Alcohol and the Individual

Today we're continuing to think about the issue of alcohol, The Salvation Army and society. Our other posts have been more about society as a group of people but we are now going to spend a bit of time looking at the effects of alcohol on the individual...

We're going to look at the nature of alcohol and its effects on the body... and why all the fuss about alcohol harm, from the point of view of ordinary Australians.

Quick Facts
* Alcohol works by depressing (slowing down) the central nervous system.
* Alcohol can cause a depressed mood.
* Different amounts of alcohol affect people differently, according to individual variances in a number of factors.
* There are broadly two types of alcohol related problems: problems of intoxication and problems of dependence.
* Harm from alcohol can be from long or short term consumption.
* Harms can by physical, emotional, social and financial. Physical harm can be related to intoxification or due to the long term effects of alcohol on the body.
* Australian guidelines address short and long term risks relating to alcohol consumption as well as consumption by young people, pregnant and breastfeeding women.

So how does Alcohol work and what are its immediate effects?

Alcohol belongs to a group of psychoactive drugs called depressants. Psychoactive drugs are categorised based on their effect on the central nervous system. Alcohol, along with other drugs in this category, depresses (slows down) the central nervous system. This means that messages travel more slowly to and from the brain when alcohol has been consumed. Alcohol is often mistaken as a stimulant rather than a depressant. This is because in small quantities alcohol relaxes and takes away a persons inhibitions (for example, making it easier to talk to people, do things they might normally have a lot of anxiety over)... In fact, what the alcohol is doing is depressing their inhibitions.

This depressing goes on to affect people who drink alcohol in many other ways too. People's breathing slows down, the heart rate slows and after consuming a lot of alcohol people can get very sleepy. At the most extreme level, people can become unconscious or even die due to the extreme levels of alcohol in their system.


Excessive amounts of alcohol also depresses the 'feeling centre' - this is the part of the brain that experiences emotion. This can, in turn, stunt our emotional growth. The younger a person is when they begin to drink a lot of alcohol the more their emotional growth is likely to be stunted.

The effects of alcohol vary greatly from person to person. Lots of factors contribute to how an individual is affected by consuming alcohol. These factors include (but are not limited to): sex, body size, liver size and health, percentage of body fat in proportion to lean mass, age, hormone levels, previous drinking experience, physical health, mental health, tiredness, tolerance and medications. The emotional state of a person when drinking also has an impact on how the alcohol affects them. When all these things are considered, it is no wonder that the same amount of alcohol can render one person unconscious while barely making another tipsy!

What do you guys think? Did you really understand what effect alcohol, even at moderate levels, could have on a person physically and emotionally? How do you think this plays out as Salvos who believe we are made in God's image? How is this an issue if we are trying to help people who are experiencing the effects of alcohol?
Hmmm...

Think about it. Pray about it!***