Self-Medicating with Alcohol

Tagged with: self-medicating

Because it acts as a central nervous system depressant, alcohol is often used as a form of self-medication. Alcohol naturally calms nervous reactions, dulls the senses, and jeopardizes memory recall—bringing temporary but hazardous relief to those struggling with deep emotional and psychological pain. From temporarily suppressing anxiety and depression to repressing negative thoughts about the self and emotional trauma, alcohol becomes the means of attempting to medicate away pain and discomfort.

Self-Medicating With Alcohol

When the body experiences a threat of any kind, it reacts by heightening central nervous system reactions. Heartbeat tends to increase, raising blood pressure, the senses become heightened and a hypervigilant state of mind sets in as the body’s “fight or flight” response becomes triggered. In an attempt to eliminate these negative sensations, many people drink alcohol to counteract anxiety and emotional pain. When alcohol interacts with the body’s systems, it slows heartbeat and breathing, and scatters the mind so that traumatized individuals can no longer focus on the feelings and thoughts at hand.

Issues With Using Alcohol to Self-Medicate

Unfortunately, using alcohol to self-medicate is at best a fleeting solution to deep emotional trauma and negative feelings. Alcohol can actually exacerbate anxiety responses, triggering depression, encouraging isolation and covering the mind in a haze of emotional numbness. Physically, alcohol makes our minds and bodies less able to cope with life’s challenges, as we never develop the coping skills necessary to overcome them, and we experience lower quality of sleep, less hydration and lower levels of intuition and cognitive acuity.

In inpatient alcohol recovery programs, alcohol dependent individuals first free the body of the physical addiction to alcohol that comes from heavy and prolonged drinking. Once withdrawal has passed, we become better able to cope with past trauma and negative self views. We can begin to deal with the underlying trauma—whether from childhood abuse, heartbreak, grief or low self esteem. Our minds and memories become sharper, allowing us to better know ourselves and remember and assimilate the perspective we’ve gained. We learn coping mechanisms during inpatient alcohol rehab as well, as we are given tools we need to deal with life’s challenges and obstacles. Additionally, many luxury inpatient alcohol recovery centers specialize in trauma recovery, offering deep inner healing that eliminates the need to self-medicate with alcohol.