Why Does Drinking Release the Rage? Understand Alcohol-Related Anger and Aggression

This allowed us to model clients as random factors and to nest repeated measures within each client. Mixed models accommodated for the fact that repeated measures from each client were correlated and accommodated for missing data with maximum likelihood estimation. These programs organize your treatment session based on your schedule.

Seek Anger Management Support Groups

Based on the content of treatment protocols, anger regulation material comprised approximately 0.4% of the AAF condition and 64.2% of the AM condition. AA-related material comprised approximately 45.0% of the AAF condition and 5.4% of the AM condition. Alcohol-related treatment material comprised approximately 54.6% of the AAF condition and 30.4% of the AM condition.

Can You Get PTSD From Emotional Abuse?

If a health professional has diagnosed you with anger management problems, you may find these get worse when you drink. Alongside quitting alcohol, you could benefit from attending an anger management support group. Typically, support groups have professional leaders, like social workers or psychologists, so you can ensure you’re getting expert advice. Because alcohol is a psychoactive drug, it temporarily alters your mood, perception and feelings.

• Instead, try to “find a healthy outlook like sports or another interactive hobby,” says Bryant.
• Repeated alcohol abuse as a coping mechanism increases the odds for developing problems related to alcohol, however.
• By contrast, some individuals’ alcohol consumption contributes to their anger, hostility, and even aggression.
• Increasingly, research offers answers to determine this interaction.

Anger Treatment Options

Another study explored the relationship between Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), alcohol use, and violence (Blakey et al., 2018). This was a massive study of 33,215 individuals with no history of active military combat. An increase in anger after trauma and the use of alcohol to cope with PTSD symptoms were stronger predictors of physically aggressive or violent acts than a lifetime diagnosis of PTSD without anger.

• A 2017 study showed that men under the influence of alcohol had higher rates of physical and sexual aggression.
• While anger is an emotion you experience when you feel threatened, aggression is a hostile behavior that results in physical or psychological harm to yourself or others.
• And although nothing justifies murder, the son Paul Murdaugh was quite a character (and not in a good way).
• For instance, if you are diagnosed with early-stage diabetes, you may be able to control it with exercise, healthy eating, and stress management.
• Intermittent explosive disorder is a long-term condition that can go on for years.
• Anger is a response to different factors like hurt, frustration, jealousy, feeling helpless, rejection, worry, embarrassment, etc.

Alcohol-related anger can present with different signs and symptoms, varying from person to person. As alcohol can affect different body parts, including your heart, brain, muscles, and hormone regulation, there are both psychological and physiological signs. Various factors can put us at increased risk for alcohol-related anger or aggression. However, early management of these factors can lessen the chances of developing alcohol-related aggressiveness. For years, our team at Gateway Foundation has provided comprehensive recovery programs for people going through alcohol misuse. Through various treatment options, we can help you get back to a life of normalcy.

• The FHE Health team is committed to providing accurate information that adheres to the highest standards of writing.
• This anger then feeds into our stress, and what do we do to alleviate the stress?
• Intimate partner violence is of great concern when it comes to alcohol and anger.

Predicting outcomes of individuals with alcohol dependence following a treatment experience has long been of interest in the field (e.g., Edwards et al., 1988). Edwards et al. indicate that several pretreatment characteristics (e.g., personality, employment characteristics) predicted posttreatment outcomes. Since this research was conducted, the study of predictors of outcome has progressed substantially (c.f., Adamson, Sellman & Frampton, 2009 for a review). A study published in Frontiers in Psychiatry proved that children experiencing emotional dysregulation and other trauma symptoms resulting from abuse may be at increased risk of non-suicidal self-injury.

It’s not always easy to tell the difference at first glance, but there alcohol and anger outbursts are clear signs you can look for. It’s common knowledge that alcohol can significantly influence our emotions. Alcohol works by lowering inhibitions, which means those latent feelings of irritability can quickly escalate into full-blown rage. There’s less filtering happening between brain and mouth, less consideration for consequences.

Alcohol and Rage: What You Need to Know

The emphasis on addressing anger in AA notwithstanding, there is little empirical evaluation regarding anger management in alcohol and substance abuse treatment. Specifically, clients marked by higher anger did better at one- and three-year follow-up in the motivational enhancement condition than in cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) or the AAF condition (Karno & Longabaugh, 2004). That is, angry clients seemed to fare better in the less directive and structured condition than in the more structured CBT and AAF conditions. These findings, however, do not directly address anger management as part of intervention, but only how client characteristics interacted with other treatments. The CBT condition in Project MATCH which focused on enhancing cognitive-behavioral coping skills included two optional sessions focused on anger. The first session addressed increasing awareness of anger triggers and angry feelings, whereas the second focused on calming self-talk and problem-solving for angering situations.

When emotional dysregulation develops suddenly, that may also indicate the need to speak with a mental health professional about psychotherapy or other forms of treatment. If you or someone you know has thoughts of suicide or experiences a mental health crisis, go to the ER, call 911, or contact the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by dialing 988. For instance, a study published in the journal Scientific Reports demonstrated that emotion dysregulation is a common symptom of ADHD. Some emotional dysregulation examples include sudden mood swings, angry outbursts, temper tantrums, and crying uncontrollably for no reason.