The Angry Drunk: How Alcohol and Aggression Are Linked

Individuals with alcohol use disorder often show a reduction in the volume of their prefrontal cortex, which directly correlates with increased impulsivity and emotional instability. These impairments make it harder to break free from addiction, further perpetuating the link between alcoholism and depression. People with AUD and co-occurring psychiatric disorders bring unique clinical challenges tied to the severity of each disorder, the recency and severity of alcohol use, and the patient’s pressing psychosocial stressors. An overall emphasis on the AUD component may come first, or an emphasis on the co-occurring psychiatric disorder may take precedence, or both conditions can be treated simultaneously.

Effects of Stress and Trauma on Brain Pathways and AUD Risk

1. When other factors beyond alcohol play into your mood, however, feelings of depression might persist even after your hangover improves.
2. For antidepressants to work as intended, you need to take them regularly to have a constant level in your system.
3. A doctor can recommend a safe schedule for tapering off alcohol consumption and advise on which symptoms to look out for.
4. These behaviors could be signs of, or might overlap with, other mental health issues.
5. One such study involved a sample of 85 social drinkers who were described as being low or high trait anger based on their responses to the anger expression index of the State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory-2 (STAXI-2) (Eastwood et al., 2020).

Drinking a lot may worsen these feelings, which may actually drive further drinking. Individuals with alcohol use disorder may drink too much alcohol, too often. The good news is that treating both alcohol misuse and depression can make both conditions better. Because of the established link between aggression and alcohol, co-treatments have been developed that can also address anger while drinking.

Does Depression Drive You to Drink Alcohol?

With clinical depression, you’ll notice these mood symptoms on most days, for 2 weeks or longer. Depression is a mental health condition that generally involves feelings of deep sadness, hopelessness, or worthlessness. But without treatment, depression isn’t likely to go away, and it may get worse. Untreated depression can make you and the people close to you miserable.

Chronic Alcohol Use and Its Impact on Brain Structure

It can affect your health, career, how well you get along with others and personal safety. These unhealthy ways of coping may be clues that you have male depression. In addition, if you join a group with a facilitator, you might discover helpful strategies to better manage your depression and anger. A support group that understands what you are going through is important, especially if you begin relapsing after treatment. People who struggle with anger and aggression have been found to have lower serotonin levels. Stretching has been shown to release serotonin, the neurohormone that helps stabilize our moods and make us feel good.

Depression is a common and serious mood disorder, which can impact your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. In the United States alone, an estimated 17.3 million adults have had at least one major depressive episode. Alcohol use disorders may be mild, moderate, or severe, depending on the combination of symptoms you’re experiencing, but drinking problems can exist regardless of a clinical diagnosis. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has found that 9 out of 10 adult binge drinkers don’t have a severe alcohol use disorder, but that doesn’t mean alcohol isn’t a problem for them. Drinking to cope with depression, no matter if you have an alcohol use disorder, is concerning.

Holistic strategies, including lifestyle changes like exercise and mindfulness, further support brain and emotional healing, while aftercare programs and support networks provide long-term accountability. The co-occurrence of AUD and another mental health disorder can complicate the diagnoses and negatively impact the clinical course of both conditions. (See Core article on neuroscience.) As described in the sections to follow, a timeline of your patient’s symptoms is a key tool for a differential diagnosis. If you have certain conditions, including depression, you could be at an increased risk of getting alcohol use disorder. Your symptoms can range from mild to severe and can include drinking more than you meant to, having trouble cutting back on drinking when you try, or being unable to quit drinking even though it’s causing problems in your daily life and relationships.

The sensitivity analysis was performed using two effects from the Bácskai39 study and one effect from the Schonwetter33 study. Researchers agree that alcohol and depression have a bidirectional what drug makes you foam out the mouth relationship, meaning that depression can cause overuse of alcohol, but overuse of alcohol can also cause depression. People who tend to ignore the future consequences of their behavior, or score low on the Consideration of Future Consequences (CFC) scale, have been found to display more aggression.