When you drown your sorrows with alcohol you may be drinking so that you forget the things that make you sad or troubled or drinking to elevate your mood and put you in a better frame of mind. Whichever way you look at it, you are using alcohol to change the way you think or feel. You may develop a dependence on alcohol and this may be a consequence of, or contribute to, the state of your mental wellbeing.
Want to Quit but Can’t? How Alcohol Affects your Mental Health
Regular over-consumption of alcohol affects the chemical balance in the brain and production of one of the most important of these chemicals, serotonin, is inhibited when you drink too much. This chemical helps with your mood and if there is insufficient serotonin in the brain, you can feel depressed. A cycle can then arise as you drink alcohol to get the short-term impression of an elevated mood while you are in fact increasing your exposure to depressive signals from the brain.
It is easy to see how you can become addicted to alcohol as the amount required to achieve the same effect increases as you build up a tolerance. The feeling of being hungover and in some cases, more serious physical symptoms of withdrawal, may lead you to drink again even if you had the intention of quitting. At Casa Recovery we understand how a substance or alcohol can take over your life and our goal is to help you take back control.
You may think that alcohol will help you sleep or that drinking will help you forget things which trouble you, such as bad memories and unpleasant feelings. The fact is, drinking alcohol to excess will disrupt sleep patterns and you may find your ability to control emotions and thoughts while under the influence of alcohol is diminished and feelings may be more intense causing you more anxiety. If your mental health is fragile using alcohol can just make things worse.
You are not Alone! Consider Addiction Recovery in Southern California
Sometimes people have a mental health problem such as depression, PTSD, bipolar disorder, or personality disorder which has not been recognized or diagnosed and then you use alcohol to self-medicate. Knowing what alcohol does to your mental health, our Southern California rehab center professional team can help you with the underlying causes of your addiction to alcohol and you will be armed with techniques, knowledge, and skills which will help your long-term recovery. You do not have to be ruled by alcohol. Take back control! We can help you. Choose Southern California recovery today.