Do negative emotions inhibit our ability to avoid alcohol?

That people often turn to alcohol when experiencing negative emotions is well-known (hence the phrase 'drowning one's sorrows'). But the emotion itself could be inhibiting the ability of some drinkers to prevent themselves from drinking. This was among the findings of psychologist Henry Austin in his PhD research. He will defend his thesis on Tuesday, 8 March, at the University of Amsterdam (UvA). An individual's drinking behaviour, from a psychological perspective, is governed by two competing processes. The first process is called an 'approach tendency', which is humans' automatic behavioural inclination to approach something, such as alcohol. The other process is 'inhibitory control' or, simply put, inhibitions: the ability to control an automatic impulse.