A senior community mental officer at the Pantang Hospital, Richmond Baffour, has refuted claims that alcohol addiction is a spiritual problem.
He explained that people who have such assertions are struggling to overcome their addiction.
According to him, alcohol addiction is a psychological problem and not a spiritual problem, as some may argue.
He warned that alcohol consumption has physical and psychological effects on the person, and if not well managed, it could trigger serious issues for the mental well-being of the addict.
He disclosed this while speaking in an interview on Frontline on Rainbow Radio 87.5 FM.
He said alcohol intake travels through a process until it becomes an addiction.
“Alcohol addiction starts from the tolerance stage until it becomes an addiction. It gets to a state where you are unable to survive without taking in alcohol. The urge becomes so strong that you are unable to stop.
Alcohol is not water. It has serious medical effects and could destroy your life. At a point, it becomes so difficult to stop, and so people attribute it to a spiritual problem. At the addiction stage, the intake of alcohol has impacted your thinking and mental well-being, and so you have difficulty stopping. When you are mentally affected, it becomes a psychological issue, so it would be best to seek help at the psychiatric hospital for treatment.”
He further described it as a myth, claiming that a lack of alcohol intake could affect your general well-being.
He stressed that it the best to stay away from alcohol or be moderate in its intake.
By: Rashid Obodai Provencal/Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana
