Psychiatrist says you have a ‘problem’ with alcohol if you feel like this after drinking

A psychiatrist has explained the warning signs to look out for if you're concerned that you may be developing a problem with alcohol.

Most of us enjoy a strong drink when hanging out with friends or celebrating an occasion, but would you be able to tell if you're overdoing it when it comes to alcohol?

Alcoholism is often thought of in its most extreme sense - where a person is physically unable to cope day-to-day without drinking - however there is a spectrum when it comes to problematic drinking.

Explaining a phenomena known as 'grey drinking' in a post on TikTok, psychiatrist Dr Daniel Amen outlined a series of signs which indicate you may have a 'problem' with your drinking habits.

What is 'grey drinking'?

According to research from Psychology Today, grey drinking is the area between social drinking and complete alcohol dependancy.

Nutritionist Jolene Park also defined the term during a TEDx Talk back in 2015, describing alcoholism as a scale of 'rock bottom drinking' and 'every-now-and-again drinking' which the grey area being the difficult to define area in-between.

Grey drinkers don't show the usual symptoms of alcohol abuse but often struggle with knowing when to stop drinking during social situations and often suffering from the dreaded 'hangxiety'.

How do you know if you have a drinking problem?

Outlining the warning signs of grey drinking in a post, Dr Amen said: "It's like you're not a full-blown addict but you don't really have a healthy relationship [with alcohol]."

He went on to say that people who find themselves drinking and then 'getting into trouble' when it comes to health, relationships and money may have a 'problem'.

Dr Amen also highlighted people who wake up 'not feeling 100 percent' after drinking as someone else who may have a problem.

"If you don't feel sharp, if you're beginning to lose words, no matter what your age that means alcohol may be a problem for you," he continued.

"You always want to ask yourself 'what's the goal' with drinking."

Dr Amen also highlighted that saying negative things to their partner or children after a drink is one of the more serious signs of problematic drinking, adding that it's a sign you may be on the way to developing an addiction.

Of course, this isn't to say that anyone who drinks experiences a hangover or occasionally drinks too much at a big event immediately has a problem, the key point is to focus on how often side negative side effects occur after drinking.