Alcohol & Health
Treatment
Helping Alcoholics
Medically Reviewed by Annamarie Coy, BA, ICPR, MATS
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While alcohol produces some stimulant effects, it’s considered a depressant. Depressants slow your body down rather than energize it.
Alcohol affects your central nervous system (CNS). It alters the way your body communicates with the nerves in your body.
How alcohol affects you depends on:
Alcohol affects many people differently; some report experiencing stimulant effects, while others say they experience depressant ones.
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Stimulants and depressants both alter your nervous system and brain function. However, they affect them in opposite ways.
Some compounds, like nicotine, may have characteristics of both stimulants and depressants. You should never mix alcohol and stimulant or depressant drugs because of the risk of severe side effects.
Stimulants speed up and excite the body’s central nervous system (CNS).
These are its possible effects:17
Examples of stimulants include:
Depressants slow you down by reducing your heart rate and pressure. Depressants may help you feel more relaxed. In some cases, they can sedate you.18
Examples of depressants include:
Alcohol is often wrongly classified as a stimulant because some people experience stimulant effects early on when they drink. However, these effects eventually disappear.
Common stimulant effects of alcohol include:
Drinking alcohol causes the release of dopamine or norepinephrine. These releases can lead to stimulant effects and alcohol addiction.
High-risk drinkers tend to experience more significant stimulant effects than light drinkers. According to the NIAAA, high-risk drinking is more than four drinks per day for men and more than three drinks a day for women.
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Professionals officially classify alcohol as a depressant drug. It slows down brain function and neural activity.
Drinking alcohol can also overstimulate GABA (gamma-Aminobutyric acid) pathways. GABA is a neurotransmitter that reduces energy levels and slows down the central nervous system.
It also affects memory, so drinking alcohol can cause memory loss.
Common depressant effects of alcohol include:
In high concentrations, severe depressant effects of alcohol include:
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Multiple studies show a strong correlation between alcohol abuse and depression. Approximately 63% of alcohol-dependent people have depression.11
There is a link between a higher amount of alcohol consumption and the level of depression symptoms. The more a person drinks, the more likely that person is to develop major depression.
Alcohol abuse can produce or worsen depression symptoms by affecting levels of neurotransmitters in the brain. It also reduces the amount of tryptophan in the body, an amino acid that helps produce serotonin, a mood-regulating hormone.
If you have an alcohol use disorder and a mental health problem, you must seek help for both conditions.
Treatment options for alcohol use disorder (alcohol addiction/alcoholism) include:
Inpatient treatment is a program in which people receive 24-hour structured and intensive care in a dedicated treatment facility. Inpatient treatment is also called residential treatment.
Outpatient treatments are part-time, non-residential addiction treatment programs. This type of treatment is less disruptive to a person’s life. During treatment, the person lives at home and can attend school or work.
Medical detox is otherwise known as medically supervised withdrawal or ‘detoxification.' Detox is when a person is weaned off a substance while under medical supervision in a hospital.
Healthcare providers manage withdrawal symptoms with medications along with:
Medical detox is highly effective in preventing the severe consequences associated with alcoholism.
Healthcare professionals use many behavioral therapies to treat alcohol use disorder (AUD).
These therapies can help patients recognize the impact of their alcohol use. It can also help them learn how to change their behavior to control their alcohol use disorder.
The most common behavioral therapies that have been productive in treating alcohol use disorder in the United States include:
Alcohol is a depressant, which slows down the body's functions. However, it can also act as a stimulant in some cases. Alcohol alters how the brain works, leading to euphoria and increased energy. If you are struggling with alcohol use disorder, different treatments can help you manage your symptoms and begin the journey to recovery.
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