The Big Question: Does Alcohol Cause Depression?

Does Alcohol Cause Depression?

Alcohol is everywhere, it's a solid part of United States culture. While most people can drink and see no major problems appear, more and more people are falling into the trap of problem drinking to cope with life's challenges.

Extreme use of alcohol may result in alcohol use disorder. Alcohol use disorder is described as alcoholism, and it can encompass a sizable range of individuals with alcohol problems.

Depression is difficult to spot in many people but make no mistake, it can be deadly.

Am I Depressed?

Depression is defined by a consistent feeling of despair in a person, and it may result in other ailments and trauma. The CDC states that clinical depression costs the United States around $210 billion every year, but forget the money, the real tragedy is the number of people who commit suicide as a result.

Depression can easily penetrate every part of an individual's daily life and significantly impact people around them. It frequently leads to issues with family and friends, in addition to trouble in the work environment. It raises the danger of the progression of other illness and places an individual at increased risk of committing suicide.

It may lead to a reduced source of income, as job absence is typical amongst people contending with clinical depression. Risky behaviour is also observed more in people coping with depression than individuals who are not, and challenges like cigarette smoking, drug abuse, and problem drinking are more prevalent in this community.

Have you noticed that all the problems that depression causes could also be true of alcohol use?

A Big Problem

Mental health has never been more in the spotlight and clinical depression is a prevalent disorder. It impacts one in every 14 men and women around the world. Although it can occur at any moment in an individual's life, it is most typically found for the first time before the mid-twenties.

As far as your sex goes, females are at a considerably greater risk for depression than males, and it is approximated that roughly one-third of females will encounter a substantial incident of clinical depression at some time in their life.

Depression might develop from a wide range of different variables. Many men and women are genetically susceptible to depression; for instance, a family background of anxiety makes it more probable that an individual will also struggle with depression. The individual character can contribute, as those with reduced self-worth or who are more likely to be downhearted are also more probable to build some degree of depression.

Using Alcohol

Many individuals use alcohol in an effort to deal with their low mood and depression. People struggling in these mental states may be pulled to the tranquillizing effects of drinking as a type of medication. They come to believe that alcohol helps to deflect from consistent sensations of unhappiness.

Although drinking can briefly alleviate a few of the manifestations of clinical depression, it eventually starts to make everything worse. Essentially, alcohol takes a bad situation and concentrates it.

Are You Problem Drinking?

Alcoholic abuse carries with it a bevvy of adverse consequences on practically every facet of daily life. As a person starts to experience economic and work repercussions due to drinking, and their relationships begin to suffer, their depression intensifies. This frequently results in a harmful pattern of misusing alcohol in an attempt to self-medicate signs and symptoms of clinical depression, and the depression getting worse because of the ongoing alcoholism.

As soon as an individual routinely misuses alcohol, tangible reliance and substance addiction can rapidly follow. The stats on this are quite shocking, it is thought that over 30% of people with depression also have a drinking problem. It's easy to understand that people who struggle with depression might look for the short-term alleviation that booze might supply; nevertheless, once again, alcoholism just compounds the problem.

Some individuals have overlapping hereditary tendencies that make them more susceptible to both alcohol problems and clinical depression, and the inception of one problem may set off the beginning of the other. Hangovers are frequently accompanied by sensations of sadness, and continued alcohol abuse may result in longer periods of depression.

People on antidepressants are never in a great place, adding alcohol does not help. Drinking makes antidepressants less helpful, and the sedative consequences of the alcohol will additionally intensify the now unmanaged, or less regulated, depression.

Problem Drinking Resulting In Clinical Depression

Depression can create problem drinkers, but the reverse is a lot more typical. According to the National Institute on Alcoholic Abuse and Alcohol Addiction (NIAAA), depression may occur and raise during a struggle with alcohol addiction. This rise in depression may then result in more alcohol consumption, catch 22.

If an individual experiences sensations of depression due to alcoholism, it's likely that these signs and symptoms will dissipate, at least to some degree, after alcohol use has stopped. Because alcohol withdrawal may include potentially deadly withdrawal manifestations after physical dependency has developed, it's essential that people do not try to quit consuming alcohol suddenly by themselves. Clinical guidance is needed.

According to a report released in Addiction, people coping with alcohol use disorder or depression are at twice the danger of forming the other disorder. This was not just a connection, as the report reasoned that problem drinking and depression have a causal connection to each other.

The report discovered that problem drinking is more likely to trigger significant clinical depression than vice versa.

The Solution Is The Problem

There were links discovered between the neurophysiological and metabolic changes created by problem drinking and the structures for clinical depression to take place. Simply put, alcohol dramatically increases your chances of suffering with depression.

For that reason, it is crystal clear that alcohol is never the answer to any mental health issue.

This connection may be recurrent too, and a person may get stuck shuttling between exploiting alcohol and then using booze to attempt to stop the arising sadness. It may be a very tough collection of co-occurring conditions to deal with, and expert assistance is required.

Therapy for Clinical Depression and Drinking

Therapy for depression frequently includes some type of antidepressant medicine. These medicines may help to change an individual's brain biochemistry so as to maintain emotional states.

Antidepressants are typically not regarded as habit-forming, and they are not likely to be abused. This is particularly useful when dealing with a man or woman with simultaneous clinical depression and alcohol dependence, as people with substance use disorders are more likely to try to exploit prescription medications.

A few preliminary consequences of antidepressant drugs may be experienced somewhat rapidly, normally within a week or 2, but their full impact typically takes several months to take hold. Many physicians advise people to continue taking antidepressants for several months even after the depression signs and symptoms have decreased entirely. The likes of Prozac and other brands should not be seen like painkillers, they do not do anything with short term use.

Meds Are Not A Silver Bullet

Although medication may be important in the treatment of clinical depression, it does not serve as a quick fix. Prescription medication ought to be used along with therapy to deal with underlying problems, in addition to life-style adjustments, that might result in depression.

Talking therapy can assist people to establish better routines that promote better mental health. Learning how to stop drinking is one thing but it's also important to address the problem underneath. A point made very clear in my book Alcohol Lied To Me.

If you just quit drinking and do nothing else you will be sober but miserable. A position that we refer to as being a 'dry drunk'.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

CBT has also shown extremely reliable in the treatment of alcohol use disorders, making it a fantastic resource for people struggling with both problem drinking and depression. CBT is often used as a technique to avoid relapsing in men and women with alcohol issues.

The National Institute on Substance Abuse (NIDA) states that CBT helps people break negative loops. It provides helpful problem management skills. This technique tries to foresee challenges before they occur and readies an individual with plans on how to respond when problems do occur.

The capabilities studied in CBT remain with an individual even after they leave therapy, making it an efficient instrument for lasting rehabilitation.

While either alcohol addiction or depression may be incredibly challenging on an individual, experiencing both problems simultaneously may be especially unpleasant and frequently leads to considerably worse conclusions. Because of the prevalent coincidence of clinical depression and alcoholism, lots of addiction therapy centres are geared up to deal with both conditions at the same time.

This approach of incorporated therapy is one of the most efficient ways to accomplish rehabilitation on all fronts. If only a single condition, either the clinical depression or alcoholism, is dealt with separately without dealing with the other, retrogression is very probable.

Of course, a lot of people can't afford one to one therapy. It is here that the Stop Drinking Expert online course really offers something powerfully good.

Ready To Find The Answer?

Problem drinking is almost always the symptom of a bigger problem. This is why it's so hard to just stop drinking cold turkey. When you remove the drug it reveals the pain of what was underneath its use.

The Stop Drinking Expert program works so well because it doesn't just order you to never drinking again. This process, directly and indirectly, addresses what is going on in your head.

If you are ready to call time on your drinking, decide now and take some action. Reserve your place on today's free quit drinking webinar, I will even give you a copy of my bestselling book 'Alcohol Lied To Me' free as a gift for turning up.