Vitamodo School · Bundle 1: Addictions as Symptom · Brochure 1 of 10 · Version 1.0
Andris Saulitis, MD
For those who: notice that their drinking has changed — more frequent, more needed, less optional — and want to understand what the drinking is pointing at, beneath the act itself.
Not for those who: are looking for a willpower trick to stop, or who are in acute alcohol withdrawal. Both call for something other than reading a brochure.
What this is — the clinical reality
Alcohol is a drug. Specifically, it is a central nervous system depressant. When you drink, alcohol passes through your blood into your brain and changes how three systems work.
The first system is GABA — the brain's main calming chemical. Alcohol makes GABA work harder. This is why a drink lowers anxiety, slows racing thoughts, softens the discomfort of being in a room with people.
The second system is glutamate — the brain's main activating chemical. Alcohol blocks glutamate. This is why drinking dulls sensation, slows thinking, makes everything quieter.
The third system is dopamine — the chemical that signals "this is important; do this again." Alcohol releases dopamine, especially in the first drink or two. This is why the brain registers drinking as something worth repeating.
Together, these three changes produce the experience of being drunk: calmer, duller, drawn toward the next drink. None of this is mysterious. It is predictable pharmacology.
Here is the clinical fact this brochure stands on:
Alcohol is almost never the primary problem.
In forty years of practice, I have rarely met a person whose drinking was a free-standing condition. Drinking is, in the great majority of cases, a tool the person has reached for to manage something else.