Why People Drink

Why Do People Drink Alcohol?

People drink alcohol for a range of reasons and sometimes these reasons change. Here is a list of some of the most common reasons people quote for drinking:

	It helps them to relax
	It gives them confidence
	It helps them to sleep
	It helps reduce anxiety
	It stops them worrying about things
	To deal with stress
	To deal with panic attacks
	Because they are depressed
	Dependant on it
	To counter-act withdrawal symptoms

With all of these reasons people are using alcohol to self medicate, in reality alcohol makes all of these symptoms worse, although in the short term it may increase confidence, be relaxing and reduce anxiety or worries, in the long term alcohol actually has the opposite effect, people who drink heavily over a long period tend to experience an increase in anxiety and may also get panic attacks.

Instead of helping with stress and worries long term drinking will cause more stress and worries of its own i.e. health, debt, family and relationship problems. It is impossible to treat depression whilst someone is drinking as the alcohol has the opposite action to the drugs prescribed for depression and of course alcohol itself being a depressant may actually be causing the symptoms rather than treating them.

Undergoing a medically assisted detoxification can reduce the side effects of physical dependency, such as shaking and sweating. The psychological dependency can also be treated over a longer time period. It is alcohol that is causing these so drinking more is not the solution

	It helps them to cope with life
	It helps them to cope with work
	To deal with bereavement
	To deal with family pressure
	To deal with a relationship break-up
	To deal with redundancy or another change of circumstance
	To cope with money worries

Although alcohol does reduce worry in the short term (i.e. for as long as they are drunk) it is not a suitable long-term solution. If people find they are frequently using alcohol to cope with stressful and worrying situations in their lives then they may need to consider finding another way of dealing with stress or to face the problem and deal with it rather than avoiding it. Alcohol cannot solve these problems and will always cause more problems of its own in terms of health and money etc. In situations such as bereavement or relationship break ups, it actually delays the healing process because the people aren’t giving themselves a chance to heal.

	Boredom
	Habit

Drinking is a bad habit to get into and if people have other things in their lives such as work, family, friends, hobbies, sports and leisure then they will find they will not be bored and they will get into new routines with different habits.

	Because everyone around them is drinking (friends & / or family)
	Its what’s done around here (community or environment)
	Part of the job (chef, bartender, salesman, businessman)
	Peer pressure – feel they have to
	Its cool
	Its grown up

When people are in a certain environment or culture it is common to follow what other people are doing and the same happens amongst groups of family or friends if everyone is doing something then it becomes the norm and it is accepted. But these groups are made up of individuals who respond to things and deal with things differently.

There may be people in the group who can drink alcohol and be fine with it, their may be others in the group who are not coping with drinking so well because, for example:

- They are sensitive to alcohol health wise because of differences in their biology

- They cannot control their drinking and once they start drinking they cannot stop

- Their family or friends may not like them drinking because of the way it affects their personality and behaviour

- Whenever they get drunk they end up having a fight or committing a crime

- They cannot afford to drink at that level / every day

Other people in the group may not always accept these differences or respect an individual’s wish and try to persuade them otherwise for a number of their own selfish reasons for example:

- So they can continue doing what they want to do

- So they do not have to consider changing their behaviour

- So they do not have to consider the possibility that they might also have a problem

- Because they do not have to deal with the consequences

- Because they do not understand or care about that individual

What ever these reasons are it may be worth considering how much of a real friend this person is if they try to push others into doing what they do not want to do.

	To get drunk
	Gives them a buzz
	It's fun
	To socialise
	They enjoy it
	Like the taste

These reasons for drinking alcohol are fine as long as people are still having fun