If you’ve ever reached for a drink to calm your nerves or feel happy, you’re not alone. Self-medicating is nothing new, and plenty of people do it. Men might be especially pressured to self-medicate since they’re expected to “just deal with it” and keep their feelings bottled up inside. Managing your mental health, though, takes more than a few drinks. And those drinks, over time, can lead to addiction.
What is self-medication, and why do people do it?
Self-medication is when someone tries to use drugs, alcohol, or something else to try and cope with something on their own. Alcohol is one of the most common “medications” that people self-prescribe. That’s because alcohol is a powerful depressant that can temporarily relieve pain, reduce stress, and loosen inhibitions.
People can self-medicate for any number of reasons, including:
- To wind down at the end of a long day at work
- To take their mind off a fight they had with their spouse
- To stop thinking so much so they can have fun (“liquid courage”)
- To treat a headache or joint pain
- To forget about something they survived
- To avoid facing their problems
Many people who self-medicate engage in excessive drinking. Excessive drinking includes both “binge” and “heavy” drinking. For men under 65, binge drinking is five or more drinks on one occasion, and heavy drinking is 15 or more drinks per week. If you’re self-medicating, you might binge drink on the weekends to try and blow off steam. Or, you might have two or three drinks a night to wind down.
Excessive drinking in North Carolina
In North Carolina, men are more than twice as likely to drink excessively than women. Some research even shows that from 2015–2018, excessive drinking rates in the state actually went up for men but sharply declined among women.
Men may self-medicate more
According to at least one study, men were more likely to self-medicate with alcohol or drugs to relieve a mood or anxiety disorder. But you don’t have to have a diagnosed mental health condition to self-medicate. If you’ve never reached out about your mental health before, it’s unlikely that you’ve ever gotten a diagnosis from a doctor. Still, you might find yourself reaching for a drink on a regular basis.
Men might self-medicate more because they’ve been told that they should keep their feelings to themselves, that they should just “figure it out” and move on. Drinking, though, isn’t the right way to cope. It often leads to excessive drinking, addiction, and even self-harm: men die of alcohol-related deaths at more than double the rate of women.
Early warning signs you’re using alcohol to cope
How often do you find yourself reaching for a drink (or a few) to get through a night out? A big presentation? To fall asleep? These are all warning signs that you’re probably self-medicating and that there is something going on that you need to stop and process. Here are some other warning signs that you’re self-medicating with alcohol:
- Drinking alone or in secret
- Feeling like you need to drink to talk to people or sleep
- Drinking to avoid feelings or memories
- Needing to drink more to feel the same effects
- Being anxious if you can’t drink
- Neglecting your responsibilities or relationships
When you self-medicate, instead of reaching out for help, you put yourself at risk. Your health, relationships, job, and your life are all affected by alcohol.
The hidden risks of self-medicating
Having a few beers after work every night seems harmless enough on its face. You might not even feel like you’re drunk, just “loose” or relaxed. But over time, drinking takes a toll on your body and your mind. Chronic (long-term) and heavy alcohol use are associated with:
- Liver damage and disease
- Heart disease
- Weakened immune system
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Self-harm and suicidal thoughts
- Addiction
How self-medicating masks deeper issues
Alcohol is great at making you feel like nothing is wrong, at least it can be. The truth is, though, that it’s just numbing what you’re feeling, pushing it down so you don’t have to think about it in the moment. You never truly resolve anything, though, and your mind doesn’t forget what you’re distracting yourself from.
If you have depression, anxiety, or PTSD, even if you’ve never been diagnosed, drinking can make them worse over time. And, if you continue to ramp up your alcohol use, it can even make your mental health harder to diagnose and treat. You might eventually end up with a dual diagnosis, which is when you have a mental health condition and an alcohol addiction at the same time.
There are healthier ways to cope
Just because you might self-medicate now doesn’t mean that you have to forever. You can reduce the risks of alcohol use, but you’ll need to take some time to process what’s driving you to drink in the first place. You don’t have to do it on your own, either.
If you’re not ready to reach out for help, there are some things you can start doing on your own or with the support of your loved ones:
- Try making a new routine that helps take some pressure off of you.
- Make exercise a part of your lifestyle. Boxing classes, weight training, and CrossFit are all intense ways that you can blow off steam if you need a challenge.
- Find a creative outlet. Drawing, cooking, woodworking, even writing poetry can give you an outlet for some of the weight you’re carrying.
- Write a journal. It doesn’t have to be a lot, especially if you don’t like writing. Keeping track of what makes you want to drink can help you avoid them.
- Reduce how much you drink over time. You don’t have to quit cold turkey, and if you’ve been drinking a lot for a while, that can be dangerous.
Being more mindful of your drinking habits and finding ways to reduce how much you’re drinking is a great first step. However, there’s no replacement for professional support, especially if you’ve been using alcohol to self-medicate.
When and how to seek professional help
Quitting drinking might be the hardest thing you ever do, and there is no shame in reaching out for help. Consider it time to find support if:
- You’ve tried to cut back, but you just can’t.
- You get sick or feel shaky when you don’t drink.
- You’re calling out of work or showing up under the influence.
- You’re no longer able to show up for your partner, kids, or friends.
- You feel trapped, ashamed, or hopeless because of your drinking.
Reaching out for support can make quitting easier. A professional will be able to help you figure out why you’re drinking and find steps that work for you. And finding help can be as easy as picking up the phone.
Red Oak Recovery® can help you quit drinking
Red Oak is a treatment center just for men just outside of Asheville, North Carolina. In the beauty of the Blue Ridge Mountains, we use evidence-based and holistic methods to help men find a better way forward. Your treatment at Red Oak will be completely personalized to your unique needs, not a one-size-fits-all approach.
We provide one-on-one therapy sessions that can help you open up about your mental health in a safe space, group settings where you can connect with other men and find out that you’re not the only one who self-medicates, and plenty of outdoor experiences that allow you to discover new ways to handling stress. If our clinicians think it’s right for you, we may also provide medication-assisted treatment that helps curb cravings for alcohol and medication management that can manage mental health symptoms.
Find out what it’s like to truly let go of what’s bothering you instead of pushing it down with alcohol. Call 828.382.9699 or contact us online.
