Is Alcohol a Depressant?

Alcohol can produce stimulating effects, but it is a depressant. Alcohol affects your central nervous system (CNS), impacting the way your brain communicates with the nerves in your body. 

Depressants affect the neurotransmitter gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), which slows down your brain activity. This can lead to side effects such as relaxation, drowsiness, slurred speech, decreased inhibition, and problems with coordination.

In addition, drinking alcohol quickly and in large amounts can lead to more severe symptoms, such as memory loss, coma, even death. 

What Makes Alcohol a Depressant?

Alcohol is a depressant because it slows down the communication in the brain and body. Specificially, alcohol acts on the body's central nervous system. It disrupts the neurotransmitters in your brain that are responsible for transmitting information. This can affect your behaviors, thoughts, and feelings.

It acts on an inhibitory neurotransmitter known as gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA). GABA makes nerves cells less able to send, receive, or create signals. In other words, it reduces activity in the brain.

The immediate effects of drinking alcohol can help you feel more relaxed, more confident, and less inhibited. However, as these short-term effects wear off, other effects begin to take hold. This includes feelings of anger, anxiety, depression, and other negative emotions.

How Depressants Affect the Body

It’s a common misconception that alcohol is a stimulant because it produces many stimulating effects like increased heart rate, alertness, and aggression. 

For some, alcohol can increase confidence and self-esteem. It can also decrease feelings of anxiety and make some people chatty or sociable, even energized. It can also feel rewarding to drink, as alcohol releases dopamine in the brain, encouraging you to keep drinking. These "feel good" effects, however, are short-lived.  

In addition to alcohol (aka ethanol), there are barbiturates, benzodiazepines, and sedative-hypnotic drugs, among other depressants. Some of the most common depressants include: 

• Xanax
• Valium
• Halcion
• Klonopin

These drugs are often used to treat anxiety, minimize pain, relieve muscle spasms, sleep disorders, and address other mental health issues.

Some are safer than others, but all produce lower levels of awareness in the brain and cause the activity in the CNS to slow down. 

Side Effects of Alcohol and Other Depressants

The effects of alcohol depend largely on how much and how quickly you drink, along with varying factors such as your personal history, genetics, body size, gender, tolerance, and other key factors.

Common side effects of alcohol use include:

• Low blood pressure
• Loss of coordination
• Slurred speech
• Blurred vision
• Headache 
• Reduced reaction time
• Nausea 
• Vomiting
• Dizziness 
• Impaired mental functioning
• Slow breathing
• Loss of consciousness
• Loss of memory

Short-Term Risks of Alcohol

Drinking too much can lead to alcohol poisoning, respiratory failure, coma, or death. If you’ve experienced an overdose, you may experience mental confusion, vomiting, unconsciousness, slow heart rate, low body temperature, bluish skin, and irregular breathing, among other symptoms.

Long-Term Alcohol Risks

Some long-term effects of alcohol misuse include:

• Injuries
• Liver disease
• Cardiovascular disease
• Chronic health conditions
• Anxiety
• Depression

Prolonged alcohol consumption is also closely linked to cancer and suicide.

Alcohol's Complications

Studies have found that heavy drinkers when compared to light or non-drinkers, may be more likely to experience greater stimulant and rewarding responses from alcohol than sedative effects. This may put them at a higher risk of developing an alcohol use disorder (AUD). 

Drinking can be harmful to anyone, regardless of their susceptibility to alcohol misuse or dependence. Therefore, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends avoiding excessive drinking, whenever possible, including binge drinking, heavy drinking, or drinking if you’re pregnant or younger than 21 years old.

While it may feel good to drink, alcohol changes the chemicals in your brain, impacting your thoughts and behaviors.

As your blood alcohol concentration (BAC) rises, so do the risks. Abusing alcohol can not only harm your health and mental health, but it can also hurt those around you, especially if you engage in risky behaviors while under the influence like driving, having unprotected sex, or fighting. 

Treatment for Alcohol Misuse

No matter how severe your alcohol misuse, recovery from this type of depressant is possible. When you speak with a mental health professional, you can determine what treatment plan works best for you and your situation. Treatment options may include medication or therapy.

Medication

If you’re undergoing alcohol withdrawal symptoms or want to reduce alcohol cravings, you may be prescribed medication. The FDA-approved options include naltrexone, acamprosate, and disulfiram.

Naltrexone may also be used to reduce drinking without quitting cold turkey. This approach, known as the Sinclair Method, aims to reduce drinking by having people take naltrexone when consuming alcohol.

Therapy 

There are different types available, including trauma-specific therapy, dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT), cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), as well as individual, family, or group therapy. Options for support groups include Alcoholics Anonymous, Self-Management and Recovery Training (SMART), or Women for Sobriety (WFS), among others.

What works for you might not work for someone else, so know there are alternative programs available.

Takeaway

Alcohol affects everyone a little differently. Even if you’re drinking the same alcoholic beverage at the same rate as someone else, your reactions will differ. It’s important to remember that alcohol is a depressant, and you can overdose if you drink too much. Excessive drinking can also harm your finances, relationships, and physical and mental health, so it’s important to seek professional care if it becomes a problem.