Medical expert of the article
New publications
Alcohol interferes with getting rid of fears
Last reviewed: 01.07.2025
All iLive content is medically reviewed or fact checked to ensure as much factual accuracy as possible.
We have strict sourcing guidelines and only link to reputable media sites, academic research institutions and, whenever possible, medically peer reviewed studies. Note that the numbers in parentheses ([1], [2], etc.) are clickable links to these studies.
If you feel that any of our content is inaccurate, out-of-date, or otherwise questionable, please select it and press Ctrl + Enter.
Scientists have already proven the connection between alcoholism and mental disorders, in particular post-traumatic anxiety disorder. The causes of these mental traumas can be individual-personal (divorce, loss of a loved one), general (catastrophe, war), and also related to technological and natural factors.
Heavy drinkers are at greater risk of experiencing a traumatic disorder, such as being involved in a motor vehicle accident or experiencing domestic violence, but this only partially explains the association with alcohol.
The results of the research conducted by a group of specialists from the National Institute of Alcoholism in Bethesda (USA) and the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill (USA) were published in the journal Nature Neuroscience.
“Our goal was to find out how a person recovers from a traumatic event,” says study co-author Thomas Cash. “We found that regular alcohol abuse depresses the brain’s cognitive abilities and reduces the ability to control the emotional center.”
During the study, scientists observed changes that occur in the brains of mice during chronic drunkenness for a month.
The experimental animals were divided into two groups, one of which lived in cages saturated with alcohol vapor, and the second in normal conditions.
The specialists maintained the saturation of the cells with vapors at such a concentration that the subjects were in a constant state of alcohol intoxication. The dose of alcohol in their blood was twice the permissible dose for drivers of motor vehicles.
After the first stage of the experiment, the specialists moved on to the next phase – the mice were placed in a cage where a current was connected to the metal floor, which was supplied after a sound signal. Several “electric sessions” created psychological trauma in the animals. They were afraid of the sound even when the current did not follow it.
The conditions the mice were exposed to were similar to human post-traumatic stress disorder, where a person has trouble overcoming their fears even after the danger has passed.
The scientists' further goal was to eliminate fear using the so-called "rewriting" method of memory. The meaning of this method is to recreate all the conditions that traumatized a person, with the only difference being that as a result there is no consequence that caused the trauma. Thus, negative feelings are displaced from a person's memory, and he stops being overcome by fear.
According to project leader Andrew Holmes, the animals in the control group gradually stopped being afraid of the sound signal, which cannot be said about their fellow "alcoholics". This group of mice continued to respond to the sounds emitted while waiting for the shock.
Experts believe that the cause of this disorder is related to the high concentration of alcohol in the blood, which leads to interruptions or blocking of connections between neurons that participate in the “rewriting” of memory.
"This discovery not only provides insight into the negative impact of alcohol on coping with fear and anxiety, but will also help in further studying its impact on the functioning of some specific areas of the brain," concluded Dr. Holmes.
[ 1 ]