From Curiosity to Dependence: The 4 Stages of Alcohol Misuse

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. Alcohol’s impact on cognitive function plays a pivotal role in the emergence of an angry drunk.

Why is anger so common among people who drink?

One study published in a journal called Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience sought to explore factors that make some people more aggressive when they drink. By Buddy TBuddy 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.

1 Outcomes of Alcohol-adapted Anger Management Treatment

People are exposed to instigating influences every day, but few actually lead to aggression. Thus, other factors are necessary to determine whether someone will perpetrate aggression at a specific point in time. Impelling factors are dispositional and/or situational factors that psychologically prepare an individual to experience a strong urge to aggress in the presence of an instigating factor. For example, a person with high trait anger is prone to aggression [11], but contextual or situational instigators must first provide the initial urge towards aggression.

What Causes Alcohol-Related Anger and Aggression?

It also raises the risk for negative consequences of outbursts related to explosive and uncontrolled anger. We considered anger measures and indices of AA involvement as potential candidates in this regard. Often, when children, spouses and other loved ones spend time close to someone who becomes abusive when they drink, their lives change for the worse. For example, multiple studies have shown that children who are exposed to trauma at a young age — domestic abuse or violence linked to addiction, for example — are more likely to abuse substances or develop mental disorders when they grow up. By studying subjects’ responses to various social cues and stimuli with and without the influence of alcohol, researchers found that drinking alcohol made people more sensitive to certain behaviors while also being less likely to follow social norms of politeness. Essentially, drinking makes us less likely to withhold our reactions when we’re angry or annoyed.

Strategies To Take Control When Drinking Is The Main Event

PHPs accept new patients, and people who have completed an inpatient program and require additional intensive treatment. People who are the closest to the alcoholic who struggled with anger often get the most abuse. You may find yourself walking on eggshells to avoid an alcohol-induced anger outburst. Alcohol severely decreases cognitive function, which makes it harder to problem-solve, make safe decisions, and control aggression. Lack of impulse control can make someone fly into a fit of rage or become aggressive rapidly.

Cognitive Function

But those who have a hard time controlling anger when sober can be triggered after a few drinks. They may have poor coping skills for anger control whether or not they are drinking. Learn up-to-date facts and statistics on alcohol consumption and its impact in the United States and globally. Explore topics related to alcohol misuse and treatment, underage drinking, the effects of alcohol on the human body, and more. Alcohol Myopia Theory also makes the counterintuitive prediction that alcohol intoxication can actually decrease aggression, even below that of sober individuals. Specifically, in a situation where non-provocative cues are most salient, the narrowed attentional capacity of the inebriate will be focused on those cues, leaving little space in working memory to focus on less salient provocative cues.

• This indicated that alcohol-induced aggression affects both the genders in different ways, suggesting that men are likely to respond in a direct and indirect manner, whereas women exhibit aggression in an indirect manner.
• Typically, anger will lead to aggression unless something happens to resolve the situation.
• But entering treatment is the best way to show the people you’ve harmed with your anger that you’ve made a commitment to change.
• Anger also contributes to relapse via psychological and interpersonal influences.

Alcohol effects the prefrontal cortex of the brain, the region that moderates things like decision-making. What this means is that people whose personalities make them naturally quicker to become angry than others are even more likely to lose control under the influence of alcohol. If you or someone you love is battling aggression and alcohol misuse, help is available. Consult with a mental health professional and/or an addiction specialist who can provide resources and recommendations for treatment options.

Study selection and data extraction

Unfortunately, feeling aggressive from alcohol can stem from more than one variable that’s beyond your control. Aside from existing anger issues, people can turn into aggressors when drinking for several reasons. 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. Aggression can also be rooted in emotions like fear or competitiveness.

• There was no significant difference in relation to age on onset of drinking, occupation, and education.
• Factors such as personality traits and comorbidities with other psychiatric disorders along with environmental stressors influence how one could engage in violent behaviors.
• Choosing Therapy is compensated for marketing by the companies included below.
• Studies have shown that serotonin levels may begin decreasing within 30 minutes of that first drink (4).
• Researchers were studying people in the Finnish population, of which more than 100,000 people have the genetic variation.

Another study explored the relationship between Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), alcohol use, and violence (Blakey et al., 2018). This was a massive study of 33,215 individuals with no history of active military combat. An increase in anger after trauma and the use of alcohol to cope with PTSD symptoms were stronger predictors of physically aggressive or violent acts than a lifetime diagnosis of PTSD without alcoholism and anger anger. Drinking cocktails that include energy drinks should be considered a possible factor for aggressive behavior as well. Researchers surveyed 175 young adults who mixed alcohol with caffeinated energy drinks about their verbal and physical aggression in bar conflicts. Results showed enough escalation in people consuming these drinks to label the beverages a “potential risk” to increased hostility.