Alcoholism & Anger Management: Mental Health & Addiction

As with all co-occurring disorders, it’s important to treat anger management issues and AUD at the same time as part of a comprehensive treatment program. Learning to be more responsible for your actions takes time, but it’s a necessary step for individuals who have alcohol and anger management problems. As you become more self-aware, you’ll make better choices about alcohol consumption. Start by thinking about your feelings regarding alcohol and anger. Have family members or others mentioned concerns about your alcohol consumption? Did you recently experience an incident that stemmed from your alcohol-related aggression? Who is at Risk of Becoming an “Angry Drunk?” In these studies, male participants drank a dose of alcohol that placed them above the legal limit for driving a car – an average breath alcohol concentration of .09%. Then, they engaged in an aggression task, which was framed as a reaction time competition in which they could also behave aggressively toward another participant. It’s no secret that healthcare costs skyrocket for those frequently engaged in aggressive drunken behavior due to injuries or chronic health conditions stemming from excessive drinking. Moreover, productivity loss at workplaces is another major blow as employees grappling with such issues either miss work frequently or underperform. General-Life Stressors This occurs in long-term relationships such as marriage, as well as all dating scenarios. If your partner shows intense feelings of anger and a lack of self-control when drinking, reach out for help. People with co-occurring disorders should receive specialized treatment. Brain chemistry, alcohol, and rage Anger management issues may be rooted in a specific mental health disorder in some cases. Anger expression may also be confused with aggression or hostility, two consequences of drinking commonly cited in research. “Trait anger” refers to a person’s general tendency to experience chronic anger over time. Stressors can range from being overlooked for promotion on the job to experiencing a violent hate crime, for example. As if all the emotions you were avoiding had been frozen in time, and suddenly become a wash of white-water rapids flooding through your day-to-day life. Studies have estimated that up to 50% of alcohol-dependent males display violent behavior. The risk is five times higher than groups with no alcohol abuse. Rage can be triggered by many things, over does alcohol cause anger words at a social gathering, being refused another drink, or even from perceived slights. It can be harder for someone under the influence of alcohol to notice typical warning signs that emotions, especially anger, may be getting out of control. Alcoholic rage is characterized by behavior that becomes hostile, or aggressive when under the influence of alcohol. Alcohol can intensify existing emotions, often resulting in an exaggerated display of anger. There’s no better way to put it — properly addressing alcohol-fueled aggression is crucial for your well-being and relationships. By seeking recovery for problems with alcohol and anger, you can work toward a more positive life. Maltreatment during childhood—emotional, sexual, or physical abuse or neglect—can have long-lasting effects, resulting in a significant percentage of all adult psychopathology. In most cases, women are at a higher risk of experiencing alcohol-related domestic violence from male partners. If anger is a symptom of someone’s mental health disorder, alcohol can intensify the anger to dangerous levels. Why Alcohol Causes Mood Swings and Anger One way to have a bit less is to alternate alcoholic drinks with a soft drink or water. Alcohol is a CNS depressant that can affect your ability to regulate emotions and keep a check on impulses. For some people, these effects on the brain create noticeable personality shifts while drinking. An aggressive drunk may make poor decisions that lead to worse scenarios. Since your judgment becomes clouded when you’re intoxicated, a simple misunderstanding can quickly turn into a bar fight. Ethnic Minority Stress 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. As a result, you may be overly aggressive during a situation where you’d otherwise notice the cues that tell you to think more rationally. Most programs help set up your aftercare once you complete the inpatient portion of your treatment. Research into the long-term personality effects of alcohol use is ongoing. And if a person already has a temperamental personality, ongoing alcohol misuse will make things even worse. When combined with other evidence-based therapies, such as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), MAT can help prevent relapse and increase your chance of recovery. Reframe supports you in reducing alcohol consumption and enhancing your well-being. Now that we know what alcoholic rage syndrome is, can we do anything about it? In other words, can we make our inner “Sammy” or “Jimmy” (or whatever name your boozy alter-ego might have) stay away for good? In other words, we’re likely to do things — including giving others an earful as soon as we feel irked — without thinking about the potential fallout. How to find support for anger and alcohol misuse Injury, illness, or exposure to extreme temperatures can cause stress to the body. Grieving, depression, fear, and even sexual activity can cause psychological stress. Impulsivity and rage with alcohol may also be a result of genetics. Some people have a genetic variation of the serotonin 2B receptor gene HTR2B. “Later on in the night, you may find someone crying or becoming overly emotional, and this is because, as the alcohol wears off, there is a big drop in serotonin below baseline,” Tietz explains. Alcohol can impair the OFC, and disrupt communication between the OFC and the amygdala. There are a number of cognitive, neurobiological, and social factors that can influence how alcohol affects aggression. Anger is an intense emotion you feel when something has gone wrong or someone has wronged you. Aggression refers to a range of behaviors that can result in both physical and psychological harm to yourself, others, or objects in the environment. This article discusses some of the facts behind the stereotype of the “angry drunk” and explores the connection between anger and alcohol. Because of the established link between aggression and alcohol, co-treatments have been developed that can also address anger while drinking. Extreme happiness, or euphoria, is another common experience during drinking.