The Connection Between Depression and Anger

You might start drinking in order to forget what’s on your mind, but once the initial boost begins to wear off, you might end up wallowing in those feelings instead. If you already have depression, you might feel even worse, since alcohol can magnify the intensity of your emotions. Among the many studied physiological and behavioral effects of alcohol is disinhibition, or reduced control over impulses or urges after intoxication. Disinhibition can make you unable to suppress or change an act of aggression that is not appropriate for the situation you’re in. Alcohol can provoke different emotional responses for different people.

• We conducted Time Line Follow-Back interviews (Sobell & Sobell, 1992) and calculated percent days abstinent (PDA) and drinks per drinking day (DDD).
• During-treatment changes in anger measures were calculated as the difference between each anger measure as assessed at pretreatment and at treatment end.
• Psychologists can also diagnose and treat these “co-occurring” psychological conditions.
• Children who have major depression as a child may drink earlier in life, according to one study.
• Emotionally focused therapy has been shown to help relieve depression, raise self-esteem, and reduce distress in interpersonal relationships.
• However, for the best results, your doctor will likely treat them together.

Anger, either additively or in interaction with alcohol, was related to increases in negative anger- and alcohol-consequences (Leibsohn et al., 1994). That is, high-anger, alcohol-involved individuals were at greatest risk for a range of negative anger and alcohol consequences. Providing anger management skills to such individuals might help lower anger and conflict that would alter these negative consequence trajectories. According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), nearly 8 million adults in the United States struggled with both a mental health disorder and addiction in 2014. When a person struggles with both alcohol addiction and anger management problems, the issues exacerbate each other. For example, drinking alcohol may escalate a situation, increase the likelihood of a worse outcome, and cause negative consequences of heightened anger and aggression, especially if a person already struggles with controlling their anger when they are not drinking.

Does Alcohol Cause Depression?

Relapsed individuals often start another negative cycle of alcohol-related problems and suffering in themselves and others (Lowman et al., 1996; Marlatt & Gordon, 1980). Notwithstanding the progress that has been made in the alcohol use disorders treatment field, innovative treatment strategies are still needed. Depression, anger, and addiction are issues that are closely related. Alcohol withdrawal can be potentially life-threatening, in the case of severe dependence.

Alcohol misuse and depression are both serious problems that you shouldn’t ignore. If you think you have a problem with either, talk to your doctor or therapist. There are lots of choices when it comes to medication that treats depression, and there are drugs that lower alcohol cravings and counter the desire to drink heavily. You can also get help from Alcoholics Anonymous or an alcohol treatment center in your area.

Contributing Factors

(A “drink” means 1.5 ounces of spirits, 5 ounces of wine, or 12 ounces of beer, all of which contain 0.5 ounces of alcohol. For both sets of analyses, mixed effects models (SAS 9.3) were used. This allowed us to model clients as random factors and to nest repeated measures within each client. Mixed models accommodated for the fact that repeated measures from each client were correlated and accommodated for missing data with maximum likelihood estimation. When you drink too much, you’re more likely to make bad decisions or act on impulse.

People who tend to ignore the future consequences of their behavior, or score low on the Consideration of Future Consequences (CFC) scale, have been found to display more aggression. This is heightened when consuming alcohol, according to a 2012 study. There are a number of cognitive, neurobiological, and social factors that can influence how alcohol affects aggression. Another study of 249 heavy drinkers similarly found that alcohol intoxication predicted higher levels of IPV in those who reported low psychological flexibility (Grom et al., 2021). Alcohol can significantly impact the levels of neurotransmitters in your brain, making depression worse.

Treatment Options for Alcohol Abuse & Addiction

Therapy assisted him in recognizing how past wounds contributed to his vulnerability to both anger and alcohol use. After much consideration, he eventually joined an alcohol treatment program as I helped him grieve alcohol depression and anger his wounds and manage his anger. At the same time, people with depression may attempt to self-medicate with alcohol. If you or someone you care about has a co-occurring disorder, know that help is available.