Does drinking help anxiety?

The first thing you need to be aware of is that your drinking is actually increasing your anxiety. I would think that with your heavy drinking you would be in withdrawals, a lot of the time and certainly when you wake in the morning. You may well be feeling shaky and this will tell your mind that you are frightened and this will ratchet up the anxiety. You are living on a treadmill and wanting to get off and this is also making you more anxious. Given that your drinking is affecting your liver, I think you should contact your doctor and discuss a medicated detox.

In the mean time you can reduce your drinking your self if you do it really slowly. So, if you are currently drinking 6 cans a night, you can cut down to 5 cans a night quite safely and continue every week to reduce the amount by one can a night. If you are drinking strong lagers, then you need to switch to lagers of about 5%, so the reduction will be regular and manageable for you.

AA is a good place to go while you are going through this process of sobering up. When you have sobered up, then I would be happy to discuss your anxiety issues in more detail with you. Have a look at my contact details at www.invitationtotalk.co.uk.

Your doctor is your first port of call and you can work out a plan with him. Otherwise you may need to contact any other alcohol services in your area.

I wish you the best of luck. There is a way out, just do it day be day. Alcohol always makes anxiety worse. Just remember that. Yours Jill Edwards