Drunk & Angry Behavior

Question
Hello,

to begin with I am a 25 year old male. I do have a history of abuse with drugs & alcohol. Drugs I do no more; alcohol still remains an issue. For now I acknowledge my drinking problem (I drink 3-5 times a week 2 of those where I binge drink) but I am not willing to stop at this time & place. My concern is concerning weird and unpredictable behavior when I drink or after I drink. Lately I have had some binge drinking sessions where I am enjoying my evening, generally happy and in a good mood. I will then go to bed still drunk and wake-up shortly after and act angry and do strange things. My girlfriend says I get in this delirious state where I cry, complain about issues & life in 3 languages (which I do speak), throw things around and well do idiotic things such as grabing a box of cereals and emptying the contents on the floor for no aparent reason. When she tries to communicate with me I apparently do not listen & seem incoherent. The next morning I have no recollection at all of this ever happening. I now worry because I woke up with a bump on my head the other day and mainly although my display of emotion & agression is not directed towards another person it is still quite disturbing. My subconscious seems to be acting independently and I seem to become another person entirely. I have since then been more careful when I drink as this is embarassing for myself and scary for others.



Do you understand why this happens?


Answer
Hello Phillipe,



Thank you for your question.  I?m glad you acknowledge the fact that you have a problem with your drinking.  I will go a step further in describing your problem as addiction.  You do have a history of drug abuse also.  Please remember Addiction is a disease and cannot be cured.  It can only be arrested.  



By your description, what you are experiencing is Alcohol Blackout.  This is not the same thing as passing out when you have had too much to drink. Passing out very much resembles sleeping. No, an alcoholic blackout is when a person has had a lot to drink and they go into this state of mind where they can no longer remember anything that they are doing, but they are still moving around, conversing with people, and possibly causing all sorts of problems. Normally the human brain has the ability to keep recording whatever is happening in your life, whether you are hearing things, seeing things, or tasting things.  It all goes on the record. You might not remember every little detail but your brain actually has it all locked in there. Technically, you could bring these hidden memories out with hypnosis if you had to.  With a blackout this is not the case. Nothing is going on permanent record. The brain stops recording new information, so everything that occurs is lost forever to the alcoholic who is in a blackout. They can only recollect the experience as it is told to them by other people. This usually happens the next day when they find themselves waking up and wondering what exactly they did the night before. When the other person tells you what exactly you did the night before, you usually do not want to know, because horrible and embarrassing things generally happen during these types of episodes.



If you are at the point of experiencing these sorts of things, then you might want to step back and take a good hard look at your drinking. Normal people do not black out from drinking, ever. This is because a normal person will pass out long before they black out. If you are blacking out from drinking too much alcohol then it means that your tolerance to alcohol is all messed up. Technically you should pass out and appear to be sleeping long before you get to the point of blacking out. If you are blacking out on a regular basis then it means your drinking has gotten way out of hand, and you need to do something about it. If this is the case then you might want to consider treatment or rehab of some sort.



An alcohol induced blackout can be very dangerous. Blackouts are dangerous for many reasons. For one thing, people who are experiencing a blackout are still conscious. Alcohol use tends to lower a person's inhibitions and impair judgment, which may cause them to engage in high risk activities like drunk driving, sexual promiscuity, fighting, or committing crimes. These high risk activities may lead to any combination of serious injuries, chronic diseases, legal problems, or death. Moreover, a person who is experiencing a blackout may not have any control over their impulses. The only way to completely avoid alcoholic blackouts is not to drink alcohol at all [Period].  



Phillipe, need I say more.  Alcoholism is a disease and cannot be cured.  You should seek help and should seek it right now.



I wish you all the best in your life.



God Bless,





Amarnath