Whenever I
go out to a pub or bar and decline a drink, people generally think it’s quite
strange. What's more, when we talk about jobs and interests it gets worse. When
I tell them I conduct research into alcohol and problem drinking they either think
I am joking, begin to shuffle nervously and assume I am silently judging them, or
perhaps more surprisingly they become generally interested in what I do and
start picking my brain.
When I say I
study alcohol, I’m only really at the beginning of my research career (well, I
hope I am not near the end of it). I recently finished a PhD in at the
University of Liverpool investigating disinhibition and cognitive biases in
heavy drinkers (you can read some of my published, peer-reviewed research here, here, here and here. Having finished, I decided that research was the job for me, and signed
up to three more years as a post-doc on an MRC-funded project that will examine the issues from my
PhD in more detail. When I tell people I
don’t drink they assume that my research interests have contributed to my
choice, when in fact this isn’t the case.
I’m still
not entirely sure what drives my abstinence. I did the usual heavy drinking in
my teens. Heading into the city centre tanked up on cheap vodka and someone else’s
ID, I had some of the best times (as far as I can remember!). At the same time, not all of my experiences
with alcohol were positive. When I did drink, it wasn’t in moderation and I do
not like vomiting! Drinking to get drunk is a strategy adopted by many young
people: they drink huge amounts of alcohol not for the taste, but for the
effects. Regardless, I think my experiences fit in with the well-established roles for both positive and negative experiences and
expectations as determinants of individual differences in alcohol consumption. The
idea that something can be pleasurable but can also have negative consequences,
and the ambivalence this causes, is what made me interested in studying
addiction in the first place.
So, how does
teetotalism affect me and my work? It has its pros and cons. I have to rely on
purely objective accounts of the effects of drug and alcohol use. This is
perhaps both good and bad. My discipline (experimental psychology) is defined
by its objectivity, and as noted in a previous post here, scientists shouldn’t infer
much from their own experiences. Besides, my subjective experiences of the
effects of alcohol are now a distant memory. However, maybe to truly understand
something you have to experience it (think Freud and cocaine or Hofmann and LSD)? I can honestly say that
sometimes, particularly during the early stages of my PhD, I did not feel as
qualified or knowledgeable as my peers who went to the pub regularly. I assumed
they held a greater understanding at least partly because of their personal
experiences!
Aside from
the obvious health related benefits, a major ‘pro’ is that I always have a
clear head for work; there are no hangovers for me! I have never experienced a
hangover but they sound pretty unpleasant. This means my productivity doesn’t
suffer due to hangover. Something that was highlighted by the government recently is the
cost to the economy of hangovers whilst at work. Over 200000 people go to work
with a hangover every day. However, I’d like to think I am not a robot purely
focused on my work and that the most understandable ‘con’ of my total
abstinence is that occasionally I think I am missing out on something. Alcohol
plays an important role in British culture (including at Universities!): socialising, celebrations, commiserations and everything
in-between. When I decided I did not
want to drink any more, the hardest part in the beginning was the peer-pressure;
my friends didn’t understand (some still don’t) why I would choose to do such a
foolish thing. I find that there is no
pressure from my friends now. Maybe they have accepted I am a ‘lost cause’, but
what I have noticed is that they themselves are starting to reduce their alcohol
consumption. I am now in my mid twenties, so my peers and I are at an age now
where heavy drinking is not compatible with our responsibilities. Have I produced this healthy change in my friends,
or are they ‘maturing out’ of heavy drinking, as the evidence
suggests they should?
Anyway, I am
not advocating abstinence for all: moderation is a sensible goal for most
people, and is likely to lead to fewer suspicious glances when you go to the
pub. However, I do think my choices give me a different insight into the topic
that I study for my day job, and I wanted to share those with you here. Thanks
for reading.
Andy Jones
(or: Dr Andrew Jones)
Twitter: @ajj_1988
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