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health advisory Hospital Mental Health 2007-11-15 19:02:00

I have a friend who recently started drinking (under some peer-pressure from one of my other friends), and when he claims to be "drunk," I don't really believe him. I don't think he really is intoxicated; I simply think he believes he is, and thus he acts like you're "supposed" to act when you're drunk. And, because it's "cool" to do so, he, of course, wants to act that way. My question is simple: is there a mental factor in intoxication? I believe there is, but I'd like to hear from all of you.

Answer:

Yep.

If you aren't a drinker yourself it is hard to describe, but actually the only thing that the alcohol actually does is slow down your reaction time (why you can't drive), but everything else can be controlled even when severely drunk.

When kids first drink, it is usually due to peer pressure and so they want their friends to know they are drinking so will usually put on an act emphasizing "how drunk" they are.

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When you are 'drunk' it is a bit hard to be able to claim hey I am 'drunk' because you are too drunk to know, if that makes sense. Your friend is simply bowing under peer pressure, trying to be one of the boys. There certainly is a mental factor, in the sense that all care and responsibility is thrown out of the window, that is why people when they are drunk people do irrational things. Let your friend go through this stage, hopefully he will out grow it, just try and make sure no drink driving is involved.

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