Alcohol induced depression

TeddyTedson wrote: »

We all know alcohol is a depressant. But when I was a bit younger I remember being able to drink and have a night out without waking up the day after with a massive urge to hang myself.
Is there anyway to drink a fair bit and not feel amazingly depressed the next day?
Is it an age thing?

Having a few at the weekend or infrequent drinking won't do much harm. It becomes a depressant when you drink habitually.

Depressant doesn't mean what you think it does.

Hangovers are a penance for intoxicating your body. Without the hangover there are no repercussions in the short term.

In the long term if you try to suppress hangovers you are building problems behind an unstable dam which will inevitably burst with the ensuing flood being much worse than weathering the storm periodically.

People in the toilet next door leaving guinness shytes behind?

Always bring home a member of opposite sex whose name you can't remember. It will give you a whole new set of problems in the morning, or a chance of a ride. One way or another, the hangover will be relegated to an irrelevance.

How old are you Teddy?

I always imagine you like an ageless teddy bear who cannot grow up. Is that a very condescending thing to say? I hope not. I mean it in a nice way:)

Anyway, I'm in my mid 20s and I find that I drink less than I did 5 years ago. Not because I feel depressed after a night out, but because I generally find it a little boring these days. Drinking with some 25 or 30 year olds in a home that they own with their kids upstairs is nowhere near as much fun as drinking in your mate's bedsit when you're 20 and can all do what you want.

Also, I take longer to allow my body to recover than it did 5 years ago, when I could stay out til 4am and still be in college at 10am asking what everybody was doing later. But that's mainly to do with reflexes and headaches, as opposed to depression.

amacachi wrote: »

Depressant doesn't mean what you think it does.

tuxy wrote: »

True, most people don't realise that when it's said that alcohol is a depressant it's referring to the fact it's a central nervous system depressant.

http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/mentalhealthinfoforall/problems/alcoholanddrugs/alcoholdepression.aspx

What is the connection between depression and alcohol?

We know that there is a connection – self-harm and suicide are much commoner in people with alcohol problems. It seems that it can work in two ways:

you regularly drink too much including (including ‘binge drinking’) which makes you feel depressed
OR
you drink to relieve anxiety or depression.

Either way:
Alcohol affects the chemistry of the brain, increasing the risk of depression.
Hangovers can create a cycle of waking up feeling ill, anxious, jittery and guilty.
Life gets depressing – arguments with family or friends, trouble at work, memory and sexual problems.

Classic FEAR