Society's Push for Alcohol

In time, due to the relentless push to drink alcohol, people can become convinced that social occasions simply must include alcohol, and the cues to drink can become overwhelming when parties are about to take place.

Providing alcohol at parties might be a traditional task, but alcohol also has some specific attributes that can make the drinks seem helpful in a party situation. For example, some researchers suggest that alcohol can numb the mind to such a degree that a user finds forgetting about common concerns and momentary crises relatively easy.

A researcher writing in the journal American Psychologistrefers to this phenomenon as “alcohol myopia,” suggesting that people who drink alcohol experience a temporary sensation of relief from anxiety and depression, and they may also feel more important and valuable. In a party situation, this can make some people seem more social and more pleasant to spend time with. People who have underlying depression issues or social phobias may developaddictions to alcohol as they attempt to self-medicate their conditions.

Alcohol can also reduce inhibitions, making people feel a bit more relaxed and able to share their innermost thoughts with people they meet at parties. People who have been drinking might feel more comfortable striking up conversations and maintaining the attention and interest of people they don’t know very well. People who have extreme social phobias or other social dysfunctions may find that alcohol is one of the only substances they know of that can help them to attend a party without feeling awkward and shy. This crutch usage can quickly become addictive.

Chemical Underpinnings

While it’s true that alcohol can be addictive due to the changes it can bring about in behavior, and the reinforcement people receive from others who observe this behavior, alcohol can also cause changes on a chemical level within the body, and these chemical changes can also be addictive.

Research

Research suggests that alcohol increases the production of endorphins, the brain’s natural painkillers. These same chemicals are also associated with pleasure and reward, and they tend to accumulate within the portions of the brain that have long been linked with addictive behaviors. An interesting study published in Science Translational Medicine found that people who drink heavily have higher spikes in endorphins when compared to people who do not drink heavily, meaning that alcohol seems to be reinforcing at extremely high levels.

The concept of reinforcement is important in addiction medicine, as using extremely large levels of a drug often causes severe damage that can lead to even more compulsive use. Alcohol does have some attributes that can stop people from using large amounts of the substance, including:

• Nausea
• Lack of muscle control
• Sedation
• Slow breathing and heart rate

Some people who drink heavily experience so many of these symptoms that they’re physically unable to keep drinking. They’re apt to be sleeping somewhere, instead of asking for another round. But those people who can drink heavily and who are able to do so while fighting off the intoxication cues the body might be pulling together are apt to feel an extreme chemical reward cue, and this could allow them to keep on drinking even when they simply should stop.

Recovering from Damage

It can be disheartening to read about addiction studies on alcoholism, especially as they seem to indicate that the substance is so very dangerous and hard to overcome without help. However, the more that researchers understand how alcohol works on the human body, they more they’re able to help people who are impacted by alcoholism.

Knowing that alcohol hijacks the brain’s reward center, for example, could allow experts to develop new medications that could ease the physical pain people feel when they attempt to stop using powerful drugs like this.

When it comes to alcohol, knowledge really is power.