Feelings of depression or anxiety can be isolating and overwhelming, and people need to find ways to cope with these difficult feelings. Some people drink alcohol to try to help them feel better, but for people who struggle with anxiety or depression, alcohol usually makes these feelings more intense.
For those struggling with depression, alcohol is sometimes used to suppress symptoms related to their condition, such as irritability, loss of interest, anxiety, restlessness and insomnia. Drinking becomes a way to escape reality and relax.
It can intensify negative emotions
Similar to its impact on anxiety, not only can alcohol worsen depression, it can actually cause it too. When the effects of alcohol wear off, it changes our brain chemistry for the worse.
The good news is that reducing or stopping drinking can improve your mood and mental health. In fact, people who are depressed often find that cutting out alcohol entirely for just four weeks makes a clear difference in how they feel.
Popular wisdom holds that our true desires and feelings tend to come to light while we're drunk. Although drinking alcohol can definitely lower your inhibitions, there's no evidence to suggest that alcohol necessarily unlocks any deep-seated feelings or desires.
Key points. While under the influence you'll probably act differently, but that doesn't mean drinking reveals who you really are. Alcohol lowers inhibitions, leading you to act more impulsively and care less about how others adversely regard your behavior.
However, it is important to remember that alcohol also impairs our judgment and leaves us less able to think clearly. As a result, the things we say when we are drunk may not necessarily reflect our true feelings or beliefs. In other words, drunken words may not always be sober thoughts.
You might think that alcohol helps you cope with stress, but it is not a good coping mechanism, as it is known to increase the symptoms of panic and anxiety disorders, depression and other mental disorders, and the risk of family and domestic violence.
Some people may feel that alcohol temporarily numbs emotional pain. But alcohol cannot heal it. Alcohol slows the central nervous system, which may help you feel relaxed in the moment, says Dr. John Mendelson, a clinical professor of medicine at the University of California in San Francisco.
Alcohol is a depressant. It slows down processes in your brain and central nervous system, and can initially make you feel less inhibited. In the short-term, you might feel more relaxed - but these effects wear off quickly. In fact, if you're experiencing anxiety, drinking alcohol could be making things worse.
After a night out drinking you might wake up feeling anxious or worried about what happened the night before. This could include feeling on-edge or irritable and being unable to sleep or relax.
When we start drinking alcohol, our bodies produce extra dopamine, which travels to the parts of the brain known as 'reward centres' – the bits that make us feel good and make us want to do more of whatever we're doing [1].
Alcoholics frequently experience episodes of intense depression and/or severe anxiety. Depressed or anxious alcohol-dependent people often believe that they drink to relieve symptoms of sadness or nervousness.
Alcohol is something that people often use to help deal with negative emotions. It can temporarily shift the mind away from uncomfortable feelings such as pain, rejection or disappointment; towards ordinary matters – such as talking to strangers in bars and dancing in nightclubs.
Many people turn to alcohol during this difficult time to cope with their emotions and numb themselves, but drowning your sorrows in this way will only slow down the healing process and further complicate an already stressful situation.
People have used alcohol to relieve pain since ancient times. Laboratory studies confirm that alcohol does indeed reduce pain in humans and in animals. Moreover, recent research suggests that as many as 28 percent of people experiencing chronic pain turn to alcohol to alleviate their suffering.
Emotional drinking is a term that refers to the practice of using alcohol as a coping tool to soothe difficult emotions. It is the same concept as emotional eating, where someone overindulges in comfort foods or sugary treats to numb the pain. Both alcohol and food, when overindulged in, can lead to problems.
In addition to being associated with negative or unpleasant feelings, cortisol also interacts with the brain's reward or “pleasure” systems. Researchers believe this may contribute to alcohol's reinforcing effects, motivating the drinker to consume higher levels of alcohol in an effort to achieve the same effects.
Alcohol functions to slow down the central nervous system, creating feelings of relaxation. It also reduces inhibition, judgment, and memory. Because of these qualities, alcohol becomes a way to distance from stressors or challenges an individual may be facing.
"With larger doses of alcohol, not only can a person lower their inhibitions, but their emotions can also be altered," Glasner explains. This combination of decreased inhibition and increased emotion can create a perfect storm for physical affection.
If you've ever wondered if people are more honest when they're drunk, the answer is nuanced. While alcohol may encourage an individual to express a long-repressed sorrow or grievance that is real and runs deep, it can also cause others to lie.
Immediate medical assistance is necessary if the person is:
No longer breathing or does not have a pulse. Having difficulty breathing (choking, wheezing, or rasping) Breathing irregularly (less than 6x per minute, more than 20x per minute)
New research on alcohol's affect on brain activity helps to explain that age-old phenomenon: why people do stupid things when they are drunk. University of Missouri researchers found alcohol dulls the brain signal that warns people when they are making a mistake, ultimately reducing self-control.