Psychological Symptoms of Alcohol Abuse

The psychological symptoms of alcohol abuse can leave you feeling overwhelmed and hopeless.

People tend to use alcohol as a coping mechanism for problems or stress, but the psychological symptoms of alcohol abuse can cause more problems and stress in a person’s life in the long run.

Alcohol and the Brain

Alcohol is a depressant that affects the neurotransmitters in the brain causing mixed signals to occur while lowering a person’s inhibitions. Alcohol affects the brain’s overall chemistry which in small amounts can cause a person to feel relaxed; however when alcohol abuse occurs a person can become more violent and angry due to the apathy and lack of judgment a person may have when drinking alcohol.

Alcohol and Depression

Being that alcohol is a depressant and will affect a person’s brain chemistry it can lead to a person feeling more depressed. Alcohol can drop a person’s serotonin levels which are part of the reward system in the brain and affect a person’s sleep.

When a person drinks alcohol their body does not reach the deep level of sleep that they need to heal itself, which causes most people to feel unwell the day after drinking. In addition, alcohol also dehydrates a person which also makes them feel unwell the following day. A person who abuses alcohol will be causing their body both physical and mental damages, which will result in their brain chemistry to be off as well as their body to feel weaker causing depression to occur.

Alcohol abuse is also linked to a large portion of suicides. According to www.mces.org, alcohol abusers have higher rates of both attempted and completed suicide than non-abusers and more than one-third of suicide victims used alcohol just prior to their death.

Alcohol, Stress and Anxiety

It is an ironic cycle being that people drink alcohol to reduce stress yet alcohol abuse leads to more stress. For starters, alcohol is a toxin put into a person’s body; this already is causing strain on a person’s brain and heart if it is taken in high quantities.

A person who abuses alcohol regularly will begin to loose concentration, memories, and suffer from lack of judgment calls while being highly intoxicated. At the time of intoxication, a person may not realize the damage they are doing to other people or to themselves, but when they sober up and realize what they did, a stress induced state can occur.

The abuse of alcohol can lead to the loss of a job by poor work ethic due to the effects of the alcohol and can lead to failure and abuse in relationships. The actions people do when abusing alcohol as well as the effects of alcohol on a person’s body can cause more stress and anxiety to occur once a person has sobered up.

The psychological symptoms of alcohol abuse can significantly affect a person’s life causing stress and depression to overwhelm them and it can be a vicious cycle that will continue to occur unless the person abusing alcohol decides to stop and make a change.