Someone with a drinking problem may seem to be in denial about their alcohol issue. Even with proof of ever mounting problems, they resist admitting the problem. Just beneath the surface they often feel shame and guilt about their alcoholism. These feelings can bubble up to the surface as anger when they are drinking.
She works with The Freedom Center team to develop and implement policies, procedures and oversees Intakes and Transportation. Alexandra works with Admissions and Clinical Departments for scheduling client admissions, transfers, discharges and outside appointments while maintaining positive relationships with all clients. Her primary focus is to provide all clients with a safe, structured environment while coordinating their care. Alexandra understands addiction from both familial and personal standpoints, as she is active in her own recovery. Alexandra is a mother, a daughter, a sister, a friend and has learned the value of recovery and succeeding in whatever she sets her mind to. Her innovative approach as Director of Operations gives her clients a safe and compassionate place at The Freedom Center to begin their recovery journey. Her experience in behavioral health training, program development, and organizational leadership lead her to pursue a certification as a Project Management Professional in 2018. Science has shown that there is a strong correlation between alcohol and anger. In addition to our natural proclivities to aggressive behavior, drinking can trigger something in our brains, sometimes causing a complete one-eighty from our normal conduct.
Why “Am I an Alcoholic?” Is the Wrong Question
Therapy sessions will be offered in both one-on-one and small group formats. CBT is used to help the alcohol focus on making important behavioral changes. When you heavily consume alcohol, your prefrontal cortex becomes damaged, altering your decision-making capabilities. Therefore, people who rely on drinking as a coping mechanism can be more inclined to make rash choices, such as having unprotected sex or getting into a car with a stranger. Alcohol can provoke different emotional responses for different people.
Even as minors when people see their parents drink and argue for example, the minor learns this is the way to act when drunk. Some studies highlight the impairment caused by alcohol consumption on processing emotional faces. They first consumed alcohol and were asked to recognize the emotions of different faces on a computer task. Specifically, they exhibited a reduced capacity to detect sadness and fear and a reduced tendency towards seeing happiness. Additionally, even people not struggling with a substance use disorder can experience anger and these other emotions. Even though they speak about anger management in most Alcoholics Anonymous 12-step programs and in rehab, experiencing these emotions is different once you’re sober.
What To Do About the Link Between Anger and Alcoholism
Overall, exhibiting one or a combination of the above factors can increase your chances of becoming angry when intoxicated. A lack of impulse control can make a person unable to resist the sudden, forceful urge to fly into a rage or act aggressively. The effect of alcohol may also be due to the effect of neuroinflammation, a situation made worse because of the effect of heavy alcohol consumption on the Sober Home gut/microbiome and nutrition. Buddy T is an anonymous writer and founding member of the Online Al-Anon Outreach Committee with decades of experience writing about alcoholism. The point is, we pick a behavior to try and ameliorate that intense experience of discomfort within ourselves that happens when we put up these walls. That “something to help us feel better” looks different for different people.
Our staff is carefully selected not only for their skills and experience but for their passion in helping others, as well. Our program integrates numerous treatment modalities from yoga and meditation to individual and group services. 12-step programs are the path to maintaining long-term, meaningful sobriety. Alcohol increases our brain’s production of dopamine, though, at a higher rate than we can achieve naturally. What’s worse is that picking up a drink again or experiencing a relapse often triggers resentment, guilt, and anger. Each individual alcoholism and anger has unique anger triggers based on what you expect from yourself and those around you. If you don’t know how to express anger, your frustrations can make you miserable or cause you to explode in an angry outburst. The existence of an angry “crazy drunk person” is often featured in TV shows and movies because of the rising drama and action they bring to an entertaining storyline. Gerevich J, Bácskai E, Czobor P. Aggression levels in treatment seeking inpatients with alcohol-related problems compared to levels in the general population in Hungary.
Consider both of those factors paired with alcohol’s ability to make certain individuals more aggressive and you’ve got a recipe for conflict and confrontation that’s likely to end badly. It starts way before that, with the underlying core issues, the anger, the anxiety, and the depression. Many of us need to learn how to manage anger and how to heal from it, how to feel it and then let it go and move on. Often what manifests as alcoholism or other forms of addiction comes back to an inability to feel or to manage your anger. Alcohol treatment centerto overcome the addiction starting today.