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It’s a beautiful picture: Mona Vetsch (45) and former businessman Felix * laugh together. But it was a difficult road to this happiness. Tonight, the 65-year-old businessman tells SRF’s “Mona mittendrin” (new for Wednesday at 9pm) how the bottle of whiskey became her closest companion. And how the intoxication had put a filter on her life.
BLICK had already reported on Felix last fall, whose alcoholic illness developed slowly. At first it was a glass of wine in the restaurant with dinner. Soon there was beer, then whiskey. «I had less and less control of my consumption. Little by little I got deeper into the addiction without realizing it, ”he tells BLICK.
Tonight Felix even dares to be in front of a rolling camera and shows his face. It impressively describes Mona Vetsch, how he secretly snuck out of work at a discount store and poured hard liquor into the car that he had previously filled in a bottle of Rivella. Or how he bought alcohol across the border in Germany, so as not to attract attention in his hometown of Aargau. “He would often bring some leek stalks and some bacon to make it look like a normal purchase.”
Two bottles of brandy a day.
How bad it was for him, he again described BLICK in front of the TV show. “He drank two bottles of hard liquor a day, plus something to taste, beer or wine,” he says frankly. He had drunk vodka because he believed it would not produce a column of alcohol. “Instead, the smell of vodka is excreted through the skin,” he has known for a long time. In the end, it no longer had any quality standards, “the main thing was that alcohol was cheap to buy.”
Felix tried to hide his addiction for a long time. “I tried to drink in the most discreet and moderate way possible in company.” The tactic: “pre-glow,” so drink beforehand. Or sneak up on a party to keep the water level.
But in the end it was discovered by the employer. “Faced with the threat of losing my job, they asked me to do something about my drinking because they valued me as an employee and wanted to keep me.” They have gone to great lengths to take the necessary measures. This included detoxification, hospitalization, and therapy.
Together against addiction
Alcoholics Anonymous in Zurich helped him with this. At first I was prejudiced, even from American movies, that they were people who pray for health or cultists. But far from that. “When I got to know myself better, I mainly learned that I was not alone with my addiction.” He never felt a “You have to do it” or a “Let it be”. “I was more aware: I will, but I will not do it alone,” he sums up.
For Mona Vetsch, encounters with Felix and other alcoholics during filming were very moving. “They told me openly and sometimes mercilessly how broken they were with alcohol. And why were they still drinking anyway. It was a whole new world for me. “She has always tended to avoid alcohol.” I don’t like loss of control. “
Felix is now retired and dry. But he knows that he will continue to be careful not to relapse. In front of Blick, he said seriously: “Unfortunately, I will never again be able to spend so much time of my life sober and drunk.”
* Name known to publisher
Most people enjoy alcohol as a stimulant in a relaxed environment, for others it is an addiction problem. About one in five people in Switzerland drink it incorrectly. This means that you regularly drink too much. According to the Federal Office of Public Health (BAG), between 250,000 and 300,000 people depend on alcohol. Men generally drink more than women, although they tend to catch up. About one in three people has at least one person in their environment with an alcohol problem. The Alcoholics Anonymous hotline offers help 24 hours a day on 0848 848 885. Suchtschweiz.ch also provides information.
