I was in a terrible state': actor David Morrissey tells how social anxiety led him to alcoholism

"Drinking first was about anxiety. I've had this terrible social anxiety and that helped me get through it. He said he started drinking in his teenage years after the death of his father and then in my adult life, I couldn't stop. I wasn't drinking to be convivial. I was on my own in the pub. That was really hard and very hard for my ex-wife and people around me."

"Morrissey told Laverne that he was in a terrible state after the death of his father, and reflected on the trauma responses depression and anxiety that followed. He left school at 16 and spent six months travelling with a theatre company called Zip, based in Wolverhampton. I knew that, academically, I was never going to be able to go to university or anything that was never going to happen to me, he said."

"So, I had to make it happen somewhere else. It was hard for my mum, but I knew I had to cut the strings and find independence. They say that hyper-independence is a trauma response. I do tend to cut off sometimes. He got sober after calling a former colleague he knew was in Alcoholics Anonymous and whose number he had kept for two years."

David Morrissey described social anxiety as a driver of his drinking, saying he drank to get through anxiety rather than to be sociable. He began drinking in his teenage years after his father died, and later found he could not stop. He said he drank alone in pubs, which was difficult for his ex-wife and others around him. He reflected on trauma responses including depression and anxiety after the death. He left school at 16, traveled with a theatre company, and sought independence. He later became sober after contacting a former colleague connected to Alcoholics Anonymous, whose number he had kept for years.

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