How Alcohol Affects Your Mental Health

Many people frequently overlook the closely linked relationship between alcohol and mental health issues. Despite alcohol’s significant role in human culture and its widespread acceptance, this widespread acceptance makes it the most dangerous.

A deeper examination of the facts and statistics around alcohol’s impact on mental health reveals an alarming reality. Research indicates that consuming excessive amounts of alcohol can negatively impact mental health. This can lead to an increased risk of developing depression, anxiety, and other mood disorders.

Alcohol is a depressant that messes up the chemicals in your brain. Heavy drinking can lead to feeling different emotions and acting in unusual ways.

Alcohol plays a role in 41% of suicides, and 23% of people who self-harm are dependent on alcohol.

Effects of Alcohol on the Brain

Consuming alcohol in moderate quantities typically induces euphoria— a state characterized by pleasure, excitement, and profound happiness. Drinking alcohol in large quantities is linked to intense mood swings, depression, irritability, and feelings of nervousness.

Alcohol impacts many neurological pathways, leading to significant alterations in brain function. According to Dr. Banerjee from Loughborough University, alcohol reduces brain activity, much like an anesthetic. Moreover, prolonged alcohol abuse triggers cognitive shifts. How much alcohol someone drinks, how long they drink, and their mental health can affect how much they change.

Can Alcohol Cause Mental Illness?

The most frequent reason alcoholics seek treatment is because of psychiatric issues.

Drinking a lot can affect how your brain works and change the chemicals in your brain. This can lead to mental health issues, anxiety, and other problems. Therefore, it is unsurprising that alcohol can lead to a broad range of psychiatric conditions.

How Does Alcohol Affect Mental Health?

Alcohol consumption reduces inhibitions, resulting in a sense of freedom and relaxation. Additionally, low levels of alcohol in the bloodstream often promote sociability and an uplifted mood. Consequently, moderate drinking can be appropriate or even advantageous on certain occasions.

However, chronic alcohol consumption and long-term alcohol misuse lead to mental health problems. As a person continues to drink, physical dependence and tolerance can develop, reinforcing compulsive drinking behaviors. These biological changes contribute to the struggle to stop drinking.

Alcohol is a powerful psychoactive substance. It affects the mind by changing the brain’s pathways that control behavior, memory, motivation, appetite, sleep, mood, and more. As a result, changes in the brain can cause psychiatric symptoms and signs when someone drinks a lot of alcohol.

After drinking alcohol for a long time, mental health issues can arise while drunk or when sober. However, these problems usually get better when a person stays sober for long periods of time.

How Does Alcohol Affect the Brain?

When our brain perceives a source of pleasure, it activates our brain’s reward pathways, also known as the “reward circuit.” Alcohol floods these pathways with sensations of happiness, creating a surge of positive feelings.

Our conscious mind does not usually control these reward pathways. Stimulation of these pathways can alter brain chemistry. This alteration can create a desire to repeat the activity.

Alcohol interacts with various neurotransmitter systems in the brain, particularly influencing the brain’s reward and stress circuits. This interaction creates a reinforcing effect, encouraging the pursuit of the pleasurable sensations that alcohol induces.

As you continue to drink, you crave increasingly larger amounts of alcohol to experience the same pleasurable effects. This leads to heavier drinking, eventually altering brain chemistry to a point where the brain becomes dependent on alcohol. It can no longer function without it. Consequently, the brain’s neurobiology undergoes a permanent transformation.

What might have begun as a recreational means of enjoying oneself can evolve into a full-blown addiction. People often experience euphoria from alcohol in the early phases of drinking. However, as it continues to impact the brain, it can lead anyone to shift from casual drinking to alcoholism.

Alcohol and Anxiety

People with alcoholism are 2-4 times more likely to have an accompanying anxiety disorder. Generally, anxiety disorders do not show elevated prevalence among people with alcoholism. However, specific anxiety disorders like panic disorder, social phobia, and PTSD have a stronger connection to alcohol addiction.

Doctors stress the importance of differentiating alcohol-induced anxiety from an independent anxiety disorder. Alcohol-induced anxiety typically persists for days to weeks, often occurs after alcohol withdrawal, and can be managed through abstinence and other supportive treatments.

Alcohol and Depression

Alcohol-induced mood disorders cause 60% of alcoholics to experience a major depressive episode. People with alcoholism are at high risk of depression, the most common condition among them.

Alcohol dependency can interfere with serotonin routes, which are crucial for controlling mood, sleep, body heat, hunger, and discomfort. Interruptions in these routes can result in depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Numerous drugs utilized for managing depressive conditions concentrate on increasing serotonin quantities in the brain.

Alcohol Brain Damage

Heavy alcohol consumption over a prolonged period increases the risk of severe brain changes. Alcohol consumption, poor health conditions, or severe liver disease can directly lead to brain damage.

Wernicke Korsakoff Syndrome

Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome arises from a lack of thiamine, or vitamin B1. People with alcohol use disorder, called alcoholism, often face thiamine deficiency because of inadequate nutrition. Thiamine is important for the brain and other body tissues. However, up to 80% of people with alcohol dependence do not have enough thiamine.

Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome is a dual disorder comprising Wernicke encephalopathy and Korsakoff syndrome. Wernicke encephalopathy causes confusion, eye muscle paralysis, and difficulty with coordination. Patients may have trouble finding the bathroom or walking.

Korsakoff syndrome manifests through psychosis and severe memory disturbances, leading to noticeable forgetfulness, quick irritation, and difficulties in absorbing new information. Those affected may have almost no short-term memory, often forgetting details within an hour.

Detox from Alcohol at White Oak Recovery Center

Prolonged alcohol abuse can lead to physical dependency, so when you want to stop drinking suddenly, it’s dangerous. Alcohol withdrawal might pose severe, life-threatening risks.

If you or someone close is battling alcoholism, White Oak Recovery Center can provide evidence-based, compassionate treatment. Our medical detox program provides medical supervision to ensure your safety and comfort during the most challenging recovery phase.

WORC’s program ensures that experienced medical professionals closely monitor you. Your safety and comfort are our top priorities during your withdrawal and recovery. Contact us for more information on our medical detox and inpatient treatment services.