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Why Alcohol Floods You With Emotions #recoveryjourney #addictionrecovery #addictiontreatment

17 Mar 2025 · 1 min

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0:43

In this YouTube segment, Amber Hollingsworth responds to Cheryl’s concern about her son who experiences intense emotions and uses alcohol to dampen them. Amber acknowledges that past trauma can play a role but emphasizes that the primary driver of the heightened emotional “volume” is the neurochemical rebound that follows alcohol consumption. She explains that when alcohol wears off, the brain releases excess glutamate, an excitatory neurotransmitter that creates anxiety, nervous tension, and a rapid‑fire mental state. While people often believe alcohol helps calm thoughts, Amber clarifies that it actually amplifies emotional intensity once its sedative effects subside. The discussion balances recognition of possible trauma with a clear biochemical explanation of why alcohol can make emotions feel louder.

Chapters

Cheryl says, my son seems to have the volume turned up on his emotions. He seems to feel things deeply and uses alcohol to turn it down. Could this be from previous trauma or just daily use that leads to this? It could be both. But one of the things that people that almost never really understand is the reason their head screams so much is because they're drinking. So I'm not saying there's not past trauma or old things there because we all have things like that. But the rebound from the alcohol is a chemical called glutamate, which is an anxious excitatory chemical, which makes everything feel edgy and your nerves are tense and your head's going 100 miles an hour and you need to calm down. So people say, oh, it's the only thing that like helps the thoughts slow down, helps me rest. I'm like, yes, but it's the alcohol that's making the volume turned up. Great question and you're spot on, Cheryl.