Dr. Jekyll? Better Hyde!
[First published June 12, 2018]
A 2015 study published by Addiction Research and Theory identified four kinds of drunks:
1. Hemmingway. These drunks show minimal signs of intoxication despite their heavy drinking. I used to think or wish that were me.
2. Mary Poppins.They are agreeable when sober and still agreeable when drunk.
3. The Nutty Professor. These people are extremely introverted when sober and become the life of the party when blasted.
4. Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde. They have the personality of Dr. Jekyll when sober but turn into violent monsters when drunk,
The study cited is at https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.3109/16066359.2015.1029920
An MEL Magazine article by Jennifer Sanchez sheds some light on Mr. Hyde. (https://melmagazine.com/inside-the-mind-of-an-angry-drunk-cb3f226d9c05) She refers to David Friedman of the Wake Forest University School of Medicine, who has been conducting drug-abuse research for nearly 40 years. "'You probably won't be surprised to hear this, but some people are just angrier or more hostile than others,' Friedman explains, 'And it's the angry folks who get angiest when they're drunk.'"
However, as you might expect, it's not that cut-and-dried. There are actually three factors that change people from Jekyll into Hyde. They as a mix of personality, neuroscience, and social context.
Personality means those who regularly suppress their anger let it out when under the influence. And certainly those who are aggressive to begin with compound this character defect when they drink.
Neuroscience refers to the way alcohol affects almost all the chemical systems in the brain. A few drinks can short-circuit communication between different parts of the brain, including the prefrontal cortex, the epicenter for decision making and judgment. Someone prone to anger when sober might be even less likely to refrain from it when drinking.
The third factor of drinking violence is social context. "'Alcohol makes it harder for people to interpret facial expressions, which is a complex thing to do,' Friedman points out. 'It's particularly difficult to distinguish threatening from submissive when under the influence. So here you are, you're a little bit angry to begin with because that's your nature, your self-control is weakened [by alcohol] and you look at the guy at the other end of the bar, and what may be a neutral or nonthreatening face suddenly becomes threatening. Then you act out.'"
There is one sure way to keep yourself from being an angry or violent drunk:
Don't drink!
A 2015 study published by Addiction Research and Theory identified four kinds of drunks:
1. Hemmingway. These drunks show minimal signs of intoxication despite their heavy drinking. I used to think or wish that were me.
2. Mary Poppins.They are agreeable when sober and still agreeable when drunk.
3. The Nutty Professor. These people are extremely introverted when sober and become the life of the party when blasted.
4. Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde. They have the personality of Dr. Jekyll when sober but turn into violent monsters when drunk,
The study cited is at https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.3109/16066359.2015.1029920
An MEL Magazine article by Jennifer Sanchez sheds some light on Mr. Hyde. (https://melmagazine.com/inside-the-mind-of-an-angry-drunk-cb3f226d9c05) She refers to David Friedman of the Wake Forest University School of Medicine, who has been conducting drug-abuse research for nearly 40 years. "'You probably won't be surprised to hear this, but some people are just angrier or more hostile than others,' Friedman explains, 'And it's the angry folks who get angiest when they're drunk.'"
However, as you might expect, it's not that cut-and-dried. There are actually three factors that change people from Jekyll into Hyde. They as a mix of personality, neuroscience, and social context.
Personality means those who regularly suppress their anger let it out when under the influence. And certainly those who are aggressive to begin with compound this character defect when they drink.
Neuroscience refers to the way alcohol affects almost all the chemical systems in the brain. A few drinks can short-circuit communication between different parts of the brain, including the prefrontal cortex, the epicenter for decision making and judgment. Someone prone to anger when sober might be even less likely to refrain from it when drinking.
The third factor of drinking violence is social context. "'Alcohol makes it harder for people to interpret facial expressions, which is a complex thing to do,' Friedman points out. 'It's particularly difficult to distinguish threatening from submissive when under the influence. So here you are, you're a little bit angry to begin with because that's your nature, your self-control is weakened [by alcohol] and you look at the guy at the other end of the bar, and what may be a neutral or nonthreatening face suddenly becomes threatening. Then you act out.'"
There is one sure way to keep yourself from being an angry or violent drunk:
Don't drink!
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