Does anyone else get depressed and quite when drunk?

Lots of people become morose and despondent when drunk. Most people don’t become “happy”, they just let their defenses down.

If you don’t like the way you feel when you drink too much, then that’s a cue to not drink to excess. Stop at one.

occasionally but generally no, Drink is ultimately a depressant,

Alcohol is a depressant. It also inhibits inhibitors. People become looser and have more “fun” because the barrier in their brain preventing them from letting loose when sober is being blocked. Each person reacts to drugs and alcohol differently, you seem to be most affected by the depressant part. Better not to drink, you can have fun sober, I do it all of the time, I almost never drink, saves tons of money, and I travel and buy whatever I want instead.

I get depressed when I’m not drunk. Sad but true.
’‘Headbangs.’’

<<< Happy drunk.

If I drink a lot of crappy beer, I find myself depressed the next day usually. Properly made beer doesn’t have that effect unless I really over-indulge – actually, it sometimes puts me into a peaceful and happy slumber.

But alcohol is indeed a depressant. Taken with their natural qualities intact, beer, cider, wine, and mead all have nutrients that protect against depression and hangover. Vitamin B-complex found naturally in yeasts is a major factor. This even offers some protection if you really do over-indulge, but that doesn’t make it advisable. Some alcohol consumption is healthy, and the human body is efficient at eliminating alcohol from the body, but if you’re getting depressed you are almost certainly drinking too much.

I get a lot more talkative, but I am more prone to depression, especially the day after. That might have to do with the way alcohol interacts with the medications I take. I don’t like how alcohol makes me feel (or how it tastes), so I drink very rarely.

This website explains what alcohol chemically does in your brain a bit:

Different neurotransmitters have different effects in the brain. For example, serotonin is connected with mood. People suffering from clinical depression tend to have a shortage of serotonin in their brains, and medications like Prozac can help to alleviate depression by increasing the availability of serotonin in the brain. Endorphins are a class of neurotransmitters which act as the brain’s natural painkillers.

Alcohol is a fat soluble molecule. Fats (called lipids) are a major component of all cell membranes, including the cell membranes of neurons. Alcohol enters the cell membranes of neurons and changes their properties. Receptors are located on cell membranes and this means that receptor properties are altered by the presence of alcohol. Cell membranes also control the release of neurotransmitters and this means that the release of neurotransmitters is also affected by the presence of alcohol.

So, basically, when you drink alcohol, it changes the properties of the neurons that provide you with mood-related chemicals like serotonin, which can easily make you depressed. It seems that the brain chemistry of a person will effect how you act and feel when you are drunk.

In my normal mental state, I’m a quiet mellow drunk. In a depressed state,as now, the alcohol tends to lift my mood somewhat. It also makes me a cheap drunk, since mixing alcohol and antidepressants has me sleeping soundly after two drinks.

I think your body is trying to tell you something: that alcohol is not your mood-altering drug of choice.

@Symbeline ((big hug))

I seem to be allergic to alcohol. Three sips and a headache. A glass of wine and I am snoring under the table. So I have never understood all the hoop-la, particularly the charms of barfing and the hangover.

I’ve never gotten depressed or angry when drinking, just happy, giggly and smiley. Normally, when not drinking, I’m pretty quiet, shy and reserved.

I get quite something.

Putting aside of the fact that alcohol is classified as a depressant I have found that it helps me focus and takes the edge off life. I am talking a few drinks but not staggering drunk.

Staggering drunk leaves me depressed as I feel like I lost a portion of time in my life I will never get back. I am a blackout drunk and really hate the loss of control.

<<< Happy when @zenele is drunk.

I get giddy on alcohol when I’m tipsy but any more than that, and I get morose and tired.

I guess everyone is affected differently.

I say a lot of things that i wouldnt without filtering it.

@tecc: You mean “quiet,” right? I am quite sure you do.

Why would you not like drinking just because you become depressed and quiet? People read sad novels and watch tearjerker movies knowing that they’ll have those reactions, and it doesn’t stop them. So your “of course” ... isn’t obvious.

If I thought I was like “normal people” then that would get me depressed.

@CyanoticWasp: So, define a “normal” person.

The anti-me. Moderators are pretty normal, I guess. (With some latitude and tongue in cheek.)

<—- Sad drunk

<——Probably not normal, anyway

quite what?

I had a boyfriend that would get upset while he was drunk. He would sit there and cry. It made everyone really uncomfortable.

@meagan I bet!!

@meagan Jeez… talk about awkward! I hope you didn’t go out drinking with him that often…

Better to be a sad drunk than a violent one.

I used to be like that but not so much now. I’ve become much less depressed in general as I’ve got older.

I don’t get drunk. Last time was more than 25 years ago. I wasn’t depressed and I actually talked even more than usual.

People often react differently when intoxicated. Most become happier but some become sad or aggressive. This is largely a result of alcohol expectations. We tend to feel as we expect to feel when intoxicated.

To say that alcohol is a depressant is to day that it slows or depresses bodily functions such as breathing and heartbeat. It doesn’t refer to its psychological effects, which are highly variable. Of course some people become depressed because of what they do while intoxicated.

Most people think that if a few drinks make them feel good then a lot of drinks will make them feel even better. But that’s not true. Although a few drinks will make them feel better, more will make them feel worse. It’s called the biphasic (or two part) effect.

Here’s what happens. People tend to feel better as their blood alcohol concentration (BAC) rises to about .05 (.055 to be exact). That’s the first phase or part. If people drink more and their BAC rises above .055, the negative effects of drinking increase and hangovers are more likely to occur. That’s the second phase. So it’s clearly smart to stop during the first phase and not progress into the second phase.

http://www2.potsdam.edu/hansondj/HealthIssues/1100827422.html

I’m better @ controlling what i say and do. That’s because i dont drink sa often