Alcohol and Anxiety

Up until about 6 months ago I was a big drinker. Before I started university I drank a little bit at home and on special occasions. Then when I came to University I started going out more and consequently drinking more. It got to the point where I could easily drink a bottle of wine and a few cocktails in one night. At the time I thought it was great! Alcohol turned me into a social butterfly compared to the normal me. Despite feeling way more confident with a few drinks down me the feelings of anxiety never truly went away. I would talk happily to strangers, but only if I had a friend by my side who I could use as a social crutch.

I never really thought twice about the fact that I was drinking to relieve anxiety – everybody else did it so it seemed like no big deal. The turning point for me came when I was getting ready to go out to dinner with my old school friends , some of whom I hadn’t seen for a year. I was quite anxious while getting ready – worrying about where I was going to sit and if I would have anything interesting to say and. I managed to work myself up into a bit of s state and just as I was about to go I instinctively reached into the fridge and pulled out an open bottle of wine and took a few deeps swigs to calm myself down. Immediately after I knew that I had a problem. Soon after this experience I went on holiday to Egypt with my family over the new year. My dad had brought along a book called “Allen Carr’s Easy Way to Control Alcohol” – a humorous Christmas gift from my mum. I borrowed it and read the majority of the book in one sitting. Everything in that book made complete and utter sense to me – I started to realise that everything I had once believe about alcohol (i.e. that it gave you confidence) was complete and utter rubbish. As soon as I got back to uni after the holidays I declared myself teetotal to my housemates, who thought I had gone mad. But six months later I am still going strong (apart from one or two sips of red wine, sssshhhh!).

I think this is one of the best things someone suffering from social anxiety can do as it forces you to find other ways to deal with your emotions other than drowning them in a toxic substance. Alcohol can feel like a solution but in the end for someone with social anxiety it can just make the problem worse.