It seems that since the Covid-19 pandemic began, people have been joking about binging on food and drinking copious amounts of alcohol. Not really that funny, I am afraid. As a registered psychotherapist, I don't find substance abuse or addition funny.
I treat many people with binge eating and emotional eating. I do not treat alcohol or drug addiction in my practice, but since I work in mental health, it fascinates me. I think even if you have never struggled with an addiction or know someone who has, you can probably relate to an addict to some extent. Most of us tend to use some sort of behaviour to numb or distract ourselves from emotional pain. Maybe its just being a workoholic, or exercise, or shopping or something else that seems relatively benign. But avoiding processing pain will never make it go away, you have to face it.
Recently, Sean McCann, founder of Great Big Sea, published a memoir about his experience of being sexually abused as a teen and his alcoholism that began soon after. In case you are not familiar with Great Big Sea, it is an iconic folk/rock band from Newfoundland.
The book is written by McCann and his wife, Andrea Aragon, alternating some chapters telling McCann's point of view, and others, Aragon's.
The first chapters by McCann are riveting. He is a good writer and he describes his childhood growing up in a very religious Catholic family in rural Newfoundland. It is fascinating to me because, though we were both born and raised in Canada, our experiences could not have been more different. I grew up in an Ontario city in a family of agnostic, intellectual Jews. While faith was everything in his family and you didn't dare question the church, I do not recall anyone ever telling me what to believe. In fact, being Jewish to me, has always been more about community and culture than religion.
I did not love the first chapter written by Aragon, describing her childhood in the U.S. It is written in a way that seems to casual unsophisticated, but I enjoyed her contributions throughout the rest of the book.
McCann's story is, unfortunately, all too common. Of course, we have all heard the stores of sexual abuse in the Catholic church, but childhood sexual abuse in general, is far more common than most people realize. In Canada, surveys have shown that 30% of individuals over age 15 report having been sexually abused. The actual incidence rate is probably higher. Since I do trauma counselling, I see it in my counselling practice all the time.
Fortunately for McCann, he was able to recover from his alcohol addiction and deal with his trauma. He is now an advocate for mental health and addiction issues and uses music for therapy.
I burned through this book quickly because I found the story very compelling. I did not actually know much about Great Big Sea, so I enjoyed learning more about the band too.
McCann and Aragon now live outside of Ottawa with their 2 sons. I am thankful to people like him who are willing to speak out about their abuse and trauma. It is something we need to start talking about now. The shame and stigma is partly what keeps people from reaching out for help.
If you are a Great Big Sea fan than of course you will want to read that book. But even if you are not, I am sure you will enjoy it.
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