Narcologist links salary growth to the risk of an alcohol relapse

Income growth as a risk factor

A salary increase, receiving a bonus, or career advancement can become risk factors for people with alcohol dependence. This was stated to Gazeta.Ru by Alexander Polikarpov, a psychiatrist-narcologist and founder of the AlcoSpas clinic. According to him, for a person with dependence, what matters is not the sign of the event — whether it is good or bad — but whether it triggers the habitual drinking scenario.

Two scenarios: loss and gain

Financial changes affect behavior in different ways. After being fired or a sharp drop in income, some people use alcohol to temporarily escape their problems, but the relief gives way to increased anxiety and worsening sleep, while alcohol reduces the ability to look for work and cope with responsibilities — thus a vicious circle forms. The narcologist called income growth no less risky, even though it seems like a fortunate event to those around: it becomes possible to buy alcohol more often, choose larger quantities, continue the evening after a celebration, and hide real spending. A change in professional environment also plays an additional role: a new position is often accompanied by increased responsibility, overtime, business meetings, and corporate events where drinking alcohol is perceived as part of socializing.

How to recognize the problem and what to do

According to the specialist, the main sign of a possible problem is not the very fact of celebrating a raise, but the persistent habit of linking almost any strong emotion to alcohol: if a person drinks both after failure and after achievement, alcohol becomes a universal regulator of emotions. During periods of major financial changes, he recommends that people in remission think in advance about how to respond to stressful and joyful events without alcohol — discuss the risks with a doctor, identify a circle of support, and plan a celebration without alcohol. Relatives are advised to pay attention not to emotional judgments of behavior, but to specific consequences: increased spending on alcohol, missed workdays, unfulfilled obligations, and more frequent episodes of drinking. Separately, Polikarpov warned against abruptly quitting alcohol on one's own after a prolonged binge: with an established physical dependence, this can lead to dangerous complications. This article follows an earlier warning about the risk of alcohol relapses in autumn.