Drinking can seem like the perfect cure for nerves and anxiety. Relatively cheap, fast-acting, and available in most places. The problem is that alcohol makes anxiety worse. Whether you lived with anxiety before you started drinking, you find that drinking makes you more anxious, or long-term drinking has really impacted your mental health, there is a way forward that is less stressful—and it doesn’t rely on alcohol.
The Connection Between Anxiety and Alcohol
The relationship between drinking alcohol and anxiety is more complicated than it seems because there are a few ways that alcohol impacts the brain and body.
Hangxiety
Do you feel anxious the day after a night spent drinking? You might get “hangxious.” Hangxiety is a term referring to the anxiety someone feels when they’re hungover. One study from 2017 found that nearly 23% of participants reported anxiety as a symptom of their hangovers.
Why? Experts think it might be at least partly due to the way alcohol affects your brain in the first place. It helps dull anxiety—a reason for many people to drink in the first place—by suppressing different chemicals in the brain. When the alcohol wears off, those chemicals can rush back in, kicking your anxiety into high gear.
Other factors might influence post-drinking hangxiety, too. Alcohol dehydrates you, which can cause anxiety symptoms. You might also feel regretful or guilty about drinking (or drinking too much), which can also spin up your anxiety.
Self-Medicating Anxiety with Alcohol
If you deal with anxiety, you might feel like you can never escape it. Constant worry, nervousness, or even dread can leave you frozen between decisions and willing to try anything to wind down. Many people with anxiety disorders, like generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), social anxiety, and panic disorder, try to self-medicate by drinking.
But, just like with short-term hangxiety, drinking doesn’t make chronic anxiety go away. Sure, it might make you feel like you’ve calmed down in the moment, but nothing has really changed. Once it wears off, you’re left to manage your anxiety again on your own. This can quickly turn into a cycle of drinking to calm nerves, building a tolerance to alcohol, drinking more than before, and becoming addicted to alcohol.
Alcohol Use Can Lead to Anxiety
For some people, chronic alcohol use can actually cause anxiety. Changes in the brain, especially among heavy drinkers who go through periods of withdrawal, can make panic and anxiety attacks more likely.
The social consequences of alcohol addiction can also cause severe anxiety. Trying to keep your drinking a secret, dealing with relationship or job issues, and thinking that nobody will understand or want to help you can all make the stress you feel worse.
Self-Medication Makes It Harder to Quit
Trying to manage your anxiety with alcohol clearly has severe effects—but what does it actually look like? Picture someone with social anxiety. They’ve discovered that they feel more social and willing to go out if they have a few drinks before an event, keep drinking during, and even a few once they get home. For the first time in what seems like forever, they can go out and have fun with their friends. Over time, though, this becomes a slippery slope.
A common addiction pattern for people with social anxiety often looks like this:
- They use alcohol to calm their nerves in social settings.
- Even if their drinking is a bit embarrassing, people still accept them.
- Spending more time in social environments where alcohol is common reinforces this behavior.
- Over time, they come to believe they need alcohol to handle social situations.
- Eventually, physical and emotional dependence on alcohol develops, making it harder to manage or overcome.
Without addressing the root cause of their anxiety, they’re finding a quick fix—like trying to put a band-aid over something that needs stitches—that becomes a deeper issue. Only by addressing the root causes of your mental health and alcohol use can you actually start making progress.
Recovery Is Possible
Co-occurring anxiety and alcohol addiction treatment can give you the help you need to find a better way forward. Trying to quit drinking on your own, especially if you struggle with anxiety, can seem impossible, and many people relapse that way.
Rehab can help you break the connection between anxiety and alcohol by:
- Helping you understand where your stress and cravings start
- Showing you how drinking worsens your anxiety
- Teaching you how to cope with stress and reduce cravings
- Supporting you as you deal with withdrawal symptoms during early recovery
- Connecting you with others who deal with similar challenges
- Starting you on a medication management program for your anxiety if needed
You can recover, and you can learn to cope with your anxiety, allowing you to do the things you love without feeling stuck.
Don’t Neglect Expert Help
If anxiety and alcohol have affected your life, please reach out to us at Red Oak Recovery® to get the help you need. We are a clinically focused care center that takes a holistic approach to helping you with your mental health. When you come to Red Oak, you’ll get care in a psychiatric and clinical setting and also venture out into the wild beauty of the Blue Ridge Mountains with our outdoor programming.
We welcome men to our supportive environment so they can reclaim control and find their path to a healthy future. Call 828.382.9699 or contact us online now to get started.
