The binge drinking culture that is now prevalent in the UK is a deep
cause of concern. As a magistrate I see its effects on a regular basis as so
many assault cases before the courts have alcohol consumption as a key element,
and as a Welshman too this subject interests me, for despite the temperance
movement in the 19th century, Wales and alcohol have had an
ambivalent relationship to say the least.
Agression from within
So when the BBC website carried a précis of a study on the link between
alcohol and aggressive behaviour I had to find the original report. It makes
fascinating reading. The author accepts that alcohol does have mind-altering
properties that can lead to situations where aggression comes out of the
drinker. However, she is of the view that it is not the alcohol that causes the
aggression. Rather it is what is already within the individual that comes out
after having a drink and that other external factors, such as the environment
where the drinking takes place and the cultural beliefs about alcohol, are also
in play. Not everybody who drinks to excess, she says, ends up being
aggressive, and so these other factors need to be considered. In a culture
where there is a belief that drinking causes aggression you will find
aggressive drinkers.
Drunk but not drinking
In the report she cites numerous academic studies of the effects of
alcohol upon those who drink. Apparently in some studies groups were divided
into two with alcohol give to one half and a placebo given to the other.
Interestingly even the groups given the placebo displayed aggression as well as
those who had been drinking. They weren’t pretending; they weren’t lying nor
deceiving; but they did display the effects of being inebriated despite not
having had a drop to drink. The belief they had been drinking was enough.
