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Ian West/PA Wire
UK News

Most believers closely tied with addicts, former Christian alcoholic claims

by Eno Adeogun

Chris Wood from Christian residential rehabilitation centre, Yeldall Manor was also an ex-resident at Yeldall Manor himself after being an alcoholic for more than 20 years.

He told Premier more believers than we might realise will probably relate to his story.

 

"My church in the evening service is a big church; they have 350 in the congregation," he said.

"300 of those - their family will have an addict in them. That's my own estimate - that's not a government stat. But it doesn't have to be drugs and alcohol and the obvious ones. It can be sex and porn and shopping and things like that and everybody has different coping mechanisms.

"But most of the time it's secret and it's hidden."

His comments come as a new study by One Year No Beer, in collaboration with Stirling University, has suggested friends could actually be the greatest enemy when it comes to drinking.

From the 1,697 men and women questioned, 85 per cent said they had experienced bullying from friends to consume alcohol.

Two out of five said they get pestered into drinking by their partner.

Wood told Premier he wasn't surprised by the study's results as even colleagues can put pressure on co-workers to drink.

"It used to be the media was a very hard drinking organisation... so to belong to it, you would start to drink. But if you wanted to pull away from it or not get too involved with it, it can be exceptionally difficult because others will make you feel you're not a team player."

PA / Ian West

However, he encouraged people struggling with addiction to speak up and admit to having a problem.

He also highlighted how his faith continues to help him make the right choices.

"Knowing Christ makes a huge difference because he sits on my left shoulder all the time, telling me what I'm doing wrong but also applauding me when I do things right."

Listen to Chris Wood speaking with Premier's Cara Bentley:

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