E81: Why We Drink: Social Drinkers vs Problem Drinkers
Sober Powered: The Neuroscience of Being Sober
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Drinking to Cope With Alcohol Use Disorder
A 2021 study found that the development of alcohol use disorder coincides with a shift in your reason for drinking. When we move from drinking to socialize to drinking to cope or experiencing cravings, it means we have developed a problem. Alcohol does actually help with stress because it slows down our brain and makes us careless. So, by caring less, you're less stressed. But just like with depression, as you drink to cope with stress, you develop a tolerance which means you now have to drink more to manage your stress. And then you're causing stress in your life from your drinking that you then have to drink to coping with.
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