Does Alcohol Cause Loneliness And Depression
When people join my mailing list I always reach out and ask them what their primary motivation to drink is.
There are a shockingly high number of people who admit they drink because of loneliness and depression!
It’s worth noting that a lot of these individuals are not actually alone. They may be in long term relationships and even belong as a part of a large family. However, there is a huge difference between being alone and being lonely.
It is quite possible to be lonely in a crowded room full of your family.
The problem is a lot more common than you may think. Turning to alcohol is almost logical and predictable. I understand this only too well.
Loneliness and dissatisfaction with life are very common justifications for excessive drinking.
Loneliness is Very Common
Back I was a drinker I was married and a parent but I still felt a huge vacuum in my life. I was on the 9 to 5 treadmill, running as fast as I could to keep the roof over our heads. We had a good standard of life, with a nice home and two cars on the drive. But despite achieving the middle-class dream, I was still miserable.
Drinking to Help with Loneliness
My life felt boring and repetitive. I was lonely if I am being honest. Despite being surrounded by people 24 hours a day I felt like I was alone. The sensation became so painful that I just wanted it to go away. Alcohol, a mild anaesthetic seemed like the logical panacea.
What’s strange is, while I was using alcohol to numb my emotions and silence my tortured mind. I believed it was helping. No, more than that! I knew alcohol was helping. However, as I sit here now, on the other side of the fence and look back I can see for sure that the alcohol was making everything ten times worse.
Alcohol Makes Like Harder
Not just a little bit worse but by quantities of scale worse. Back when I was drinking two bottles of wine a night and spending thousands on a drug that was destroying me. I was the most miserable I had ever been in my life. Yet, all the time I was adamant that things would be worse if I didn’t have the drink to turn to.
This is just another powerful and clever illusion of the drug. You have to take your hat off to it really. Here is a drug that makes you feel increasingly miserable but at the same time, it convinces you that it is doing the opposite!
Can you imagine if fast food joints could come up with a marketing strategy that achieved the same result? So, every time you stuffed your face with burgers and pizza you believed it was doing you good, trimming your waistline and protecting your health.
Alcohol is a genius… at silently killing people.
My approach to dealing with alcohol addiction works so well because I have been there and escaped myself. I am not sitting on an ivory tower judging you. Let me assure you, I have been to rock bottom, denial is no stranger to me. I tried a thousand pointless ways to moderate my drinking.
So, I know what works and what doesn’t. So hear me loud and clear when I tell you the truth about drinking to deal with loneliness and depression.
It doesn’t work!
Here is the hard truth, if you are lonely, bored, unfulfilled, in a broken relationship or stressed with the pressures of life. Alcohol is making everything worse, not better.
I am going to have to repeat myself because the thing is if you are self-medicating in this way. I know you will believe I am wrong in your case. For you, it does appear to be helping. Perhaps, even the thought of quitting drinking fills you with fear and dread.
However, let me explain. People claim that alcohol makes you happy. A party without booze will be dull, correct?
However, if that is true then the outcome of drinking alcohol should always be happiness. This is not some NASA designed smart chemical that has the power to change itself at will. But we all know from experience that alcohol + people does not always equal happy people.
Smart Drug?
People drinking at a funeral wake don’t all jump on the tables and start singing and dancing. Homeless people swigging booze from a brown paper bag are not full of the joys. So alcohol cannot be claimed to create happiness.
We have to acknowledge the laws of cause and effect. For example; fire is hot and if you put your hand in it, you will get burned. There is no variation in the outcome of this action. You don’t get burned occasionally. It is a logical outcome of your interaction with a basic element.
A lot of people claim that alcohol is a depressant. I also take issue with this stance too. Because I remember countless times where I had a thoroughly good time while I was drunk. I have had nights out on the beer where I have laughed so much I thought I might die.
Here’s the truth!
Alcohol is a mood amplifier. This is all good if you are out socializing with friends and having a great time. Alcohol is going to make everything more fun, more interesting, and more amusing.
However, and here’s the problem, when you develop a problem with alcohol you are no longer only drinking in those environments. You are increasingly drinking alone to cope with life.
- If you drink a mood amplifier while depressed, guess what you get more of?
- If you drink alcohol because you feel lonely, what do you think happens?
When a vacuum in your very being is causing you pain and misery, adding alcohol is like trying to put out a fire with a bucket of gasoline.
Alcohol, Loneliness And Depression: Conclusion
If you are drinking to help with loneliness and depression you have fallen in love with a serial killer but you believe he is your best friend.
If you are ready to kick this poison out of your life, check out the Stop Drinking Expert program today.
About the author: Craig Beck (craig@craigbeck.com) is a British personal development and self-help author who has written several bestselling books on alcohol addiction. Using his experience as a former problem drinker, combined with expert knowledge of human behavior. He has gone on to help over 50,000 people to quit drinking, without willpower, rehab or medication.
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