I have so many questions. Why do people make strange decisions? Does being drunk reveal a dark side in a person or does completely change the person in control? For example, if someone gets in a fight or abuses someone while they are drunk, does this occur BECAUSE they are drunk, or does it occur because the intoxication is tempting them to make decisions they might have considered doing before?
In: Biology
The intoxication lowers their inhibitions. Alcohol promotes and agonisises the inhibitory neuron GABA in the brain which is why people slowly shut down while drinking. The more drunk you are, the less inhibitions you have, the less of a fuck you give about your actions, the less aware you are of the way you’re acting and the more likely you are to stumble over.
Why do people act differently when sober?
Pardon me for quoting myself, but I described it like this in one of my recent comments on another thread:
>Ordinarily, moderate drinking accentuates some aspects of your personality that you might keep suppressed when sober – becoming more boisterous and vocal, or more mopey and quiet, or more friendly and outgoing, or more angry and hostile – but it’s still you in there. You’re just freeing up some aspects of yourself that you usually might not. You may do/say things that you regret afterward, but they’re your things.
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>However if you get truly soused, like blackout drunk, or take drugs like hallucinogens or sleep medicines where you get up and talk and do things while you’re effectively asleep or hallucinating, then I’d say yes you could do things that are quite bizarre and out of line with your character and personality.
So generally, yeah, you just exceed your usual limits and show more of yourself. Typically if you’re a good person, you’ll still be a generally good person while drunk, but maybe some of the things that make you good are your limits. So maybe normal you would see a person who needs help and would just give them a $5 and say “Hope that helps a little, have a wonderful evening!” but drunk you instead invites them home to crash (and regrets it later, especially when having to deal with the family who was *not* ok with that).
Also it’s situational – having whiskey with coworkers after the company party may bring out one side of you while having tequila with metalheads after a concert may bring out another. Most people have a favored standard drink and a ‘normal drunk mode’, which may be chatty, intellectual, goofy, mopey, belligerent, lovey, or whatever – just one aspect of their character accentuated and unleashed. But different circumstances can unleash different aspects. As long as you drink responsibly, that’s not a huge thing, maybe just a little embarrassing at times.
The tough part is if you go too far (paragraph 2 of my quote) – when you just have to piece together what you did from what other people tell you afterward. It was still you, and even when you’re blacked out you have periods of lucidity. So maybe it was an accentuated part of you, or it seemed logical and reasonable at the time, or maybe you actually were acting out of character – you can’t really know. But either way, you’re still responsible for your actions.
So I would say it does not ‘reveal a dark side’ nor does it ‘completely change the person’ and the actions are not ‘*because* they are drunk’, nor are they necessarily ‘at risk of doing terrible stuff’. But it does mess with your normal limits, and if you go too far, you can surprise yourself. Perhaps discovering aspects of your character that you didn’t know existed.
Our inhibitions are generally the most advanced function of our brains. So, you might think, “I really want to fuck the woman over there with the big tits.” When you’re sober you think, well I’m married and I’m her boss so let’s just file that thought away. When alcohol fucks with your neurotransmitters you’re too slow to come up with the Step 2 and find yourself balls deep in your intern and a stern meeting with HR the next morning.
The latter. The alcohol reduces inhibitions so they do things they want to do when sober. A sad drunk is a depressed person. An angry drunk is a person with unresolved rage issues. A flirty drunk is – well you get the idea
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