According to an extrapolation, more than 184,930 people in Thuringia, Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt have recently received medical treatment for alcohol addiction. This is the result of an analysis by the Institute for Health System Research of the Barmer health insurance company, which used data from Barmer policyholders who received a confirmed diagnosis of "mental and behavioral disorders caused by alcohol" in 2023. Compared to 2018, around 11,000 more people in Thuringia, Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt would have received the diagnosis.
People in the second half of life are particularly frequently affected. Around 40,620 men and 11,680 women between the ages of 55 and 64 were diagnosed with alcohol addiction in the three states during the period in question, it said. "The actual number of people affected will be much higher. It is time to critically question the social trivialization of alcohol in this country," said Birgit Dziuk, regional managing director of Barmer in Thuringia.
Alcohol addiction is a destructive disease with far-reaching consequences for health, the psyche, social relationships and career prospects. Despite the serious consequences, the problem is often underestimated and tabooed. Alcohol is easily accessible and therefore widespread in society, which makes it difficult to recognize and treat addiction at an early stage, the report continued.
