What You Need to Know About Alcohol and Anxiety-Part 1
What You Need to Know About Alcohol and Anxiety-Part 1
Alcohol plays a significant role in our culture, often being a central part of celebrations and social gatherings. Whether it's clinking champagne glasses during New Year’s Eve, enjoying beer at a backyard barbecue, or raising a toast at weddings, these are the moments in our lives that are fun, joyous, and bring people together. However, while these festivities can create joy and connection, it's important to consider how alcohol may impact our mental and physical health, especially regarding anxiety. Unfortunately, alcohol is not always centered around celebrations. Alcohol can become a coping mechanism for dealing with life stress, anxiety, or other mental health problem.
In this blog, I’ll explore how alcohol affects the brain and body, impacting mood and anxiety levels. I’ll be drawing on my experience as a psychologist in San Francisco, working in a chemical dependency program and my specialization treating anxiety disorders.
Alcohol’s Immediate Effects on the Brain and Mood
Since alcohol is a depressant, people often feel some immediate effects when they first take a drink. This can include feeling more relaxed and at ease. Many say, “it helps take the edge off,” and this results in a changed mood. What’s happening in the brain immediately after drinking a drink, is that alcohol enhances the activity of naturally occurring transmitter called gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA). GABA is responsible for making us feel relaxed and calming anxiety for a short period of time. The effect of alcohol also increases dopamine levels in the brain, which gives a sense of pleasure and well-being, so we “feel good,” quickly. The downside is that these feelings are usually very temporary, and results in an emotional “crash” later, where we often feel worse. Another immediate effect of alcohol is that it disrupts communication between brain cells. If you’ve ever made a bad decision or known someone who did while under the influence of alcohol, this is the reason why. Alcohol impairs judgement and controls inhibitions. It also affects our ability to manage our emotions which can sometimes cause the opposite effect of making us feel more stress and anxiety.
Some people enjoy the immediate effects of alcohol more than they mind the aftereffects or hangover. An even more harmful situation is when a person drinks more alcohol as a way to deal with the aftereffects of alcohol. This leads to a vicious cycle of alcohol addiction or dependence. Either way, the habit of using alcohol to deal with anxiety has long-term effects.
Alcohol’s Long-Term Impact on Anxiety
Even though alcohol is released from our body a few hours after drinking, the long-term use of alcohol can lead to significant changes in the brain and worsen anxiety symptoms.
After the calming effects and the “good feelings” that come from drinking wear off, many people experience something called “rebound anxiety.” Rebound anxiety is where anxiety symptoms return more intensely than before. Since drinking alcohol disrupts the natural levels of neurotransmitters in our brain, chronic alcohol use can decrease the levels of GABA and serotonin. Decreased levels means more difficulty in regulating one’s mood which leads to higher levels of depression and anxiety. The ongoing consumption of alcohol also changes the brain’s chemistry such that it can make it harder for a person to feel pleasure naturally, leading to worsened anxiety over time.
Unfortunately, alcohol impacts anxiety not only on the brain and mood but also has significant effects on our body.
The Role of the Body in Alcohol-Induced Anxiety
Anxiety is also experienced in our body in ways that alcohol can affect. Alcohol consumption leads to an elevated heart rate which can mimic symptoms of anxiety and at times, it can even trigger the worst kind of anxiety, a panic attack. Alcohol has the effect of depleting some of the essential nutrients and vitamins in our body, leading to dehydration, which also contributes to feelings of anxiety and low energy. Alcohol also affects sleep; while many people reports that alcohol actually helps them fall asleep faster, sleep tends to be poor quality and people wake up not feeling rested and rejuvenated. This is because alcohol disrupts the REM cycle of sleep, which is vital for emotional processing and without, can contribute to higher levels of anxiety.
Alcohol and Anxiety: A Vicious Cycle
The relationship between alcohol use and anxiety can create a dangerous cycle in several ways. First, individuals who resort to alcohol to self-medicate for anxiety, can inadvertently cause alcohol addiction or dependence, while also worsening anxiety and mental health over time. Second, reducing or stopping drinking can lead to withdrawal symptoms, which can include intense anxiety, irritability, nervousness and restlessness, which perpetuates the cycle of drinking in order to try and avoid these feelings.
Special Considerations for Anxiety Disorders
There are certain anxiety disorders that can be especially affected by alcohol use. Due to the impact of alcohol on anxiety discussed here, individuals who have a panic disorder can be even more susceptible to having more frequent panic attacks with more severity. Alcohol use in people with social anxiety is often seen as way to deal with the discomfort of social situations. While alcohol temporarily alleviates some of the symptoms of social anxiety, over time it leads to a reliance on alcohol to deal with social situations and reduces one’s ability to develop self-confidence and skills to deal with social situations.
The combination of alcohol and anxiety problems should not be taken lightly. Since alcohol can worsen anxiety, not only can anxiety become unbearable and impact on daily functioning, but excessive alcohol use also has several dangerous effects that can lead to other mental health problems such as depressed mood, suicidality and self-harm, and psychosis (hallucinating and delusions). It’s important also to mention the harmful physical effects of excessive alcohol intake. In the short-term, this includes alcohol poisoning that can lead to death, and long-term, can lead to heart conditions, liver problems, and cancer.
In this blog post, we covered how the brain and body are negatively affected by alcohol use, and how that contributes to worsening anxiety. I hope this helped you have a better understanding of how alcohol and anxiety are linked and create a perpetuating cycle. In Part 2 of this blog, I’ll explore some tips to reduce alcohol use and anxiety. I’m a psychologist in San Francisco and I have many years of experience helping people with alcohol use and anxiety. If you or someone you know is struggling, please reach out to me for a FREE 15-minute consultation call. We can talk about what’s going on and see how I can help you get a handle on the anxiety and decrease the alcohol us, so you can feel calm, relaxed, more capable, and functional in life again.
Specialties include therapy for depression, anxiety, work stress, relationships, and life changes.
In Case You Missed It! Additional Blog Posts on Anxiety Therapy:
Anxiety Therapy San Francisco 101: 8 Self-Care Tips For Go-Getters To Reach Their Goals
Anxiety Therapy San Francisco 101: 9 Tips For Managing Anxiety In The Bay Area Professional Scene
Anxiety Therapy San Francisco 101: Journaling Tips To Soothe Anxiety
Anxiety Therapy San Francisco 101: Busting 9 Myths About Anxiety
