The dark side of alcohol use

Alcohol is a part of so many of our lives and is deeply embedded in countless cultures around the world. A report on alcohol from the WHO estimates that around 209 million people around the world live with alcohol dependence.

For millions of people, what usually starts as “just one drink” carries the potential to form a habit with dark and sinister consequences. These risks can apply themselves silently to a person, so this blog aims to sound the alarm on the dark ramifications of alcohol use and misuse.

Why do we separate “dark” and “light” alcohol use?

Alcohol is deeply embedded in UK culture, tied together with so many of our social activities. It is the second most widely-consumed psychoactive substance in the country (behind caffeine) and the reasons we drink can be as variable as the reasons we take part in any hobby.

In a broad sense, recognising and accepting that alcohol can have a time and a place might motivate a person to rethink their drinking habits. People indulge in a drink for a variety of reasons, from a glass of wine after a long workday, to a shared pint with a friend while watching football.

Every drink comes with some risk, and recognising limits and lines for drinking, or creating your own lines, can be liberating.

Let’s try creating our own tier of drinking with 3 stages as an example. It might help contextualise how extensively dwelling in one stage could plausibly lead to the next.  Let’s consider:

Social drinking: Social drinking is usually defined as drinking alcohol without reaching the level of being drunk. It embodies drinking in a safe, legal and responsible manner, and a social drinker consuming alcohol doesn’t have their lifestyle disrupted.

Binge drinking: Binge drinking describes someone who drinks in excess. They might start as a social drinker, but repeated bouts of drinking lead them to crave alcohol continuously. The CDC quantifies binge drinking as an amount of 5 or more standard drinks on one occasion for men, or 4 drinks for women.

Alcohol misuse/abuse: A person who indulges in binge drinking may start to form habits of drinking in a way that involves misuse and abuse. Misuse is generally defined as drinking in a way that is harmful or being dependent on alcohol. Alcohol abuse and alcohol use disorder (AUD) are habits of severe drinking that lead to the poisonous consequences of alcoholism.

What are the most dangerous aspects of alcohol use?

Alcohol used in moderation can work as a “social lubricant”. People who meet for the first time through a shared hobby might go for a pint together afterwards, or two romantically interested parties on a date might feel alcohol gives them steadier nerves for the occasion.

The dangers of alcohol are not always apparent, especially in younger people or people who have never been caught in the clutches of alcohol addiction. Let’s outline some of the dangers of alcohol use and misuse.

Physical dangers of alcohol use

Even for first-time drinkers and newcomers to alcohol, the risks involved with drinking create a slippery slope laid on unstable foundations. Every time you drink alcohol, you don’t actually digest it; it works its way into your bloodstream and flows through every part of your body.

There are, of course, some pleasant experiences to be felt while drinking, like a sense of lowered inhibitions and, for some people, newfound social confidence. This is a result of alcohol impacting your brain’s natural reward system, so these pleasurable feelings lay on a shaky foundation to begin with.

This phantom feeling of a “reward relationship” with alcohol often makes people want to return to drinking, and one of the clearest dangers of alcohol use is its tendency to lead a person toward alcohol addiction.

The dangers of becoming physically addicted to alcohol are compounded by the fact that alcohol is, in many ways, completely socially acceptable and available at every newsagent and pub in the country.

If you’re searching for signs of alcohol addiction, some of the most prevalent signs can include:

• Inability to control how much you drink.
• A desire to cut down, and/or being unable to do so.
• Strong cravings and urges to drink, for inconsistent reasons.
• Failing to fulfil obligations for work, family or personal life.

Recognising these signs can be integral to devising a plan on how to stop drinking.

Psychological risks of alcohol use

Separate from physical addiction, psychological addiction can form as you slip between the elusive borders of alcohol use and abuse. Alcohol interferes with the brain’s communication pathways, resulting in the brain finding it harder to control your memory, speech and judgement, which can carry a person through a dense mist onto the path of dependency.

Alcohol abuse leads to symptoms of depression, anxiety and psychosis, both during intoxication and throughout alcohol detox and withdrawal.

Social and broader risks of alcohol use

In an attempt to understand the broader implications of alcohol misuse, we’ll consider social and personal risks.

In a personal way, alcohol can trigger a person into doing things they wouldn’t do if they weren’t drinking. A pleasant result might be a sense of “Dutch courage” or social confidence, but it’s incredibly empowering if you recognise the fact that these feelings are fleeting, unsolid and are, in essence, mere apparitions of genuine feelings.

Consider how alcohol is linked with antisocial behaviour. We’ve outlined how alcohol might positively affect your social skills and how the resulting action is only a product of alcohol’s influence. On the other side of the same coin, doing something antisocial while under the influence of alcohol is equally as likely to happen, if not more so.

A night of drinking is followed by a hungover morning, and hangovers are already laden with physical negativities that hurt and damage you. How about the psychological side? In the morning, we often retrace our memories of a night involving heavy drinking and feel a sense of regret, guilt and abstract disassociation, with thoughts like:

“I didn’t mean to say that…” “I shouldn’t have…” “I feel like that wasn’t me…”

These are common thought patterns that tear through a hungover brain, serving compounding damage as you struggle to get through the morning.

I want to remove the risks of alcoholism from my life

As we’ve displayed, the lines between use, misuse and abuse can be separated by the smallest margins. The decisions you make while drinking, though innocuous at the time, can lead to dire consequences and can activate dangers you didn’t think were possible.

Here at UKAT, we specialise in alcohol detox and provide actionable steps on how to stop drinking. Our staff are trained to deliver professional medical care and our team supports you and your loved ones with tailored detox programmes.

The road to recovery is never too far away. Contact us to step towards a healthier, alcohol-free life.