Motivation and emotion/Book/2026/Alcohol use for emotion regulation

Alcohol use for emotion regulation :
Why and how do people use alcohol to regulate their emotions?

Overview

Figure 1. An alcoholic beverage on a bar bench. Consider this scenario It is Friday night; you've just completed a long week balancing university assessments, work and social engagements. You're feeling overwhelmed, stressed and mentally exhausted. You go out with some friends to celebrate the weekend and decide to have a few drinks. You start to notice your nervous system relaxing; you feel less tired, stop thinking about the stressful week you've had, and find your mind and body relaxing. What started as a few social drinks with friends turns into every night. You now find yourself dependent on alcohol to relax, drinking whenever you are overwhelmed or stressed. Now think: Are you actually reliant on the alcohol or the relief of overwhelming emotions that alcohol provides?

Further explanation......

Focus questions What is emotional regulation and how is it related to alcohol use? Why do people use alcohol to regulate emotions? What are the outcomes of excessive alcohol use? How does alcohol influence the nervous system?

Defining emotional regulation and alcohol use

What is emotion regulation

Emotional regulation is a fundamental psychological process that allows individuals to manage and manipulate their own emotional responses. In alignment with research studied by Gross (1998), emotional regulation is the process through which people influence the emotions they have, when they have them and the way in which they experience them.

Process model of emotion regulation

Gross (1998) foundational model of emotion regulation proposed that there are 5 main emotion regulation strategies including selection of the situation, modification of the situation, deployment of attention, change of cognitions, and modulation of responses.

Motivations for using alcohol to regulate emotions

What happens when alcohol enters the body

When alcohol first enters the body through oral consumption, it travels into the stomach and intestine and then passes into the bloodstream. Once in the bloodstream, alcohol distributes throughout the body's water until it reaches organs, specifically the brain. Once in the brain, alcohol interferes with the communication between neurotransmitter systems in the brain, which results in alterations in mood, behaviour, coordination, impulse control and memory (Goldman et al., 2025).

Genetic factors

How does alcohol effect emotional response

What are the potential motivations for drinking alcohol to regulate emotions

Individuals who experience difficulties in emotion regulation are the most susceptible to using alcohol as a method of self-regulation and will in term experience the most difficulty when trying to recover from an Alcohol use disorder (AUD) (Brown & Melas, 2024).

Emotion dysregulation: (Gratz & Roemer, 2004)

Emotion dysregulation is defined by the

Conquences of alcohol use for emotion regulation

What are the negative consequences of using alcohol for emotional regulation.

What are the biological consequences of alcohol for emotional regulation

What are the short term and long-term consequences of alcohol use

Short term

Long term

Excessive and ongoing alcohol consumption can have extreme repercussions on the overall functioning of the entire nervous system, particularly the brain. These repercussions can include changes in emotions impaired perception and personality (Oscar-Berman et al., 2026).

Alternative strategies to manage emotion regulation

Emotional regulation strategies

• Kozubal et al. (2023_

Cognitive reappraisal

1

True or False: Alcohol can be used to make someone feel relaxed for a short period of time, but it doesn’t solve the problems that is causing the stress:

	True
	False

2

Why might an individual decide to use alcohol for emotional regulation

	To increase their ability to problem solve.
	To temporarily reduce or escape unpleasant emotions.
	To improve their long-term emotional regulation
	To permanently eliminate negative emotions

Conclusion

• Summarise alcohol use for emotional regulation (immediate reward for discomfort)
• Effects of using alcohol for emotional regulation
• Alternative strategies

• The Conclusion is arguably the most important section
• Draft clear take-home message(s), even at the topic development stage
• Together, the Overview and Conclusion should summarise the problem, its significance, and how psychological science contributes to understanding and addressing it
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Suggestions for this section: What is the answer to the sub-title question based on psychological theory and research? What are the answers to the focus questions? What are the practical, take-home messages?

See also

• Alcohol and emotion (Book chapter, 2013)
• Cocaine and emotion regulation (Book chapter, 2020)
• Alcohol addiction and emotion (Book chapter, 2015)
• Emotion Regulation in Alcohol Dependence
• Association Between Interoception and Emotion Regulation in Individuals With Alcohol Use Disorder

References

Aurora, P., Klanecky, A. K., & Klanecky, A. K. (2016, February 23). Drinking motives mediate emotion regulation difficulties and problem drinking in college students. The American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse; Taylor & Francis. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.3109/00952990.2015.1133633?utm_

Brown, W. C., & Melas, M. T. (2024). A Narrative Review of Emotion Regulation Abilities, Strategy Use, and Their Relationship to Alcohol. Current Addiction Reports, 11(2), 199–209. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40429-024-00553-3

Goldman, M. R., Molina-Castro, M., Etkins, J. C., Koide, T. L., Ramchandani, V. A., Plawecki, M. H., Mennella, J. A., & Pepino, M. Y. (2025). Recent advances in alcohol metabolism: from the gut to the brain. Physiological Reviews, 105(4), 2501–2535. https://doi.org/10.1152/physrev.00053.2024

Gratz, K. L., & Roemer, L. (2004). Multidimensional assessment of emotion regulation and dysregulation: Development, factor structure, and initial validation of the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 26(1), 41–54.

Gross, J. J. (1998). The emerging field of emotion regulation: An integrative review. Review of General Psychology, 2(3), 271–299. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1037/1089-2680.2.3.271

Kozubal, M., Szuster, A., & Wielgopolan, A. (2023). Emotional regulation strategies in daily life: the intensity of emotions and regulation choice. Frontiers in Psychology, 14. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1218694

Oscar-Berman, M., Shagrin, B., Evert, D. L., & Epstein, C. (2026). Impairments of Brain and Behavior: The Neurological Effects of Alcohol. Alcohol Health and Research World, 21(1), 65. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6826797/

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