Alcohol and Stress: A Lethal Combination

There are different reasons as to why people take to drinking alcohol. Most of them know that alcohol affects the senses, causes a lot of health problem and even causes societal embarrassment if addicted. But still, the addiction can be strong enough to oversee this problem as a person gets sunk into depths of alcohol addiction. An average alcohol treatment center that has been looking into these cases has cited stress and anxiety as the major causative factors in making a person an alcohol addict.

In India, there was a drunken driving case of a rich socialite lady who hit major news headlines for having run down cops to death after drinking alcohol. Apparently, she was partying with a few friends and her parents had told her to immediately leave the party and come home. Angry and flustered, the already in high spirits woman took a can of beer and began driving speedily through the lanes of Mumbai. She was obviously not in her senses, drinking and driving at the same time. Soon, she hit two cops who were taking a drunken driving test of a person. Both the cop and the person died instantly. Now the girl is in prison and being tried in court. Since two cops died, the police are adamant on nailing her.

From the above case, we know that the woman had obviously committed a huge offence by drinking and driving. However, we should also note the condition in which she was driving. She was angry and livid, which is why she drove fast in spite of being drunk. She was no illiterate, she certainly knew that drunk driving is not legal but still she did it. Why? Because, she was stressed and angry; and possibly wanted to prove a point to her parents that she can do what she wants.

Needless to say, if she hadnt been drinking, such a thing wouldnt have happened because in her case, the level of alcohol in the body was so much that she was barely able to walk, leave alone drive. People who resort to drinking have sleep disorders, depression, suffer from anxiety and panic; they also have low blood sugar level. Even though they may be in company, they feel isolated, so in order to fit in a group they drink alcohol. People who check into alcohol treatment centers have cases that find reverberation in the aforementioned womans incident.

It is important to fight stress and minimize it. Any alcohol treatment center will tell you how crucial it is to be able to adapt yourself to a stressful situation and resolve it in a healthy, positive manner. People who take to alcohol or substance abuse tend to do so in order to get over a trauma like an accident, crime or a tragic prone situation that they may find hard to forget. An addict has to realize that whatever happened was in the past and there can be still better things and opportunities in the present and future. A lost love or a death of someone dear can be disparaging but drinking does not solve the problem in any way. It is better to move and look at life realistically and positively rather than temporary happiness and permanent sadness from alcohol.