Alcohol Depression

It is a sad fact indeed that 25 million people in the United States now seek help for depression, but even sadder is the fact that 90% of those same people left their Dr.’s offices with antidepressants rather than being given the goal of visiting either a psychotherapist or some other form of therapy. Many also then suffer Alcohol Depression.

One in five Americans report that they are suffering from high stress levels, anxiety and/or sadness. Also, many mix their suffering with alcohol, which truly compounds their problems and causes Alcohol Depression. Alcohol itself is a depressant, thus when those people are already depressed, their depression deepens when they drink alcohol.

When a person is stressed, they need various hormones that are specifically used to deal with stress, but it is truly regrettable that alcohol will blunt those stress coping hormones, thus their emotional wellness suffers tremendously when they turn to drink.

Older people will have folic acid deficiency as a natural occurring part of aging. Alcohol use will further lower that acid deficiency which will speed along such things as aging and also raise the risk of Alzheimer’s disease and other vascular dementia and even cause Alcohol Depression .

The National Institute of Health (NIH) has issued a study that shows that alcohol activates a specific gene that is closely linked to depression. The result of mixing drugs and alcohol may bring on a host of mental problems, as well as manic-depressive episodes, Alcohol Depression and even seizures! When faced with tremendous stress women seem to show depression and undergo anxiety disorders, while men may exhibit criminality, antisocial behavior, and alcoholism.

Suicide accounts for over 30,000 deaths annually, and worse yet is the fact that the causes of suicide are alcohol use, illness, poor social support, living alone, loss of job, and depression. Women attempt suicide more than men, but men seem to be more successful at it. Older Americans only make up approximately 13% of the population, yet they make up 20% of suicides. And since, as has been noted, alcohol causes depression or causes depression to be worse, it heightens the suicide factor as well.

It has been proven, unfortunately, that people who are suicidal or depressed are also those who will more often than not turn to alcohol and/or drugs as well. It’s a truly vicious cycle.

Medicine has been posing this question to themselves for centuries, unsure as to which came first, depression being caused by alcoholism or alcoholism being caused by depression? To this day, the question is still debated on both sides of the argument. Regardless, many scientists and eminent Doctors all agree that alcohol should be avoided in its entirety.

The reason is that if you have a family history of major depression then drinking alcohol could worsen major depression to a tremendous depth, however if you do not have such a family history, then abusing alcohol could actually cause such depressive episodes or Alcohol Depression.

I wrote a guide you may be interested in reading: depression quiz and cardiac stress test

Alcohol Depression

alcohol use and depression

Alcohol Depression

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