Is it true that you shouldn't drink alcohol when depressed?

Alcohol, as a drug is a depressant. So i suppose if you drink while you’re depressed you’ll get more depressed. Then again there are different types of drunks. E.g. the depressed drunk (even if they are really happy before they drink, all their problems arise when drinking); then there’s the happy drunk, which, by the sounds of it, is you. the alcohol lets you forget about your problems. As I said it effects different people in different ways but personally if I’m unhappy before I drink I get more depressed. If I’m happy I get happier.

A. Are you clinically depressed or just sad?
B. If you are clinically depressed alcohol will make it worse (if consumption is high and frequent)
C. It feels better because the alcohol makes it easier to forget the real pain.

Depression is not affected by Depressants.
Not directly, abuse however is not good. THAT, is a very bad idea.
One is a physical response and one is a mental state.

As for why you feel better you may be forming a habit of rewarding yourself with alcohol. Which is a dangerous choice to make. You may have unintentionally associated the two. I would quit altogether until the modd problems are sorted.

Spending Christmas alone just ain’t the same without booze.

That’s how it is for me, too. I’m a happy drunk, but I think the problem with using alcohol in that kind of way is because once you’re not drinking anymore, the problems you had before you drank are back again. Which leads a lot of people to drink again… And again, to numb their sad feelings.

However, if it’s only something you do once in a while and you have self-control, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with it. Once it starts to become habit, that’s when you’re in trouble.

I only drink every once in a while to treat myself. There’s no way I could pull it off every day. I was just wondering if it affects other people the same way. I’m on my 4th and I’m really happy now. Funny how that works! I know it’s only temporary but it’s kinda like how they give you pain meds in the hospital, you know, like to keep on top of the pain. For me it seems to work like that.

heres one of Homer Simpson. http://www.amazon.com/Homer-Simpson-Temporary-Solution-Poster/dp/B000ROH30Y

Yeah, I know what you mean, loser. I don’t think, generally, a lot of people have to worry about it becoming a problem. Only those on the verge of truly giving up and giving in should stay away from alcohol when things are going badly for them.

I also don’t drink on a regular basis and the idea of doing it every day baffles me. I don’t even think I’m capable of getting to that point. I remember one of the last times I drank alcohol when I was feeling down, I was at home by myself and it did help a little. I relaxed, listened to music and just enjoyed my free time.

Here are a few facts I found online:

*Why is an alcohol problem together with depression a particular worry?

Alcohol compromises judgement and makes people impulsive and likely to take risks. Alcohol also causes a loss of inhibition and increases aggressive behaviour and violent acts. Because increased alcohol consumption often occurs together with a depressed mood, this is a particular concern.

Depression can lead to thoughts of suicide.

The lack of self-control, compromised judgement and impulsivity from the alcohol can increase the chances of a person attempting suicide.

Generally, a much higher incidence of suicide, both completed and attempted, is associated with alcohol.

The common problems of depression and alcohol are frequently complicated by social problems. Alcohol can often lead to problems at work in the form of absenteeism, sickness and under performance. The loss of a job has a profound negative impact on a person’s financial status and family life.

Marital problems often arise because of an alcohol problem, although it may be difficult to say which started first.

Alcohol can also cause a large number of physical problems. Few, if any organs in the body are spared. Liver problems commonly arise from heavy alcohol intake and can take the form of jaundice (a yellow discolouration of the skin) resulting from hepatitis, cirrhosis of the liver or liver failure. Unchecked these will lead to death. Other common problems include:

stomach ulcers

anaemia

an irregular heartbeat

impotence.

Both alcohol intoxication and withdrawal have a damaging effect on the brain, and can cause:

loss of sensation in the arms or legs

loss of muscle power

profound memory disturbances

a shrunken brain.

Although alcohol can cause you to fall asleep, the quality of the sleep that follows tends to be poor. This is why people with depression should not use alcohol to try to improve their sleep, since it will actually have the opposite effect.

Excessive alcohol intake can also lead to legal problems. These may result from driving offences, drunk and disorderly behaviour, or violent crime due to the impulsivity and lack of self-control caused by alcohol. Involvement with the legal establishment does not tend to help a depressed mood.

Alcohol problems account for:

33 per cent of domestic accidents

40 per cent of fatal domestic fires

15 to 30 per cent of workplace accidents.

Depression is also associated with an increased rate of accidents and so the combination can be worrying.

Some antidepressants are sedative. If they are taken with alcohol, a person can be seriously sedated and at risk of their breathing stopping. In addition, many antidepressants are broken down in the liver. Because alcohol can damage the liver, the levels of these antidepressants in the body will be higher in people who are also drinking heavily. This can lead to an increase in side effects from the antidepressants.*

Points taken scamp. Thank you!

alcohol is best left in the bottle. It is a depressant to be sure, but it is so destructive on so many levels.

You’re very welcome!!

FYI, many drugs, including some antidepressants should NOT be taken with ETOH.

@cdwccrn you are so right! The last bit of my post above adresses that also. It says: Because alcohol can damage the liver, the levels of these antidepressants in the body will be higher in people who are also drinking heavily. This can lead to an increase in side effects from the antidepressants.

I noted that, but as a nurse, felt the need to emphatically reiterate the point. Thanks.
Hope you don’t mind.

This won’t be a popular comment or an attitude that I would advocate….but when people would tell me that drinking doesn’t get rid of your problems….my response was “True. But it allows me to unburden myself of them for a few blissful hours.”

For me, alcohol was the steam valve on a tea kettle, pure and simple. I used alcohol as a stress reliever. I am not an alcoholic, but I no longer drink. I simply don’t feel the need.

If I’m just having a crappy day/week a few drinks does seem to lighten the mood and the load. If I’m seriously down, or especially angry, I just say “no”.

Perhaps you are not so much depressed as you are anxious? The release of inhibitions from drinking could be what’s making you feel better after drinking.

To say that alcohol is a depressant means that it depresses or slows the action of the heart, the lungs, and other bodily functions. It doesn’t mean that it makes you feel depressed. However, if you think it will depress you emotionally, it will do so. But that’s a self-fulling alcohol expectancy. If you think that it will make you happy, it will. And so on.

People who falsely believe that they have been consuming alcohol tend to act like people who have actually been drinking. Conversely, people who don’t realize that they have been consuming alcohol tend to act like teetotalers.

Many of the effects of alcohol are a result of our expectations that it will affect us in certain ways. We learn these expectations from our society. For example, in those societies in which people don’t believe that intoxication disinhibited intoxicated persons don’t become disinhibited.

http://www2.potsdam.edu/hansondj/InTheNews/Etc/20080717160505.html