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By Psychologist Jason O’Callaghan

Dean Martin once said “I fell sorry for those folks who don’t drink, when they wake up, that’s the best they are going to feel for the whole day”

But, what happens when the joke goes out of drinking? What happens when the fun stops and the denial starts?

Like most psychologists, I have seen a shocking rise in people from all classes and backgrounds with drinking issues. One class that seems to be seeing a massive rise are ladies from the middle class, these middle earning professionals are starting to seek more and more help over their relationship with alcohol. The Chardonnay and Chablis class of drinkers seems to have taken a dramatic jump in recent months.

Maybe its the return of confidence in the economy, the return of those old Celtic Tiger social circles in the leafy areas of D4, D6 and South County Dublin? Maybe its a few extra bob in your pocket and you feel that its time to celebrate with a few glasses of wine. Or maybe its the awareness campaigns for mental health and alcohol related issues that are making people look at their lives and drinking a little closer? Maybe its just time for some people to take a long hard look in the mirror and realize they don’t know the person looking back at them? Especially when they are drunk?

It used to be the case you would see (or smell) a client who you knew had an issue with alcohol, but recently the middle classes are flocking to clinics like mine to talk about their drinking and the worries they have about it. For one lady it was the glass of wine after dinner that turned into a bottle of wine a night to help her sleep each night. For another it was bi-monthly night out that she turned into a completely different person. Or in the extreme the guy who was about to lose his wife and young family when the few cans at home during the match, became a nightly occurrence?

So how we do look at our drinking and ask that question “do I have a problem?”

Firstly alcohol is a drug its tends to make those who are happy, happier and those who are down, well it tends to drive them towards depression and anxiety. We know that those who are alcohol dependent do suffer more for depression and that heavy drinkers have a much higher risk of suicide or attempted suicide than others. So understanding alcohol and your relationships with it is very important for your healthy both physical and mental.

Withing the field of psychology some theories are that those who issues with alcohol or drugs use them as defense mechanism to denial to cope with painful feelings. Its helps them to forget their past or even their present situation but when they sober up sadly the issues are still there.

The Science when it comes to your drinking

Alcohol is like other addictive drugs and increases the activity of the dopminergic neurons of the mesolimbic system. It dampens the nervous system by increasing the activity of GABA, the brains main inhibitory neurotransmitter and it decreases the activity of glutamate, a major excitatory neurotransmitter. In layman’s terms this means that you feel less inhibited and euphoric. However, the more you drink the brains “control centers” become increasingly disrupted. Therefore doing simple things such as thinking normally and physical coordination become disorganized along with fatigue. This leads to risky behavior in what is called “Alcohol Myopia”. This is a shortsightedness in thinking caused by the inability to pay attention as much as you would when you are sober. This will often leads to those who have alcohol in their system taking risks such as those related to sexual behavior, driving drunk and so on.

In Ireland and UK we have seen a massive rise in people who are drunk even before they leave the house. Drinking at home is on the rise. For some its socially acceptable to have a bottle of wine before they even leave the house. For others its financial. With supermarkets selling below cost alcohol and the high price of alcohol in bars and clubs, people drinking at home with no idea of measures or portions. The thinking behind this seems to be to try to get drunk before they even leave the house, therefore they plan to save money while they out.

There is one issues with this theory. You see once out the alcohol from home kicks in and then with your systems not working at full tilt, you keeping drinking. You want to keep the high and want to take more risks to keep the drunk feeling until as expected like a roller-coaster it all comes to a crashing stop when the combined alcohol from whole evening all hits the brain and body at the one time.

We do have a problem in Ireland with our relationship with alcohol and the issues is getting bigger and spreading. Its time for all of us to take a look at our relationship with alcohol and maybe 2015 is the year to call time on your drinking.

Jason O’Callaghan is a Psychologist registered with The Psychology Society of Ireland and lead therapist in The D4 Clinics www.D4Clinic.ie