Are Your Drinking Habits Out of Control?

If you favour merlot over meditation to de-stress, it might be time to step away from the glass. Her World investigates the rise of the high-functioning female alcoholic.

- Lucy Cleeve

“It’s not like I was out of control, or getting so drunk I couldn’t walk. I liked a drink to de-stress in the evening, but I didn’t think it was a big deal,” reveals Aileen*, a 33-year-old marketing manager. “My high-pressure job made me feel I deserved to cut loose after hours on the daily grind.”

Gradually, over a couple of years, Aileen’s twice-weekly “loosening” drinks at bars in the CBD area, or at home in front of the TV, became a nightly event. “I started to crave the reward of a drink at the end of every day. Sometimes I’d be in a tough client meeting daydreaming about what my first beverage would be, and I started to realise that having a drink was more than just a relaxant. It was an essential part of my day-to-day life.”

Aileen always had girlfriends who were happy to share a bottle or two with her, and she never got drunk enough to find herself lost or in trouble with her family. “They were used to me ‘working late’ or being tired and were often in bed by the time I got home. In my mind I was still fully in control of my life, heading up major projects and making presentations to CEOs,” she explains. “I was just doing so with a fuzzy head and not enough sleep.”

Aileen’s story is typical of the new breed of high-functioning women alcoholics in Singapore. As a nation, we are drinking more than ever. National Addictions Management Service (NAMS) recently reported that the number of Singaporeans seeking treatment for alcohol issues has almost doubled since 2009. Worryingly, a 2015 study by Singapore’s Institute of Mental Health found that alcohol abuse is highest among business owners and those in top management positions.

Also on the rise among young women is binge drinking – having four or more drinks in one session.