Maintaining limits with alcohol

Mental Health Brief #16
By: Dr. Arthur Leonoff, PH.D., C. Psych, FIPA Psychologist/Psychoanalyst

Maintaining limits with alcohol

Limits are especially important when alcohol is involved. Maintaining rapport with business and legal associates can easily result in over-drinking when much of this apparent leisure activity includes lunches and dinners.

The risk of addiction is one possibility but, apart from this serious outcome, ill effects are often experienced in respect to poor sleep, adverse effects on physical health, and decreasing stamina. Low-grade anxiety and increasing problems regulating mood are also signs of the insidious secondary effects of over-drinking.

There can be a tendency to underestimate alcohol consumption or to rationalize that drinking is instrumental to business culture and necessary to reinforce belonging. Maintain boundaries to best manage personal wellbeing.

The Opening Remarks mental health briefs provide Ontario lawyers with wellness tips and resources from a variety of individuals speaking in their own capacity. The briefs are not a substitute for professional care. If you are in crisis, we encourage you to urgently contact a mental health service provider.