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Thread: Alcohol as a depressant

  1. #1
    Oliphaunt
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    Default Alcohol as a depressant

    Depressants include heroin, opium and barbiturates, none of which are party drugs. No-one takes a shot of heroin and then goes out dancing. Stimulants include cocaine, amphetamine and Ecstacy, all party drugs and very much the sort of thing you take before painting the town red. So why is drinking alcohol, a party drug so common that in any randomly chosen night club over 95% of those present will have taken it, classified as a depressant? If it's a depressant, why does it make me feel perky and happy and energetic and social?

  2. #2
    Oliphaunt featherlou's avatar
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    Default Re: Alcohol as a depressant

    It depresses inhibitions, is my guess.

  3. #3
    aka ivan the not-quite-as-terrible ivan astikov's avatar
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    Default Re: Alcohol as a depressant

    And we all have different metabolisms and tolerance rates.
    To sleep, perchance to experience amygdalocortical activation and prefrontal deactivation.

  4. #4
    Oliphaunt dread pirate jimbo's avatar
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    Default Re: Alcohol as a depressant

    My understanding, which could be completely out to lunch, is that alcohol overloads your neural pathways, resulting in slowed responses and an overall depressed effect. However, since it is causing your neurons to become over excited, it's actually, technically, a stimulant, which is why you might feel energized and excited after a drink or two and, on the other end, why your sleep patterns are actually disturbed by alcohol, even if you pass out from excessive consumption. So it's a stimulant that causes depressant effects due to the manner in which it acts on the brain.

    Any actual experts on the subject, please feel free to correct me if I have that completely wrong.
    Hell is other people.

  5. #5
    Stegodon
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    Default Re: Alcohol as a depressant

    I hate to do this, since someone here has a sig that says "Five minutes with Google does not make you an expert", (and they're damned right) but I found a site that suggests a reason why alcohol might work in this way, and supports what a GP friend once told me;

    "Alcohol is a depressant that slows brain activity down. While one or two drinks makes most people feel relaxed, more alcohol may cause feelings of anxiety, depression, and often aggression. Alcohol’s first effect as it reaches the outer brain is to distort your judgement and lower you {sic} inhibition, while producing euphoria (a sense of pleasure). As you consume more alcohol, and it reaches the cerebellum, your coordination and perception are affected, and you can have memory blackouts. As the alcohol reaches your mid-brain, reflexes diminish, you experience confusion, stupor, and may lapse into a coma. Once the alcohol finally reaches the medulla, or inner core of the brain, your heart rate drops and breathing ceases, resulting in death."

    So from this, I infer that alcohol affects the brain progressively, removing or supressing higher brain function at first. This could be why it's technically a depressant, even though in the early stages of consumption it might appear to be a stimulant. For that matter, it supports what featherlou said, and certainly backs my extensive research into the matter.

    Here's another cite, just for fun.
    Anything is possible if you use enough lubricant.

  6. #6
    Oliphaunt dread pirate jimbo's avatar
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    Default Re: Alcohol as a depressant

    Good links, Guizmeaux. I defer to your superior google-fu.
    Hell is other people.

  7. #7
    Member
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    Default Re: Alcohol as a depressant

    Quote Originally posted by Harlequin
    So why is drinking alcohol, a party drug so common that in any randomly chosen night club over 95% of those present will have taken it, classified as a depressant? If it's a depressant, why does it make me feel perky and happy and energetic and social?
    The same way that Ritalin is a stimulant but paradoxically appears to calm peple down. Alcohol a depressive effect on brain activity, but selective suppression of activity in certain parts of the brain can result in an overall elevation in mood and activity.

    Nonetheless, this "stimulation" isn't reliable for long. Most people start getting drowsy and lethargic after more than a couple of drinks. The reason alcohol is such a popular "stimulant" is the same reason it's also a popular depressant, dissociative, aphrodisiac, anaesthetic, hallucinogen, paralytic, and all-purpose inebriant. It's the only game in town for getting legally fucked up.

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