Understanding Alcohol Use Disorder National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism NIAAA

In this piece, we set out to understand why some people change into the worst form of themselves when they drink alcohol, explore how it affects their lives and the lives of the people closest to them and discuss what actions can be taken to limit the damage. By Buddy T

Buddy T is a writer and founding member of the Online Al-Anon Outreach Committee with decades of experience writing about alcoholism. Because he is a member of a support group that stresses the importance of anonymity at the public level, he does not use his photograph or his real name on this website. In a 2017 report, researchers shared their findings of the relationship between alcohol and dating violence. There are a number of cognitive, neurobiological, and social factors that can influence how alcohol affects aggression. This point is easier said than done, but you can achieve it with help from a treatment program.

• Becoming angry or irritable when you drink is a relatively common experience — an often-cited body of research by the World Health Organization notes that aggression has a closer link to alcohol than any other kind of psychoactive drug.
• Once these factors are organized into the I3 framework, their effects on aggression as well as their interactions with other relevant risk factors can be examined.
• There’s no better way to put it — properly addressing alcohol-fueled aggression is crucial for your well-being and relationships.
• Cognition-relaxation coping skills (CRCS; Deffenbacher & McKay, 2000) was chosen as the anger management protocol for four reasons.
• The first session addressed increasing awareness of anger triggers and angry feelings, whereas the second focused on calming self-talk and problem-solving for angering situations.

The procedures of this review followed the Meta-Analyzes of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (MOOSE) and Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. Four electronic databases (MEDLINE, EMBASE, BIREME, PsycINFO) were searched. “For most people, 15 to 20 minutes will give you just the changes that you need,” he said. “You alcoholism and anger can take a one- to three-minute dip into peacefulness, and you can see remarkable results.” You don’t have to meditate for a long time in order to see positive results, Vishen Lakhiani, a meditation expert and CEO of Mindvalley told CNBC Make It. Venting won’t help you manage your anger, though, according to a recent paper published in Clinical Psychology Review.

Disruption to emotional regulation

The master’s level clinicians and therapists at Serenity Lane dedicate their lives to offering evidence-based, compassionate, and comprehensive addiction treatment because we know anyone can recover. We don’t want you to face uncontrolled anger or alcohol use disorder alone – we want to help. Finding wellness through treatment at Serenity Lane doesn’t just mean finding recovery from AUD.

If you think about it, a crucial part of being aggressive when intoxicated is lacking self-awareness. Those who don’t think about the consequences of their actions are more likely to adversely affect themselves and others. Additionally, when you don’t reflect on mistakes you’ve made, you’ll probably repeat them. Typically, anger will lead to aggression unless something happens to resolve the situation. If an intoxicated person becomes upset because the bartender refuses to serve them, help from a friend might calm them down.

FAQs About Alcoholism And Anger

Notwithstanding the progress that has been made in the alcohol use disorders treatment field, innovative treatment strategies are still needed. On the flip side, alcohol dependence commonly leads to significant withdrawal symptoms that are often side effects of alcohol addiction. Emotional withdrawal symptoms can include agitation, anxiety, depression, irritability, and tension as well as sleep disturbances, insomnia, and physical discomfort. Knowledge of the origin and treatment of alcohol-related aggression remains insufficient, despite the frequency of such aggression.

Disinhibition can make you unable to suppress or change an act of aggression that is not appropriate for the situation you’re in. If you have a natural tendency to be angry, drinking alcohol may cause you to become aggressive. “Trait anger” refers to a person’s general tendency to experience chronic anger over time. This may explain why they are angry more often and act more aggressively than someone who does not have this personality trait.

Alcohol Affects How the Brain Functions: Here’s What That Means for Your Anger

However, in order to develop specific treatment programs suitable controlled trials of treatments are needed, comparing specific forms of intervention to standard treatment. Third, although women comprised 48% of the sample, low statistical power prevented an assessment of gender as a possible moderator of treatment outcomes. Future research should assess gender as a moderator of treatment outcome and use that information to inform the content of alcohol-adapted anger management for alcohol dependent men and women. Muscle tension, headaches, irregular heart rate and blood pressure, sleep difficulties, and the potential for heart problems or even stroke may be possible risk factors for chronic anger and emotional regulation issues. Add in alcohol abuse, and the multitude of possible social, emotional, physical, financial, and behavioral problems related to alcohol addiction, and the risk factors and potential for negative side effects go up exponentially.

The journal Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology reports on studies showing that alcohol can increase aggression in both men and women, but more so in men. Alcohol impairs a person’s executive functioning, making it harder for them to think clearly and make rational decisions. Impulse control is affected, and individuals under the influence of alcohol may have a shorter fuse than they otherwise would. This is not to say that alcohol causes aggression, or serves to makes someone angry, in and of itself; however, it may be a contributing factor when it comes to difficulties controlling these emotions. In addition, alcohol abuse and addiction can result in poor anger management skills. Instigating factors normatively produce an urge to behave aggressively (e.g., provocation).