Breaking free from addiction

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Today is Thursday, January 23rd.

Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day.

Good morning. I’m Myrna Brown.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard.

Coming next on The World and Everything in It: Alcohol consumption after the pandemic.

A recent study found that during the height of the pandemic, Americans turned to alcohol in increasing numbers. But even as life returned to normal, the rates of drinking did not return to the previous level. The researchers call it an alarming public health issue.

BROWN: WORLD’s Lindsay Mast has the story of one man who understands the challenges of quitting alcohol.

BURRELL: This was the main entry back in the day. This was the main reception area before they added on the atrium there, it would have been here

LINDSAY MAST: Terry Burrell was an alcoholic for 16 years before he first sought out a recovery group. He came three different times before he actually went all the way into the meeting.

BURRELL: They came over to talk to me and said, ‘Oh, are you interested in Celebrate Recovery?’ And I go, ‘No, no, I'm just looking. I'm just looking.’

Burrell’s heavy drinking happened long before the pandemic, but the challenges he faced apply to many people who struggle with addiction.

Burrell turned to alcohol to cope with his job in law enforcement. He saw some terrible things and started drinking when he was off-duty. At first, he could manage it. But over time, that changed.

His relationship with his parents and brothers eroded even though they didn’t know the extent of his drinking.

BURRELL: I was sick a lot when I wasn't sick, because I didn't show up because I was drinking instead of doing things I should have done instead of being there to help.

He tried to quit, but would relapse. He didn’t want to ask for help.

BURRELL: Being the police officer, which is a man's man kind of thing that you got to look tough, and you got to be sort of hard, and all those things. It was, it took a lot to get me to ask for help.

He wasn’t married at the time. Alcohol filled the holes where close relationships would’ve been.

Isolation often co-exists with addiction, which might be why a recent study in the Annals of Internal Medicine found that both overall and heavy drinking increased during the pandemic.

BRANDT: They were separated from their church groups, they were separated from their social support system…

Andrea Brandt is an addiction counselor with a faith-based counseling group in the Atlanta area.

BRANDT: They didn't know what was happening, they were fearful of getting sick, which– it was all traumatic. And alcohol provides a way to get out of that.

But the study also found that once the pandemic waned, many people kept drinking, sometimes heavily. Research from the Pew Center in 2019 found that Christians tend to drink at rates lower than the general population. Still, Brandt says she’s seen evidence of the uptick in drinking, and believers aren’t immune to addiction.

BRANDT: People experience pain, right? It's a fallen world and there are experiences that are hurtful and traumatic and substance use, alcohol is a very effective substance in helping people to numb pain and to feel better.

Alcohol is big business.

ADVERTISEMENT: Hey, what’s up? Nothing, B. Just watching the game, having a Bud. What’s up with you? Nothin’. Watching the game, having a Bud…

In 2018, the American Beverage Licensees Association reported that the alcohol industry had a total economic impact of more than $350 billion annually. And The Wall Street Journal reported this week that just one-fifth of adults account for 90% of alcohol sales.

But there are costs, too. An article in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine estimated that in 2010, binge drinking cost the United States more than 190 billion dollars. That’s due to premature deaths, lost productivity, and other factors.

And it’s not just binge drinking that’s problematic. Brandt says any amount of alcohol changes a person’s brain.

BRANDT: It does brain damage, even just a little bit. And nobody is immune from becoming addicted to a substance if they have access to it.

During the pandemic, alcohol became easier to access. Options for delivery and to-go alcohol increased dramatically.

And as heavy drinking has become more prevalent, more people may find that quitting can be challenging. Doing it too quickly can even be dangerous for someone who’s addicted. For Terry Burrell, overcoming denial was key.

BURRELL: I remember thinking inside, going, I can't be one of those people. You know, it can't be me. In my family, you know, with it can't be me. I was thinking that up to the day that I finally went to ask for help.

Burrell says he went to church growing up. But it was only when he finally walked into his first 12-step group meeting, that he allowed himself to fully rely on Christ.

BURRELL: It may have been the hardest thing I've ever done in my life, but it was the best thing that's ever happened to me in my life. No one looked down on me. Everyone accepted me. Everyone just cared about me and loved me and took care of me and wanted to help me.

Burrell says those 16 years he spent as an alcoholic feel like a void. He’s married now, but his kids have an older dad.

BURRELL: For my entire experience with drinking, I can't think of one positive thing that comes from drinking, you know, but I can see a lot of negative things that come from drinking, you know, it's just such a slippery slope.

Andrea Brandt, the counselor, has a number of clients who have had alcoholic family members. She says heavy drinking can have effects beyond the person who’s addicted.

BRANDT: I think that everybody is impacted by alcohol, whether it's through a friend or somebody that they interact with at church or somebody in the community. Addiction impacts entire communities.

But healing can come. Through Christ, and connection, and reaching out for help. Seventeen years after getting sober, Terry Burrell says for all the pain that his drinking caused, he wouldn’t trade it for the relationship he now has with the Lord.

BURRELL: It really made me depend upon him in a way that I never would have come to know Him the way that I know him now.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Lindsay Mast in Johns Creek, Georgia.

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