FACT: There is a high rate of heavy drinking and binge drinking among troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.
FACT: A person with PTSD is more likely than the average person to drink too much.
FACT: Alcohol worsens the symptoms of PTSD.
FACT: Drinking reduces the effectiveness of any PTSD treatment. If you have PTSD, you might believe drinking relieves your PTSD symptoms and helps you sleep. This is incorrect thinking and dangerous thinking.
Any momentary relief of PTSD symptoms provided by alcohol is just that—momentary. Drinking to escape from PTSD problems, to numb yourself, is not a coping skill. Alcohol will magnify any symptom associated with the disorder.
Alcohol is a sedating drug, a depressant on the body's system. Mentally, it reduces the ability to concentrate, make rational decisions and be productive. As for sleep, alcohol actually interrupts the deeper parts of a person's sleep cycle — leading to poorer sleep, not better sleep.
Abusing alcohol leads to more emotional numbing, social isolation, anger and irritability, depression and feelings of hyper-vigilance. Alcohol reduces a person's inhibitions, so if you are irritable or angry, you are more likely to act on these feelings. You might hurt someone, maybe even someone you care about. And that includes yourself.
Alcohol abuse is strongly associated with suicide, domestic violence, road rage and a whole host of other rages that lead to aggressiveness and fights.
How Much Drinking is Too Much?
Each of these has an equivalent amount of alcohol:
- A 12-ounce bottle or can of regular beer
- A 5-ounce glass of red or white wine
- A drink of 1-and-1/2 ounce of 80-proof distilled spirits (either straight or in a mixed drink).
The following are commonly accepted definitions regarding an individual's alcohol intake:
- Moderate drinking: No more than 2 drinks a day for a man and no more than 1 drink a day for a woman. (Males and females metabolize alcohol in different ways.)
- Heavy drinking: More than 14 drinks per week for a man; more than 7 drinks a week for a woman.
- Binge drinking: More than 5 drinks on any one occasion for a man; more than 4 drinks on an occasion for a woman.
The Bottom Line
Drinking is a choice. You can choose not to drink. If you have PTSD symptoms and drink, the best thing to do is stop drinking so your symptoms do not get worse.
If you choose to drink, do it in moderation; do not drink to get drunk. If you do drink, do so at home or at a friend's and, ideally, among people who know about your PTSD.
For more information about alcohol use and PTSD, go to:
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