Effects of alcohol on our mental health.....

A thread

Mental health problems not only result from drinking too much alcohol, they can also cause people to drink too much.

A major reason for drinking alcohol is to change our mood – or our mental state.

Drinking to deal with difficult feelings or symptoms of mental illness is sometimes called ‘self-medication’ and it can make existing mental health problems worse.

Evidence shows that people who consume high amounts of alcohol are vulnerable to increased risk of developing mental health problems and alcohol consumption can be a contributing factor to some mental health problems, such as depression.

Alcohol depresses the central nervous system, and this can make our moods fluctuate. It can also ‘numb’ our emotions, making it conducive to avoid difficult issues in our lives.

Alcohol also intensifies our underlying feelings, i.e. evoking past memories of trauma or sparking any repressed feelings which are associated with painful events of the past. These memories can be so powerful that they create overwhelming anxiety, depression or shame.

One of the main problems associated with using alcohol to deal with mental health problems is that regular consumption of alcohol changes the chemistry of the brain. It decreases the levels of the brain chemical serotonin - a key chemical in depression

As a result of this depletion, a cyclical process begins where one drinks to relieve depression, which causes serotonin levels in the brain to be depleted, leading to one feeling even more depressed, and thus necessitating even more alcohol to then medicate this depression.

National Alliance on Mental Illness asserts that roughly one third of individuals struggling with alcohol abuse also suffer from a mental illness.

The symptoms of alcoholism and a mental illness often feed off of each other. Because of this, any amount of alcohol will affect a person’s emotional well-being and vice versa.

There are many mental health conditions that can co-occur with alcohol abuse. Common ones include depression, bipolar disorder, & obsessive compulsive disorder. Each mental illness affects alcoholism in a different way, depending on the longevity and severity of the disorder.

Alcohol can cause people to lose their inhibitions & behave impulsively, so it can lead to actions they might not otherwise have taken including self-harm and even suicide...There is a strong link between drinking heavily & suicidal thoughts & suicide attempts.

Extreme levels of drinking (such as drinking more than 30 units per day for several weeks) can occasionally cause psychosis, which is a severe mental illness where hallucinations and delusions occur.

The risk of developing a range of serious mental and physical health problems increases the more you drink on a regular basis.
A good way to cut down the amount you drink is to have several drink-free days each week and avoid binge drinking.

If you’re worried about your drinking or someone else’s and want to talk with someone confidentially, DM me to book an appointment.