The unspoken alcohol problem within the British Punjabi community has been depicted in a recent BBC documentary. Although social drinking is somewhat encouraged at weddings and other festivities, people tend to keep quiet when it comes to speaking about alcoholism due to the stigma, and the fear of being ostracised.
Drinking alcohol, you could say, has become glamorised within certain sects of society and while drinking in moderation to have fun may not be of any harm, making this a usual habit and increasing the intake day-by-day can lead to it becoming a dire problem, affecting family life, relationships, and your professional life, while having negative effects on your health and wellbeing.
Currently, there are around 430,000 Sikhs in the UK who make up a large proportion of the British Punjabi population. According to a survey commissioned by the BBC, despite the consumption of alcohol being forbidden in Sikhism, 61% of British Sikhs who were surveyed admitted to drinking alcohol, while 27% of British Sikhs reported having someone with an alcohol problem in their family.
Stigma and keeping hush
The fear of being judged may result in someone refraining from seeking help from religious organisations or community groups. Rav Sekhon, a British Punjabi psychotherapist who works with ethnic minority communities said, "There is really strong pride and honour for the family name. They don't want anyone to perceive them as having something wrong with them or any form of weakness."
Dr Gurprit Pannu has conducted research on alcoholism in the Punjabi community and says other medical professionals must wake up to the scale of the problem. He said, “There are a number of people in the community who are still in denial. I think this is an ongoing process of trying to open up the fact that this is happening within the community. What’s happening, particularly with the Punjabi community, especially as they seem to be biologically susceptible to alcohol damage, is that there are more deaths overall related to alcohol use. This is something that is not widely known. What sits underneath that are all the social problems that also occur. What we know is that alcohol is related to domestic violence; it’s related to difficulties that children experience, unemployment and financial problems, violent crimes and road traffic accidents, and so forth. There are all these hidden social illnesses that are also present.”
Jennifer Shergill, an alcohol practitioner at The Shanti Project, works with Sikh men and women to manage and overcome addiction. She points to the combination of British binge drinking and the culture of drinking in Punjab, which together create a perfect storm for some of the people accessing support services. She also states that one of the obstacles stopping someone from seeking help is the fear of someone finding out. She said, “There is stigma associated with chronic alcohol misuse and they don't want their reputation to be tainted... if there is a dependent drinker in the family what might people think of our family?"
Support from the community
Rami Ranger, the founder and chairman of Sun Mark Ltd shared his opinion about alcohol abuse within the Punjabi community. He said, “I am most saddened to see the BBC report on the increasing alcohol abuse within the Punjabi community in Britain. I am also grateful to the BBC for highlighting this real and endemic problem and bringing it to attention of the community. Something must be done quickly as alcohol abuse wrecks lives. A productive life can be destroyed within a short period of time with dire consequence for the entire family. I will urge Gurdwaras and Mandirs to run seminars with the help of experts to highlight the consequence of alcohol addiction and its affect. The specialist organisation should provide counselling where needed as these people genuinely need help and support. This problem can only be solved with a concerted effort by the Punjabi community along with the specialists in this field. I am confident, that the community will respond and meet with this challenge of eradicating alcohol abuse for the betterment of all.”
