Can alcohol change personality, or does it just reveal what is there?

I thought you'd be a good field researcher!

A doctor who was a colleague in the late sixties and early seventies told me that people who were pretty repressed in everyday life would show a substantial change with alcohol, and those who were fairly uninhibited routinely tended to get perhaps looser or sloppier but not a strong personality change. That made sense to me then, not sure if it completely explains things now. I also don't know where he derived his opinions, some scholarly thing - he was very research oriented - or everyday observation of people.

Why not? They've shown that holding a cold drink improves people's impressions of folks to whom they're being introduced for the first time.

That makes a lot of sense....and is kinda what I had thought.

But some of the awful drunks I have known could have done with some good repression when sober, too!

He went into private practice and kind of faded away. I'll have to google him to see what ever happened to him.

Yes, I've observed that too, so I don't think that colleague md's comment covered the whole story, while I think the comment had some validity.

Well, a lot of folks, probably most, suppress their real opinion a zillion times a day, for plenty of good reasons from their point of view, including courtesy. So I suppose there may be a kind of continuum, where people who rarely express themselves find freedom at the first sip or even just holding a glass.

Yep, seen it happen.

Take a very well off professional man, reasonably (moreso) succesful in career, travelling a lot, earned a mint, family and kids, blessed life .... throw a spanner in the works and bring on the binge drinking over an 18month stint and an abusive, nasty, ack... ACK person who did some unimaginable things during 3 alcohol related black outs - til he woke up - deny deny, oops no can't deny that one a? It changed his whole world, and a deep part of his world which was family orintated. Bad move on his part.

Sometimes what the alcohol reveals is highly unpleasant, tho the personality for the most part can be charming and nice, loving, admiration for many. <bucket>

Of course, the world can still see that outgoing, loveable, likeable chap who can do no wrong and who's pressures have been lessened without a clue as the revelations seen withing .... but what alcohol did to him DID change his personality, because his whole life altered. I don't think he will binge again. But I'll never know that. He owns it now. I hope no-one else ever sees that side.

I see my friends drink and for the most part they are happy drunks. As much as having a few drinks and brings out the more "fun", more self assured person with a little alchohol to loosen the nerves going out, I guess yes, it reveals the personality that is a little less hidden. I think that can be quite a good thing.

I have as much fun going out without alcohol and don't need it to go out all - but on the odd occasion I will have a gin or baileys... and after a couple, and a big evening of laughter and jigs, I just wanna cuddle up. (difficult to do that now ) I don't drink really so, just the odd ocassion, and can't tolerate alcohol so it's not an issue, and wouldn't know if revealed a different personality - I have a couple gins when FQsis comes down, and I'm just singing a little louder, less insular, more self esteem, who knows. Laugh way too much I suppose.

I've seen alcholol (not alcholics, possibly alcholoics) change - it can destroy your life. IMO. I would remove myself from any situation where these is someone/anyone real drunk - I actually can't bear to think of the outcome if it all goes belly up so take myself out of the situation quick smart.

Nowt wrong with having a drink, s'long as no-one gets hurt

It reveals what is there.

There is no single cohesive personality that can be transformed through the administering of drugs.

Drugs, alcohol included, suppress or enhance certain neural connections so that certain aspects of one's personality will dominate one's conciousness.

Just because someone is a "nasty" drunk doesn't mean that their "true" personality is belligerant, any more than a "happy" drunk reveals a saint at the core.

There are theories that your personality "shifts" throughout each and every day depending upon stimuli much more subtle than drugs.

All of us, I'm sure, have experienced "mood changes" from day to day and within a single day. By what most of us understand "personality" to be, ours "changes" along with these "moods."

Yeah, "disordered" is a bit strong, though I've known some alcoholics to whom
that applied. I've hung out with a lot of drunks and never yet met one whose
personality changed under the influence. Certain aspects of it were enhanced
or suppressed, but not changed.

I've not got any actual research to refer you to, Miss Wabbit, but i've long ago come to the conclusion that it distorts what is already there. It is said to remove inhibitions. Considering what right little shits children would be if we installed no inhibitions, that suggests to me that alcohol "deconstructs" the personality. Certainly it reveals what is there, but i don't know that i'd qualify that with "just."

I agree with that. Alcohol disinhibits and accentuates what's already there
but is mostly suppressed. My father always told me: "If you really want
to get to know a guy then get him drunk!" If a person gets belligerent and obnoxious while drunk, chances are that these traits will resurface in stress situations as well.

Smart father.

He was scared I could hook up with the wrong guy

In vino veritas.

. . . until you pass out, anyway . . .

What do you mean by older? The 78 year old--she may have been a habitual drinker prior to retirement. Or did she take up drinking at an advanced age?

I knew a guy once who's chief complaint in life was being repressed. He was on his second marriage which was faltering , had kids who he neglected, an artistic personality with a bent towards the big poets and a golden coffin job. He was bored out of his mind.

He could put away the sauce, too. I think he probably felt better numbing himself all rather than being a responsible to the people that mattered in his life.

Great question.

I think it's oversimplifying to look at "merely lowering inhibitions" as though inhibitions aren't absolutely critical aspects of all our personalities. To suggest that the real person is the one with inhibitions removed is like removing the critical supports from a bridge and then asking, is this really a good bridge? People utterly without inhibition don't roam the streets for long.

So no, I don't think alcohol brings much with it other than the potential to require the brain to produce sensible thought patterns without the usual filters and failsafes.

As for any backup or research... I got nothin'. As usual!

Oh geez, sorry about the bad editing on previous post. I think I need a drink.

Alcohol is a mind altering / mood altering substance. There's use, misuse, abuse and then there's alcoholism.

A person can slip into alcoholic drinking (where there is no choice about the drinking anymore, it is a must for the day to day survival of the person) at any time in their life. So that can be a 12 or 120.

I like to drink once in a while, but those hangovers are a bitch. I get really depressed the day after. I have to eat protein, lots of carbs and get some sleep. So that takes up an entire day. I consider those days "lost" so I don't put myself into that situation often. Definately a deterrent for me.

But I do like the glow it can offer.