Personality of a drink

In the world of wine connoisseurs and tasters it is said that each alcoholic drink has its own personality and what more if a bottle or glass of wine has its own personality then what about us human beings?

Some certain people seem to be more prone to drinking or becoming more addicted to drinking and using substance and this is all thanks to the genes we inherited from our parents.

Genes play a part in how we behave and how we react to the environment, our personality, what diseases or disorders we might inherit from our families and can develop during our life caused by the environment. There is even a field of study and research called epigenetics on how our genes, the characteristics from our parents, interact with the environment and have a cause on some of the diseases and disorders we develop later in life.

Personality is one of the things that are arguably inherited from our parents; both genes and the environment play an important role in forming our personalities. Without a doubt alcohol and drugs do have an effect on our personalities.

Some of us have either witnessed how people’s personalities or we ourselves have experienced and have stories of those experienced when intoxicated or drunk, some stories good or bad.

For those who have or are studying psychology will remember studying the interesting field of personality with all their theorists, however most theories do not account how alcohol and other substances affect our personalities. Psychologists and other health workers know the effects of alcohol and other substances on the body and these effects are generally short term (and rather hilarious in some instances!).

As always psychologists, doctors and others are in the constant pursuit of understanding our complex human nature and behaviour and unsurprisingly there is a theory and reasons as to why we as human beings consume alcohol and other mood or personality altering substances.

A part of understanding why people drink or use drugs has to do with our biology, drinking can either release certain chemicals in our brains such as dopamine, serotonin and endorphins, alcohol can also inhibit certain chemicals in our brains and bodies which affect how we think and behave. No doubt that alcohol makes us feel good that’s if it is not overdone! The feeling and the taste of alcohol triggers our senses and our pleasure centre in the brain and this why alcohol can and is highly addictive and this is called the motivational model of alcohol use.

Drinking can makes us forget our problems and since it triggers our pleasure centre in our brains which encourage one to drink more and even society plays an important role in why we drink either one can be pressured by society, friends and when one is attending social events one can find themselves consuming alcohol and drugs.

The reasons why people drink are as you might know or have figured out from this article so far are:

1. Social Drinking: This is probably the most common reason as to why people especially teenagers and young adults experiment and start drinking. The motivational model of alcohol use and the research conducted over many years reveal that teenager and young adults drink alcohol to increase the amount of fun one has when having fun with friends in social or close gatherings. The amount of alcohol consumption is quite moderate for this group.

2. Drinking to conform: Another common reason why many people, especially teenagers start to drink. Social events such as weddings, parties and other social gatherings are a party ground where people are prone to have a drink. It would be rather awkward making a toast at a wedding and everyone has a glass of ‘sparkling juice’ and one would raise just a glass of water. With teenagers drinking to conform comes in the form of the infamous and terrible for both teenagers and parents, peer pressure. One drinks to fit in and gain approval of other people in a group. People who drink to conform drink less than other people who drink for other reasons such as those who drink socially.

3. Drinking for enhancement: You know those people who drink to be courageous and rather at times recklessly funny at times. People who drink to become more social, braver and they drink to become more daring like approaching that woman they see at the bar or club? Well people who drink to enhance their behaviour and personality are more likely to be male and extroverted as one research shows. People who drink to enhance themselves are likely to engage in high risk behaviours and some might even end up in a viral video on social media and networks! The issue of drinking to enhance oneself is that these types of drinkers drink impulsively. The of drinking to enhance oneself is that one stands a higher risk of engaging in high risk behaviours as one uses alcohol to improve their abilities and have the guts to do something and we all know that drinking impairs one’s abilities and judgement.

4. Drinking to cope: People who drink to cope: We all have problems in our lives whether at work or in our personal lives and each and every one of us finds ways on how to deal with our problems and handle stress. However for some people they resort to drinking alcohol and consuming drugs to numb their feelings and thoughts and lessen stress. AS mentioned in above that alcohol and drugs alter the brain and chemicals in the brain which makes people feel good. Alcohol and drugs are unfortunately not the solution to life’s problems if not alcohol and drugs add to life’s problems.

If one seeks to find help or refer an individual to any one of our SANCA centres one it is important to find out the reasons of why an individual drinks and what are the causes that make a person drink and use substances, as the saying goes that the first step to recovery is knowing that one has a problem, what causes the problem and seeking help.