'There's a monster within' - recovering from alcoholism

"Shame. Guilt. An inability to live. I wanted to die." This is what alcoholism did to Matthew, who is now in recovery at Abbeycare rehab centre near Wishaw.

"Alcoholism is a cancer and especially in Scotland," Matthew says.

Indeed, there were 1,265 alcohol-related deaths in Scotland last year and about 670 hospital admissions per week.

The Scottish government hopes its new minimum price per unit for alcohol will help in the battle to tackle these issues. But for Matthew, there is no law that could have stopped him drinking.

"It's a disease that grows within you. And it really is like a cancer," he says.

The Scottish government is to introduce minimum pricing for units of alcohol

That's where the staff at the rehab centre come in.

Matthew says: "These people help to shrink, to try to cut that cancer out. Or at least realise why that cancer is growing."

'Alcohol is a symptom'

Matthew - who had his first drink aged eight - says the emphasis on tackling the psychological roots of addiction matters more than detox.

"Because the alcohol is only a symptom. It's not the cause," he says.

The staff at Abbeycare are mostly recovering addicts themselves and, for Matthew, this is a key point.

He says: "The only person who will ever understand an addict, truly, that need to consume their drug of choice for whatever reason, is another addict."

Matthew has struggled with alcohol addiction for most of his life, with the pain of his dependence almost pushing him to kill himself.

The private Abbeycare clinic seeks to get to the root of the psychological reasons for addiction

He grew up with an alcoholic father and says he used drink himself as a way to suppress his emotions.

This meant he never learnt to deal with them, he says.

"I lived in a constant state of fear," Matthew says.

"I always invoked anger because I didn't know what the feeling was. I pushed them down so long."

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He says this alcohol induced "venom" caused him to lose connections with family and friends.

"There's a monster within. And that monster is all my emotions all coming out uncontrolled," Matthew says.

"I wouldn't let them out, so when I drank you got it all."

According to Matthew, these deep-rooted problems are what really cause addiction.

He says the staff at the rehab centre have helped him to see himself as others view him.

"Because we never look in the mirror and see the same thing that other people see," he says.

"And I think they help you get to a stage where you actually recognise your feelings. And you recognise your blocks to recovery as well."

The cost of recovery

Recovery is not always an easy process and Matthew is now on his third attempt.

With a £9,000 price tag for a 28-day programme at the private clinic, it doesn't come cheap.

Matthew says he had tried to do it alone and failed.

"I tried for 40-odd years to do this on my own," he says.

He says he would encourage anyone who thinks they have a substance abuse problem to speak to their GP and get the specialist help they need.

Alcohol Focus Scotland estimates that the new minimum pricing of 50p per alcohol unit will save £1bn over 10 years due to fewer drink-related hospital admissions and arrests.

Matthew hopes that the money saved will be put back into NHS recovery services, educating young people and preventing another generation from turning to alcohol abuse.