WELLINGTON - Former Prime Minister David Lange is attending Alcoholics Anonymous after he says he hit the bottle to drown post-politics frustration and self-pity.
He told a mental health conference in Wellington yesterday that he had sought help from AA this year because he was relying on alcohol to help him sleep.
He said his drinking had become a problem since he left politics. Mr Lange retired in February 1995.
He said he had felt "in exile" in his own country. "You get consumed by all sorts of peculiar self-pity and I had nothing to do - I did a lot of things, but not in New Zealand."
Alcohol became a convenient way to get to sleep, he said.
"It became obvious to me that it was stupid. I've got a daughter, I've got a wife, and there was something gravely, drastically wrong ... It was something that had to be addressed."
Since his first AA meeting in March he had stayed sober, been "more rational at 10 o'clock at night" and was still managing to sleep.
His wife, Margaret Pope, said the counselling had helped a tremendous amount. "It has been great."
Mr Lange said the meetings were a "funny sort of experience" where he listened to wonderful stories about other people's experiences with alcohol. "The funny thing is, I recognise a lot of people."
A former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Sir Richard Harrison, said yesterday that he never saw Mr Lange drinking during his time in Parliament, but he knew other members who had drinking problems.
Sir Richard, who was involved with the National Society of Alcohol and Drug Dependency, said New Zealanders had little understanding about alcoholism and there was a huge amount of prejudice.
He hoped Mr Lange's admission would help to destroy these prejudices.
"The picture that most people have of an alcoholic is the stereotype of someone rolling around in the gutter after the pub has closed or in the park wrapped in an old overcoat with a blanket over him, swigging away on a bottle of sherry. But that is not the true picture."
The Alcohol Advisory Council's manager of treatment, Ian MacEwan, said Mr Lange had been courageous to admit his addiction.
- NZPA
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.
Latest from New Zealand
Man accused of abusing five cousins
A man's facing 27 charges related to the sexual abuse of 5 cousins.