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

@CalamityJane,

Hmmm.....

Though some drugs do bring on personality change...like ice.

@ossobuco,

ossobuco wrote:

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.

that makes a lot of sense... I know that when playing college dates... it's always the prim sorority girls who would turn their nose up at me on the street that are grabbing my ass and standing up front showing their tits after a few Yager shots, even today at my advanced age... and end up pulling trains for the band and/or half the brothers where the bar/nightclub old campaigners are in much more control.

My kid's childhood friends, the ones whose parents were the most controlling, are the ones who went wild when they got off to college and had major problems with drugs and alcohol. My kids, although I'm not saying they've never smoked pot and don't have a few drinks occasionally, are stable and as a matter of fact Seth is always the designated driver for his friends.

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@Bi-Polar Bear,

Interesting sig line for this topic Bear.

I've just been searching....and can't find anything remotely scholarly so far.

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@Bi-Polar Bear,

You're more qualified to talk about the topic then some stuffy researcher-- those sorority girls behavior put it all in nutshell. Another reason why I never liked college parties. Phonies!

The one war story my father ever told me went something like this-- he was stationed in Europe and at the end of the day he and his fellow soldiers would head to the local bar and wait for them to serve liquor. People sat in the bar, glum, not talking. Once the liquor started flowing everyone became best friends. They did a lot of drinking back then.

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@dlowan,

dlowan wrote:

Interesting sig line for this topic Bear.

I've just been searching....and can't find anything remotely scholarly so far.

dlowan I authored that sig line myself and I do think it has value. Blowing it out and acting the fool can be helpful in small doses IMO and no one should be judged by it as long as it's not how they conduct their lives day in and day out. That includes everyone from people like rock musicians and athletes to Presidents and world leaders. we little folks too. Drunk

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@Bi-Polar Bear,

Oh indeed.

Quite Dionysian, in fact.

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one drink and I'm a FLAMENCO DANCER.

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I know that you know that I know that you know that... I've lost track, anyway

Finn's post reminds me of the hot state/ cold state idea. Hot state is not really just disinhibition, it's something else. Perhaps some alcohol and drug use brings on a hot state?

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@Gala,

Quote:

You're more qualified to talk about the topic then some stuffy researcher-

Why would a researcher have to be stuffy?

This kind of comment puts my back up a bit.

All manner of things turn out to be different from how we all assume them to be, and valuing methodologically sound research is not to put down a person with lots of experience in an area.

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@sozobe,

Dunno.

I guess there is a definite depressive effect after the elated state.

I was just looking at the chemistry of the elation.

It is talking about affecting neuro-transmitters.

We were talking about drunken possums at work today!

They eat fruit which makes them drunk if fermented.

Apparently they snore awfully after a bender.

The bushies and brushies always have a pretty nasty personality, and no personality changes were noted.

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@dlowan,

I thought only taxidermists were stuffy.

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@dlowan,

dlowan wrote:

Oh indeed.

Quite Dionysian, in fact.

Not to mention all the cathartic festivals generally featured in traditions of all (most?) communities.

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@dlowan,

A researcher doesn't have to be stuffy, but there's no substituting hands-on experience.

I've spent a lot of time in university settings and a number of researchers are pretty buttoned up. Whether it puts your porcupine quills up or not, many of them need some training in daily pleasantries. I am not denying their competence or expertise, just their ability to make eye contact.

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@Gala,

That is likely quite true...but I don't think it affects their data...unless they are attempting to elicit social enthusiasm as part of their study.

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@dlowan,

It doesn't affect their data, at all. Heaven forbid you'd be stranded on a desert island with one of them, though.

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@dlowan,

dlowan wrote:

Hmmm.....

Though some drugs do bring on personality change...like ice.

Yes, I am sure drugs will do that to a person, especially when it is an addiction.
As for alcohol alone, and just being drunk once in a while, it will release a
true - otherwise suppressed - personality trait. Hard core alcoholics are
another issue altogether, as I do believe that their personality changes: they
become selfish people who just care about the next drink, no matter how they
get it and whom they have to rob to get it.

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@CalamityJane,

Quote:

Hard core alcoholics are another issue altogether, as I do believe that their personality changes: theybecome selfish people who just care about the next drink, no matter how they get it and whom they have to rob to get it.

I'd say you've pretty much described a drug addict too.

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@Gala,

Alcoholics are drug addicts.

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Some of the alcohol impairment I would consider a change more so than a revelation. For example, if a thoughtful person is impaired by alcohol I'm not sure this is bringing out a real personality so much as impairing the tools that the current one has at its disposal.

If a sensitive person is drunk senseless I'd call it a change of sorts, the real person isn't thusly impaired.

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@Robert Gentel,

You laughing at me?

1 Reply

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

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