (maybe because they have all died
young due to "mental and behavioural disorders"?) and a slightly
higher rate than average for Highland women (though still lower than
that for their menfolk).
Maybe Highland men's livers are genetically predisposed to the
consumption of alcohol without causing problems, whereas their brains
are not? There certainly is a very high incidence of certain mental
conditions - schizophrenia, for example, in the Highlands.
Death, of course, is only the most extreme result of over-indulgence,
and there may be other statistics which can back up Micheil's claim,
though I haven't found them yet. When I lived in the north of
Scotland, I observed that it was a common practice for some men to go
on a "bender" for several days, usually ending up in Dr Gray's
hospital in Elgin, where they would "dry out". I wouldn't have said
that anything like 60% of men in Forres were like that though - more
like about 0.06%. I suppose it depends on what is considered a
"problem" with alcohol.
The best description of alcoholism I have ever read appears in the
first four chapters of the book _Alcoholics_Anonymous_, from which the
well known fellowship took its name. The book is available online, in
HTML format, and can also be downloaded in Windows help file format. http://www.recovery.org/aa/bigbook/ww/index.html
http://www.recovery.org/aa/download/bbhelp.html
I think that any alcoholic reading the first four chapters will
recognise themselves. Alcoholism is a tricky thing in that there is a
world of difference between alcoholism and simple heavy drinking, as
the book makes clear.
It is worth pointing out that Alcoholics Anonymous, as a method of
recovery, is not for everyone. Some folk try AA for years and find it
does not work, yet since AA tends to be somewhat evangelical in tone,
preaching a message that (to an extent and more so in some groups than
others) AA is "the only way" to recover, often folk don't try other
avenues.
This is foolish indeed. What fits one does not necessarily fit all
and, if the AA approach is tried and fails, there are a plethora of
other things that one can try, as an alternative to or in conjunction
with AA. There are recovery methods such as Smart Recovery or
Rational Recovery, some folk achieve lasting recovery from alcoholism
with the assistance of an Alcohol Advice Centre or the help of their
local church, while still others are able to recover on their own.
http://www.rational.org
http://www.smartrecovery.org/
AA can contain a number of pitfalls for the unwary, and since it is an
entirely unregulated, unsupervised group of alcoholics, sometimes what
takes place is not ideal. Rebecca Fransway has written a book on
Alcoholics Anonymous and other 12-step fellowships, and describes some
of her own experiences, and those of other folks who have similarly
found the 12-step experiencing wanting, in "12-Step Horror Stories:
True Tales of Misery, Betrayal, and Abuse in AA, NA, and 12-Step
Treatment":
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1884365248/o/qid=/sr=8-1/ref...
There are also, as you might expect, a number of groups on the internet
discussing recovery from alcoholism and also a group devoted to those
who feel they have been harmed by 12-step recovery itself:
news:alt.recovery.aa
news:alt.recovery.from-12-steps
These groups are part of the internet and so the usual caveat emptor
applies; trolls, flaming etc are a regular feature of the groups,
however there is a lot of worthwhile content there as well. I trust you jest? I can just hear Stalin chuckling from Down Below at
this resurgence of the Lamarckian heresy.
I don't think they'd be genetically predisposed, but I do think the
climate and local diet could be factors. Clean, cool air, clean and
essentiall;y mineral-free water, outdoor lifestyle and large amounts
of oatmeal and sea fish would all contribute towards better health. It
may be that with less junk food, their livers metabolize the alcohol
more efficiently. Also, the colder the climate, the faster the alcohol
dissipates as body heat.
