Why Some Alcoholics Become Angry, Mean and Aggressive?

Aggression and tearfulness were also often reported by heavy drinkers regardless of whether they drank at home, on their own, or out with friends. Consistently, the participants reported different emotional responses to different alcoholic beverages. However, alcohol-related aggression does not occur in the majority of all chronic alcohol consumers or all alcohol-dependent individuals. Maladaptive reasons for drinking, such as drinking as a coping mechanism (e18), and the assumption that aggression is an acceptable form of social interaction (e19), also play a major role. The FHE Health team is committed to providing accurate information that adheres to the highest standards of writing. If one of our articles is marked with a ‘reviewed for accuracy and expertise’ badge, it indicates that one or more members of our team of doctors and clinicians have reviewed the article further to ensure accuracy.

That trait is the ability to consider the future consequences of current actions. However, Prof. Bellis and colleagues warn that the relationship between what kind of alcohol we drink and how we end up feeling may not be causal, as this was only an observational study. The team explains that these results suggest that people who drink excessively may feel motivated to do so because they expect that alcohol will boost positive emotions.

Why is anger so common among people who drink?

Alcohol tends to affect short-term or prospective memory more often. Prospective memory is day-to-day brain function, specifically, remembering to complete daily activities. Memory is divided is into retrospective (long-term) and prospective or working (short-term) memory. alcoholic rage syndrome Retrospective memory is remembering all events and episodes that have happened in our lifetime. However, you can make lifestyle changes to help you reduce your anxiety as well as learn to cope with it. It can cheer you up after a rough day or make you feel more sedated.

• Try to talk to someone about it, even if they’re not involved in the situation.
• These individuals may be shyer but may also struggle with depression, anxiety, or fear.
• We don’t realize that there is often an earnest desire for joy or relief behind each pour.
• Through this analysis, we can begin to understand how a person can change from sweet to sour with just a few drinks in their system.
• While the study did not support a significant difference between groups high and low in anger, these results support the notion that such impairment in facial recognition may contribute to aggressive responding.
• Typically, support groups have professional leaders, like social workers or psychologists, so you can ensure you’re getting expert advice.

We often only see troubled behavior, like the cat getting into the trash at night or the drinkers who continue to drink despite doctors’ warnings, partners’ ultimatums, or loved ones’ pleas. We don’t realize that there is often an earnest desire for joy or relief behind each pour. Someone might dread the tossing and turning that comes with insomnia. In doing so, alcohol becomes a pre-emptive armor against perceived threats of pain or judgment.

Traditional ways of treating anxiety

It should be noted that the target variables of these randomized, controlled clinical trials were treatment outcomes such as remaining abstinent, rather than aggressive behavior or aggression. Training of cognitive functions seems also to improve patients’ ability to take in and process information from empirically validated therapies more quickly and with more lasting effect. This makes it possible to recall and use the newly learned interaction and coping methods better. Knowledge of the origin and treatment of alcohol-related aggression remains insufficient, despite the frequency of such aggression.

In the US, about 30% of murders are alcohol-related, and that number seems to be growing. Based on these statistics, we can see why alcohol and crime are often linked together. A person is less likely to hold themselves back (in emotions or behaviour) under the influence.

Cognitive Function

At first, drinking can reduce fears and take your mind off of your troubles. It can help you feel less shy, give you a boost in mood, and make you feel generally relaxed. In fact, alcohol’s effects can be similar to those of antianxiety medications. It’s important to remember that trying to get a drunk person to see reason can be pointless because drinking causes the part of the brain that’s involved in this (the pre-frontal cortex), to stop functioning correctly.

Heavy drinkers can experience severe and sometimes life threatening symptoms when reducing alcohol intake, so it’s important to have medical support. It’s common for alcohol and anger to be stereotypically lumped together, but many people labeled “angry” while drinking may actually be experiencing aggression or hostility. If you and your partner are only fighting when alcohol is involved, or the fighting increases as the alcohol consumption by one or both parties increases, then you’ll need to examine why it’s happening. Unfortunately, alcohol can lead to anger, to frequent arguing, emotional disconnect, or abuse. Occasionally unwinding with alcohol isn’t necessarily dangerous if your doctor approves. But once you start drinking, you can build a tolerance to the de-stressing effects of alcohol.

Unveiling Human Behavior: The Pursuit of Pleasure and Avoidance of Pain

Women were also more likely to report that any type of alcohol could elicit any of the feelings in the survey, bar aggression. Conversely, men tended to indicate more often that any type of alcohol boosted aggression. At the same time, however, more than half of the respondents reported that spirits boosted their confidence and energy levels, and 42.4 percent said that these strong drinks made them feel sexier. In view of the high prevalence of alcohol-related violence, scientists and clinicians have undertaken numerous attempts to analyze this problematic relationship and to clarify underlying mechanisms and processes. Both clinical observations and scientific data have shown that the manifestation of alcohol-related aggression is by no means uniform. Rather, it is becoming clear that individual differences play a key role.