Alcohol Effects?

[scott715]

I'm having a discussion with my 22 yr old daughter. What are its effects? Can it cause bi-polar or other mental diseases? Cause depression? Do a DUI and end up in jail and its consequences.

you guys are more knoweldgable than me and perhaps what I have heard are just old wife tales.

[Schmoe]

Slows the flow of oxygen to the brain because it takes the place of oxygen in the blood. Can be fatal when taken with other medications (happened to a good friend of mine, sad). DUI's can land you in prison, get your driving privileges revoked, kill you and others, and cause serious damage to future career goals. Don't know that it can CAUSE depression/bi-polar etc. but certainly can magnify it.

[urroner]

http://www.m.webmd.com/depression/alcoh ... epresssion

According to webmd, drinking alcohol can cause depression while depression can lead to drinking more alcohol. That is a vicious cycle. The article also said that women are more affected.

[ Post made via Mobile Device ]

[BoiseBYU]

It acts as a depressant and robs you of judgment. As a side note the alcoholic beverages with caffeine are particularly nefarious. The caffeine, which is in large doses, makes the drinker think he or she is not drunk because of the stimulant that caffeine is, but the person is every bit as drunk. The result? More sexual assault more binge drinking, more harm.

[valleus]

I'm a Psychiatry resident, and I can tell you first hand that alcohol is the most destructive substance on the planet. A few years ago the Lancet (Britain's most prestigious medical journal) did a study where they tabulated the net morbidity and mortality caused by various subtances and activities, and the results were not even close. Alcohol is reponsible for more morbidity than any other substance or activity known to man.

[scott715]

morbidity
1 an illness or an abnormal condition or quality.
2 (in statistics) the rate at which an illness or abnormality occurs, calculated by dividing the number of people who are affected within a group by the entire number of people in that group.
3 the rate at which an illness occurs in a particular area or population.

[TulaneVandyRiceCoug]

I was a drinker in high school and I would say the main effect is "doing really stupid things." Those things tend to make you upset later on, and even depressed too. Geez, one time I set fire to my parent's porch, microwaved our welcome mat, and ran around wearing only a folded pizza box--in the same night. I thought it was pretty funny at the time, and for a decent while afterward. However, I think that I could have found other ways to be funny at that age instead, without engaging in behaviors that were questionable or destructive. So, my thought is this: Discourage the drinking because of x,y, and z reasons which we all know about. BUT, also encourage other fun outlets for the young adults. Even the edgy, questionable ones. Geez, everyone has to get into some trouble during their youth just to get it out of their system. I would be fifty times happier if my son got in trouble for doing some silly prank that got him in trouble with neighbors, strangers, or even the police, than if he was getting into substances and doing stupid stuff and didn't even get in trouble.

[BroncoBot]

I was a drinker in high school and I would say the main effect is "doing really stupid things." Those things tend to make you upset later on, and even depressed too. Geez, one time I set fire to my parent's porch, microwaved our welcome mat, and ran around wearing only a folded pizza box--in the same night. I thought it was pretty funny at the time, and for a decent while afterward. However, I think that I could have found other ways to be funny at that age instead, without engaging in behaviors that were questionable or destructive. So, my thought is this: Discourage the drinking because of x,y, and z reasons which we all know about. BUT, also encourage other fun outlets for the young adults. Even the edgy, questionable ones. Geez, everyone has to get into some trouble during their youth just to get it out of their system. I would be fifty times happier if my son got in trouble for doing some silly prank that got him in trouble with neighbors, strangers, or even the police, than if he was getting into substances and doing stupid stuff and didn't even get in trouble.

Sadly, I could see myself doing the same things, and I never drank alcohol...

[JayhawkCoug]

Alcohol can cause serious problems, it just depends on the person and how they react to it. I know plenty of highly functioning alcoholics and I know people who have a couple too many drinks and end up doing really stupid things, like jail type of stupid. If your daughter just uses it as a social lubricant, as many people do, shes should be fine. If she is more interested in partying, then you might have reasons to be concerned. Generally, age is a good deciding factor on how "stupid" someone acts whilst intoxicated, and at 22 your daughter is getting out of the age of being too troublesome.

[scott715]

We're hoping that she got scared straight. She went to church last week. I have not heard if she went yesterday. We've encourage her to move to another apartment. She has been working on it. That would be a big help.