• It’s a social lubricant. It has helped me form and maintain friendships and deeper relationships. • Made it easier to form friendships at the start of university. Can put pressure on romantic relationships though. • Bonding with people over drunken antics. • By getting blackout drunk and making decisions I would never ever have made if sober. • Alcohol has encouraged me to be more confident in forming new friendships. • Bad, I tend to do things that I wouldn’t sober and the relationship I have suffers. • I first hooked up with my girlfriend at the LCR, we were both drunk; I owe my relationship to alcohol. • I got too drunk and was taken advantage of by a man, when I tried to go public about it, he retaliated and hurled abuse at me telling me that “people know him”, so his reputation couldn’t be marred.
• I have had to go to A&E over injuries caused whilst drunk. • Once I got hypothermia as a result of being so drunk. • Having diabetes, drinking can mess up my blood sugars for a couple of days. • I have had acid reflux, a kidney infection from cystitis caused by drinking, I’ve had quite a few injuries from falling over, one of which cumulated in puncturing a muscle in my leg. • Immediate effects in terms of being hungover or getting injured. Long term, it has indirectly affected my mental health and my liver is probably screaming for mercy. • I destroyed my stomach lining through alcohol and now have to counteract it with dietary needs and medication. • Exacerbates my depression. • Self harming increased. • Broken ankle, broken glass in hand. Shattered dignity.. Bruised, so bruised. • Beginnings of developing some sort of addiction.