Alcohol and depression

I have thought a lot about the recent events in my life and it made me understand the following: wise are those who learn from their's earlier mistakes. Today I would like to share my experience with alcohol and explain what is actually wrong with us when we decide to use it as a relief from stress.

I said what is wrong with us not with alcohol. This means I will not pose the latter one as root of all evil, which is the simplest thing to do. It is we who decide to drink it thus we shall carry responsibility. The same statement works with other things like drugs that we take, or guns that we shoot. In reality devils are in our minds only and they don't posess things as they do in horror movies.

Back to alcohol. The main mistake is to drink it when you feel bad. Alcohol is a depressant which slows brain activity down. Most people feel relaxed after a couple of shots however more alcohol may cause depression, anxiety and/or aggression. Let me explain it in details.

- The first effect of alcohol as it reaches the outer brain is euphoria, a sense of pleasure as it lowers your inhibition. You seem to relief from stress and feel relaxed.

- With more alcohol your coordination and perception are affected, you can have memory blackouts or have difficulty moving.

- As the alcohol reaches your mid-brain, reflexes diminish, you experience confusion, stupor, and may lapse into a coma.

Depressive/agressive behaviour apears on the second stage. If you felt good before taking alcohol your mood may worsen or change into aggressive. This varies from person to person and depends on many different factors. However, if you are already depressed as you drink chances are you will feel worse. There are more chances that you'd like to self-harm and there are many cases of attempted suicide people commited in drunk state.

To sum this up: when you are depressed and feel that you need to release from stress by drinking some - remember that you will have this relief only for a small period of time and will feel worse afterwards. Remember that and decide what is good for you and what is not. Remember that you're making your own choice whether it is choice to recover or to freak yourself out.

Take care and have a nice weekend!

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