As it is Alcohol Awareness Month, this week’s article will focus on the harmful effects that alcohol can have on an individual’s mental health. It is extremely common to hear someone say that they drink alcohol to feel happier, relieve stress or anxiety, or simply feel more confident. Although alcohol can have this effect somewhat in the short term, long-term abuse of alcohol can lead to serious mental health issues, and can actually provoke depression, anxiety, and other existing mental health issues.
Many people use alcohol to cope with the stressors of life. Since alcohol literally alters the chemistry of your brain, the short-term effects of drinking it often seem to be anything from a release of stress or anxiety, or a change in mood for the better; however, over the long term, heavy drinking can lead to several more life problems, and will almost undoubtedly magnify existing problems.
British mental health expert, Bridget O’Connell, is noted for her work pointing out the complex relationship of alcohol dependency and mental illness. According to O’Connell, many people who experience forms of mental distress will turn to alcohol as a form of self-medicating. This dependence on alcohol may actually worsen the symptoms of their mental distress. In many cases where both mental health problems and alcoholism exist, it becomes very difficult to determine which problem started first.
Using alcohol as a form of self-medication, says O’Connell, changes the entire psychology of the brain, reducing its ability to deal with stress and anxiety naturally; therefore, over time, it will take much more alcohol to experience the same reduction in anxiety. Drinking alcohol regularly can even go so far as to deplete levels of serotonin in the brain. Serotonin is an important chemical needed by the brain for mood regulation. Imbalances in serotonin levels are often the cause of depression in the average person. For a person who uses alcohol to get out of a depression regularly, the depletion in serotonin due to the alcohol consumed will actually create the need for more alcohol consumption to achieve the same effects.
As found in several studies done in the Unite Kingdom, as many as 70% of successful male suicides are related to some sort of alcohol abuse. In related studies, it was found that a large number of men and women had also consumed alcohol before harming themselves or others. As stated before, it is incredibly hard to determine which came first, the desire to self-harm, or the consumption of alcohol. Moreover, a common experience with alcohol abuse is memory loss. Even after a few drinks the processes of the brain slow down and memory is lost. Blackouts, or total loss of memory of a period of time, are common with drinking significant quantities of alcohol.
The risk of mental impairment through alcohol is significantly higher for children, and even people ages 18-20, as the brain is still developing during this time. In all, alcohol abuse can easily cause and perpetuate, serious mental illness.
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