In this YouTube monologue, Amber Hollingsworth explains why people with chronic mental‑health conditions such as depression, anxiety, PTSD, bipolar disorder, or ADHD often turn to alcohol for relief, but how that choice backfires. She uses the metaphor of increasingly tight yoga‑pants/Spanx to illustrate how the initial calming effect of alcohol quickly turns into a constricting trap. Amber describes the neuro‑biological process: alcohol is a central nervous system depressant that initially relaxes, prompting the brain to produce excess glutamate, an excitatory chemical that creates jittery, worsening anxiety. Over time, alcohol erodes the ability to feel joy, forces a dependence cycle, and amplifies personal and professional problems—strained relationships, poor performance at work or school, and regrettable actions. She emphasizes that alcohol does not solve problems; it merely deepens them and keeps individuals stuck in grief and resentment. Amber warns that heavy or daily drinkers may be alcohol‑dependent, and abrupt cessation can trigger dangerous withdrawal, so medical supervision is essential. While the early phase of quitting may feel worse, she assures that removing alcohol creates space to address underlying mental‑health issues productively and sustainably. The video ends with a call to her channel for practical, common‑sense strategies to beat addiction.
Chapters
When you're under a lot of stress, having a couple of drinks definitely feels like a welcomed relief. So you could imagine that if you're battling things like depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, bipolar disorder, attention deficit disorder, you are really looking for some relief. In the beginning, it kind of feels like putting on your yoga pants after a long day of work. It's like, finally, I feel better. The problem is, if you're battling a chronic mental health condition, then you're going to be feeling uncomfortable every day. And so therefore, you're going to be looking for that relief more And more and more. It's so easy to slip into a pattern of using alcohol to self-medicate. The problem is it's actually one of the worst possible ways to self-medicate. You know earlier when I said having a couple of drinks is like sliding on your yoga pants? Those yoga pants are like secretly shrinking, constricting yoga pants. So the first couple of times you put them on feels great and relaxing, but the more often you put them on, they get tighter and tighter and tighter. And eventually you end up feeling like you're wearing 2 pairs of Spanx that are both 2 sizes too small. What used to be helpful and comforting is no longer helpful and comforting. One of those reasons is because of the direct impact of what alcohol does in our brains. Alcohol is a central nervous system depressant, which is why you initially get that relaxed feeling. Well, our brain tries to counteract that relaxed feeling by producing more of a chemical called glutamate, which is sort of like an excitatory, uncomfortable, jittery type of feeling. Which is what I meant when I say those yoga pants just start getting tighter and tighter and tighter, because the more you drink, the more your brain is going to produce that chemical, which is going to make you feel progressively worse and worse. And to make matters worse, as you continue to drink, you lose the ability to experience joy and happiness from anything else. So you end up being stuck in this cycle of needing the alcohol to relieve the mental health symptoms, but the alcohol then causing the mental health symptoms to be 10 times worse. But then you're stuck because nothing else seems to help. And to compound the situation even more, other things in your life start to fall apart. Like people start to get frustrated with you. You start not doing as well at work or school. You might even be doing things that you really regret. And so internally you feel worse and worse, and the problems around you just stack up bigger and bigger and bigger. And before you know it, you get to a point where you feel like there's no way out of the trap. In recovery, we have a saying, and that saying is, there is no problem that alcohol can't make worse. Alcohol does the opposite of solving problems. In fact, it makes you You stay stuck in your problems. You don't grow or heal. You don't get over grief or hurts or resentments. You stay absolutely stuck because when you drink, you start to relive all that bad stuff and you think about it and you re-experience it, which hurts you more and more and more. Alcohol is really just a trap wrapped in pretty packaging and marketed extremely well. Now, obviously the first step to getting out of the cycle is to quit drinking alcohol, but I do want to warn you, if you've been drinking a lot or daily, then you could definitely be alcohol dependent, which means at this point your body needs the alcohol to function. And if you just take the alcohol out, you can go into some pretty serious withdrawal. In fact, alcohol withdrawal is one of the most dangerous types of withdrawals a person can have. So if you think you might have those physical withdrawal symptoms, I definitely want you to talk to your physician about safe ways for coming off of alcohol. Now, I always like to be honest with you, so I will tell you that things get a little worse in the beginning, but then they start to get better. And once you get the alcohol out, it leaves room to actually address those underlying mental health concerns in a way that's Productive and effective, and that won't leave you feeling worse in the long run. You can learn more about how to escape this cycle on my YouTube channel. Put the shovel down. We'll help give you common sense, practical strategies to beat addiction for good. Ain't no Spanx gonna tuck that shit in. That's when I stopped wearing Spanx. One girl's on the floor. I'm like, all right, pull those Spanx up. Someone get a bandaid for that blister. Please tell me you're not wearing Spanx.
