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Serotonin, a neurotransmitter that plays a role in mood, plays a significant role in controlling our limbic response. However, alcohol can negatively impact our brain’s ability to determine whether a threat is life-or-death, mainly by affecting levels of neurotransmitters like serotonin in the brain. Alcohol also impairs our judgment and our ability to make rational decisions. One study found that chronic alcohol use decreases the function in the prefrontal cortex, which plays a key role in impulse control. The most self-evident way to stop being an angry drinker is to quit drinking altogether. By ending alcohol misuse, you can make positive decisions with a clear outlook.
It can cause problems with the pancreas and even increase the risk of developing several types of cancer. Too much alcohol can weaken your immune system, making you more susceptible to diseases². Studies show that displays of anger are seen more often in men than in women and in people who already tend toward anger. Research also indicates that people who become angry after drinking cannot identify facial expressions correctly.
Alcohol Affects How The Brain Functions
As you become more self-aware, you’ll make better choices about alcohol consumption. Have family members or others mentioned concerns about your alcohol consumption? Did you recently experience an incident that stemmed from your alcohol-related aggression? These situations likely spark emotions when you think about them — perhaps you feel embarrassed or ashamed. This aggressive behavior may result in other issues, such as verbal abuse.
If you feel like you have a pattern of being aggressive when drinking alcohol, you should understand how your behavior can impact yourself and others. If you or a friend have had altercations while drinking, you may ask yourself whether you have a problem with alcohol and anger. If this isn’t your first time considering this, you should know it is the first sign of a possible drinking problem. Another study published in 2011 showed that those who focus more on the present than the future were generally more aggressive and had difficulty considering the consequences of their actions.
The Relationship Between Anger and Aggression
While anger is an emotion you experience when you feel threatened, aggression is a hostile behavior that results in physical or psychological harm to yourself or others. Some individuals exhibit “trait anger,” a personality trait that means they continually look for triggers that make them angry. Researchers have studied the connection between anger and aggression for years.
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. One prominent theory is “alcohol myopia,” which proposes that alcohol can impair your judgment and reduce your inhibitions, making it difficult for you to think straight. As a result, you may miss specific social and environmental cues that can help you rationally interpret situations.
Facts & Infographic on Alcoholism and Anger
It should be noted that the target variables of these randomized, controlled clinical trials were treatment outcomes such as remaining abstinent, rather than aggressive behavior or aggression. Training of cognitive functions seems also to improve patients’ ability to take in and process information from empirically validated therapies more quickly and with more lasting effect. This makes it possible to recall and use the newly learned interaction and coping methods better.
Lastly, alcohol also greatly impairs your decision-making and judgment skills, which makes controlling your anger much more difficult. In this blog, we’ll discuss how drinking alcohol can make people behave aggressively and harm their mental health and how getting help for both substance abuse and mental health can aid recovery. To date there are no studies that directly investigate whether alcohol-induced aggressive behavior can be reduced through training in cognitive functions. An understanding of individual risk factors may contribute to providing treatments tailored to individual problems. Further research into alcohol-related aggression in alcohol-dependent patients receiving treatment has shown that the degree of violence correlated to the level of alcohol consumption.
Unfortunately, this is common for many struggling with substance abuse and mental health issues. Alcohol can make people do things they wouldn’t normally do, like become alcoholic rage syndrome angry or aggressive. Between 50-86% of aggressive and violent episodes involve alcohol, according to a study published in the Psychology of Addictive Behaviors.
