Alcohol and Violence

[mf85251]

Hello all.

So what I am trying to figure out, is how alcohol and violence relate to each other. I read in several blogs and articles that alcohol does not cause or change behavior to violence, yet it can encourage violence in people who have aggressive urges. So if you are one who is likes to fight a lot, it probably, is most likely you will end up in a fight after getting drunk.

But does that also effect someone who is not aggressive. If you are someone who is calm, happy, and nice, can alcohol change your personality to be violent? I usually am happy when I drink. But I am worried that alcohol can quickly change your personality with more and more consumption. I know there have been times where I wasn't in the greatest of moods and the alcohol made those moods become more noticeable. But can you be happy and then after 8 drinks, be completely angry and violent?

I also read that certain types of drinks effect peoples behavior. Obviously that changes with person to person.

I am just wondering...cause as in my other post, I had a great day on last Sunday and ended up walking home. I was really drunk, but I remember not being angry or violent. I was pretty content, but wanted to get home. I left the bar and of course I had a blackout. I have bee worried sick all week long that I had committed a horrible crime. I thought maybe the alcohol could have changed my personality at that moment (time of the blackout) and I became a lunatic killer or rapist. From the evidence now, I am 99.9% nothing happened. But it still makes me wonder if alcohol can change you like that.

Judging from what I read, they say it can't. It can only lower your inhibitions. If you are a good person at heart then most likely you won't go out and get violent. If you have violent tendencies or a lot of anger, then you will probably go out and cause damage.

Thanks for reading. Your thoughts.

Thanks,

Mike :)  

[ibizan]

Alcohol is a central nervous system depressant......in large quantities it deadens the brain...anethesizes it...but folks who are alcoholic can be in a blackout...walk...drive...talk....seemingly function...but be totally unaware of it...they call it state dependent memory/learning.It can also cause one 2 b violent even if their nature is not being a violent person.Cunning baffling and powerful is this liquid socially acceptable drug!

[boogieman]

hi. ya, ibi is correct, excessive alcohol consumption, especially with someone who is chemically dependent, can trigger totally uncharacteristic and sometimes violent outbursts in the kindest of souls. i was never very violent drinking, but my personality did shift. frequently there is a jekyll/hyde scenario, and the drunk side of the equation can be unpredictable. take care,  gm

[MGM155]

Normally.. I'm a kind soul.. but "they" tell me I'm different when I drink.. not violent or abusive.. just "different," but no one can seem to explain it to me, exactly.

I was married for 4 years to a childhood sweetheart.  He didn't drink all that much at first, but that quickly changed, and so did he.  I've been slapped, drug through the house, clothes half torn off, all because I wasn't ready for bed.

My younger brother..  a sweetheart normally, turns into a real ******* after drinking.. a really mean drunk!

Izi is right... this drug is the worst I've ever done in relationship to the affects it has on personalities!

[cornczech]

my 4 foot 11 inch mother would become a raging lunatic demonic possessed b$tch when she drank...and she has been an alcoholic since the 70's.....and unrepentant one too....my brother, who died at age 38 last year in July from mixing drugs and booze, he also would become violent. (the last time I saw him alive he tried to kill me with a butcher knife and held a gun to my head....). My husband claims I got very angry and mean.....(thank JEBUS I went through rehab in February.....my mother is alone now....having run ME off years ago...and well....her son is now dead....
i would say alcohol DEFINITELY changes ones personality....been there, seen that.

[MGM155]

I'm so sorry to hear about your mom.  No one needs to go through that kind of hell, and I don't intend to put my loved ones through such.  

[Delusion]

As corny as it sounds fighting is never good because someone always ends up getting hurt. I do not want to be hurt and i also do not want to hurt anybody else even if they wish to hurt me. Im a pacifist and always walk away or talk my way out of fights and this carries on when im drunk. In fact when im drunk because of the obvious confidence boost it gives you im even better at smart talking my way out of hostilities.

I do not believe alcohol can turn you into a violent thug if your not one already. I regularly go out drinking with friends, most guys, a lot pretty big and loud but all completely harmless when drunk no one i know has ever got into a fight drunk because despite what people say you really are aware of what your doing.

In 90% of cases consuming alcohol is not a 'excuse' or get out of jail free card for being violent and fighting.