Alcoholism and Its Effects on the Brain

Do you or does someone you know struggle with alcohol? Did you know that the abuse of alcohol, such as binge drinking or alcohol dependency, causes damaging effects to your brain? Are you on the verge of seeking help for problems with alcohol? Are you simply curious about the impact of unhealthy drinking habits? Learning about alcohol addiction and its effects on the brain can help you or a loved one understand alcoholism and seek help if needed.

What Happens as Your Brain and Body Process Alcohol?

Why is it that you take the first drink? When you take that first sip of alcohol, you hope to feel relief. Perhaps you want to feel intoxicated because intoxication lets you separate yourself from your problems, your stress. What happens between your brain, body, and the alcohol to make you feel this way, though? The more you drink in one sitting, the frequency and amount you drink, causes you to become further intoxicated. The seven stages of alcohol intoxication are described by symptoms associated with each level.

#1. Subliminal Intoxication

During the subliminal intoxication stage, your blood alcohol content (BAC) ranges between 0.01 and 0.05. This level of intoxication is achievable from one drink for most men and women. Your reaction time, behavior, and judgment are affected at this stage. Albeit minor changes in your personality occur due to this level of intoxication, it usually only requires one more drink to reach the legal limit for driving under the influence.

#2. Euphoria

During the euphoria stage, your BAC ranges between 0.03 and 0.12. When in this stage of intoxication, you are most likely above the legal limit to drive. The euphoria stage is signaled by your brain’s greater dopamine release. Due to this release of dopamine, you start to feel a greater sense of relaxation in your body and gain heightened confidence. Your ability to reason and your memory has become slightly impaired at this stage of intoxication.

#3. Excitement

During the excitement stage, your BAC ranges between 0.09 and 0.25. The excitement stage is signaled by the effect of intoxication on your brain’s occipital, temporal, frontal, and parietal lobes of the brain. While these different lobes are affected by your intoxication, you experience physical impairments to your senses, such as worsened vision, speech,  hearing, and reduced motor control. Because your senses are overcome by intoxication, you also experience mental ailments, such as mood swings and impaired judgment.

#4. Confusion

During the confusion stage, your BAC ranges between 0.18 and 0.3. At this stage of alcohol intoxication, you become disoriented. You further experience a lack of control over your senses. Your cerebellum, which controls your coordination and balance, is also affected. As a result, you may struggle with walking and even standing during the confusion stage. You may also be affected by nausea and vomiting, meaning you pose the risk of blacking out, experiencing temporary loss of memory and consciousness.

#5. Stupor

During the stupor stage, your BAC is 0.25 or above. At this stage, you will start to develop symptoms of alcohol poisoning. You will experience all the symptoms mentioned above but to a worsened degree. Your mental, physical, and sensory functions are near-completely impaired. The severity of your intoxication has reached a dangerous level.

#6. Coma

Typically, you are at risk of entering a coma due to alcohol intoxication when you reach a BAC of 0.35. A coma results from dangerous alcohol intoxication due to a failure in the respiratory system, circulatory system, and motor control.

#7. Death

Death due to alcohol intoxication and poisoning typically occurs when you reach a BAC of 0.45. In addition to core systems failing within your body, your brain has lost its ability to function at this stage. Without its vital functions, you can no longer sustain life and perish as a result.

What Effects Does Alcohol Have On the Brain?

Alcoholism has damaging effects on the brain. These effects cause physical and mental impairment. According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), the following are physical and mental impairments due to alcoholism:

• Difficulty walking
• Blurred vision
• Slurred speech
• Slowed reaction times
• Lapse of memory

Many of these impairments exist due to short-term consumption; however, long-term exposure to unhealthy drinking habits will exacerbate and worsen these conditions and afflict you with further health complications.

Several influencing factors affect how you become impaired by alcohol. These factors include:

• Quantity of consumption
• The age when you first began drinking
• How long you have been drinking
• Your current age, level of education, gender, genetic background, and family history of alcoholism
• Whether or not you were at risk of prenatal alcohol exposure
• The general status of your health

Additionally, alcoholism can cause many different mental health disorders to form depending on the person. Some psychiatric disorders commonly associated with alcoholism include:

• Independent major depression disorder
• Bipolar disorder
• Anxiety disorders
• Antisocial personality disorder

Alcohol and Independent Major Depression Disorder

Mood swings are a common occurrence for individuals seeking psychiatric help for alcoholism. These include feelings of highs-and-lows, similarly described as a rollercoaster of emotions.

Part of the reason that those suffering from alcoholism widely experience mood swings is because alcohol itself is a depressant drug. Although alcohol is thought of as a confidence booster and gives you the energy to complete tasks or get through the day undeterred by stress, it increases the threshold it takes for you to experience positive emotions. As a result, alcohol is a significant factor in certain types of depression.

In the case of alcoholism, those suffering from major depressive disorder are unique from general instances of depression. The type of depression that stems from alcoholism includes certain traits not seen by those with general major depression disorder, including:

• A time-limited consequence of alcohol’s depressant effects on the brain
• A structure of symptoms leading to more extensive diagnoses associated with alcoholism
• An independent major depressive disorder coexisting with or even predating alcoholism

When a physician diagnoses a patient with any of the previously mentioned conditions due to their depression, it is widely accepted that the patient is thought to suffer from a comorbid major depressive disorder. A comorbid major depressive disorder is a type of depression that occurs in the presence of another illness.

Alcohol and Bipolar Disorder

Bipolar disorder is the second-most common disorder associated with alcohol dependence. Other than bipolar disorder, the most commonly associated disorder with alcohol dependence is other drug use disorders.

The correlation between alcoholism and bipolar disorder is not fully understood; however, certain factors play a role in determining individuals who are affected by co-occurring conditions. It should be said that alcoholism does not cause bipolar disorder. Instead, those who have bipolar disorder are more susceptible to developing alcoholism.

What Is bipolar disorder?

According to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), “bipolar disorder (formally called manic-depressive illness or manic depression) is a mental disorder that causes unusual shifts in mood, energy, activity levels, concentration, and the ability to carry out day-to-day tasks.” To further clarify, there are three types of bipolar disorder. They all demonstrate the symptoms of changes in mood, energy, and activity levels.

Mood changes with bipolar disorder range from feeling extreme happiness, extreme irritability, moments of energized behavior, and feeling severe depression. Severe episodes of bipolar disorder are called manic episodes, and less severe episodes are called hypomanic episodes.

The three types of bipolar disorder are:

• Bipolar I Disorder
• Bipolar II Disorder
• Cyclothymic Disorder

Alcohol and Anxiety Disorders

Consuming alcohol has an adverse effect on those who have anxiety disorders. Alcohol tends to worsen symptoms affiliated with anxiety disorders. Dealing with stressful days becomes more challenging, and minor issues become tremendous mental obstacles.

Consuming alcohol as a way to self-medicate an anxiety disorder will only provide you with temporary relief. It is genuinely doing you more harm than good. Drinking in large quantities over long periods can increase anxious thoughts. The idea of unwinding with alcohol leads to using it as a substitute for healthy coping habits.

How Does Alcohol Worsen Anxiety?

Alcohol consumption has a chemical effect on your brain. It affects the levels of serotonin produced due to its depressant effects. Although you may not feel the worsened effects of anxiety while under the influence, you will feel it once your inebriated state has worn off.

This starts a line of thinking — how bad is the type of anxiety you get from alcohol consumption? Combine heavy drinking with long-term consumption, and you can expect alcohol-induced anxiety to last anywhere between several hours up to a day after taking the first drink.

Alcohol and Antisocial Personality Disorder

What is an antisocial personality disorder (ASPD)? An antisocial personality disorder is when you do not know how to behave toward others, often resulting in disrespectful, manipulative, or aggressive behavior. Those with antisocial personality disorder demonstrate an inability to follow social norms. Because ASPD is a personality disorder, it affects how you think and act.

ASPD affects approximately a low four percent of people in the United States. Representing such a small percentage among the general population, it is surprising to say that 18% of people with substance use disorder also have ASPD, according to The National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions.

It is commonly believed that ASPD and alcohol use disorder (AUD) are co-occurring disorders rather than one causing the other. However, alcohol does have the ability to worsen symptoms of ASPD, such as apathy for others and irritability.

Why is there a significant correlation between alcohol use disorder and ASPD? In short, people with antisocial personality disorder use alcohol as an alternative way to cope with symptoms. Because alcohol is a depressant, self-medicating fails to be beneficial in the long run. As a result, you need more alcohol to cope with symptoms as time goes on, leading to alcohol dependence and alcoholism.

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