The Angry Drunk: How Alcohol and Aggression Are Linked

Because they’re naturally predisposed to be angry when they drink, this becomes a key part of their personality because they can’t control their drinking or their temper. Alcohol effects the prefrontal cortex of the brain, the region that moderates things like decision-making. What this means is that people whose personalities make them naturally quicker to become angry than others are even more likely to lose control under the influence of alcohol. But in real life, a person who loses control of their emotions when they drink is anything but entertaining. People spend years in therapy and in treatment for issues of their own that are caused by the consequences of this behavior. A veteran of two branches of the U.S. military, Max is continuing his education in healthcare administration.

We offer a partial hospitalization program and inpatient treatment to provide the support you need. Your plan will include individual and group therapy as well as various other treatments, such as cognitive behavioral therapy and hypnotherapy treatment. Alcohol and anger work in the same way as sleep deprivation, stress, and even some drugs in how it can make people more emotional.

Moderate Your Drinking

Comorbidity between conditions that cause one to frequently experience anger and alcohol abuse is more common than one might think. Nearly 10 million adults exhibit both a behavioral disorder and an addiction with each making the other more severe in a vicious cycle. Drinking increases the risk of altercations in these individuals, making it a dangerous activity to partake in. Certain behavioral and mental health disorders can make anger management an even tougher challenge.

Another issue with alcohol consumption and anger is that the person is less likely to consider the consequences of their actions¹. They may get in a fight and not think about going to jail or losing a friendship. The FHE Health team is committed to providing accurate information that adheres to the highest standards of writing.

If You Know You’re an Angry Drunk, What Can You Do?

One allows you to escape from your other emotions, while the other allows you to escape further into anger. In a phrase, anger and alcohol abuse can feed off of each other if they both go unchecked. In fact, letting go of the acknowledging and dealing with anger is a crucial aspect of the Twelve Steps from Alcoholics Anonymous. The program requires that participants take a moral inventory of themselves, and attempt to overcome character defects. These are the issues that we jump into in this deep dive into the link between anger and alcoholism.

Violent behavior may occur in as much as 50% of people with alcohol use disorder (AUD). You can get help for alcohol addiction if you are ready to make changes in your life. Addiction recovery starts with a drug rehab center in San Antonio, TX, that can help you with withdrawal management. You will be able to move forward in your recovery process once you safely remove alcohol from your system and begin to learn about the importance of sobriety in your life. https://ecosoberhouse.com/article/anger-and-alcoholism/ are common, as alcohol reduces your ability to control what you are doing.

Why Does Alcohol Make Some People Angry?

Whether you’re contending with a mild, moderate, or severe addiction, our team can help you navigate the road of recovery and begin creating the kind of life you truly desire. When you drink and lose some of your ability to reason, you tend to not worry so much about consequences to your behavior. This can lead you to saying and doing things out of anger that can get you into some trouble. If you talk to counselors specializing in relationships, many will state that plenty of couples coming in for counseling that argue a lot when drinking have some underlying relationship problems. Anger is a big red flag that something is going on underneath the surface, asking to be addressed.

John C. Umhau, MD, MPH, CPE is board-certified in addiction medicine and preventative medicine. For over 20 years Dr. Umhau was a senior clinical investigator at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Angry
As we’ve discussed, simply acknowledging and allowing room for anger to be understood and addressed is the best way to move on from it.

Develop Healthy Coping Skills

Your body and brain are healing, and without the numbing qualities of alcohol, it’s natural for intense emotions to arise, including anger. As a therapist on the Monument platform, I often work with my patients to identify the root cause of their anger, and establish healthier ways to process intense emotions in sobriety. If you believe you’re displaying more than one of these behaviors, you might be dealing with a dry drunk syndrome or another co-occurring disorder in your recovery.

So not only does drinking prime us to make bad decisions, but we also have a deep-rooted belief that we have society’s permission to do so. 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. To stop being an angry drunk, you must first identify and accept that you have a problem. Maybe you’ve heard from friends or a significant other that you become angry or hostile while drinking.

Genetics, alcohol, and rage

Programs can be either inpatient or outpatient, depending on the severity of someone’s condition. Those who enroll in treatment will usually experience symptoms of withdrawal while they are flushing the alcohol out of their system. In order to ease the effects of withdrawal, substance abuse specialists at treatment facilities will usually create a plan to help them detox more comfortably. Detox treatment will usually include certain medications, plenty of rest, and lots of liquids.

They may have poor coping skills for anger control whether or not they are drinking. Alcohol abuse can instill a false sense of power that often results in angry outbursts. Alcohol seems to steal away the person you know and replace him or her with an angry version. The tendency to avoid looking ahead and assessing consequences for one’s actions is a risk factor for aggressive behavior while drinking. That may sound obvious, and it’s a theory backed by a small, interesting 2012 study from Ohio State University (9). Alcohol has a closer association with aggressive behavior than any other mind-altering substance, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

Alcohol consumption may also lead to a rage response because of expectations, according to researchers (1). For example, if a person goes into a drinking experience with the expectation of alcohol helping them pick a fight with a partner later, that’s then likely to happen. Using a personality questionnaire, an aggression scale, and alcohol use and history assessments, researchers compared 156 people without the gene with 14 people who have it. Researchers were studying people in the Finnish population, of which more than 100,000 people have the genetic variation.

• As discussed above, drinking doesn’t lead to anger in everyone or every situation.
• When someone enters recovery for alcohol abuse, they usually struggle with anger problems and emotional regulation.
• Results showed enough escalation in people consuming these drinks to label the beverages a «potential risk» to increased hostility.
• Additionally, repeated drinking may alter GABA receptors and even damage cells, causing reduced sensitivity to the body’s own relaxing neurotransmitter (8).
• Alcohol’s ability to temporarily reduce anxiety can also intensify the urge to act on impulse.