Aug 31 2009
Alcohol, Happiness, and Science-Based False Claims
Did you know that people who don’t drink are less happy than drinkers? Science told me so. Ipso facto, drinking is good for a person’s mental health, right? Maybe not.
The title to news of the research in question reads, Teetotallers more likely to be depressed. See, refrain from drinking and you might get blue.
The lead sentence says all you need to now. Well, maybe not. “Abstaining from alcohol consumption is associated with an increased risk of depression according to a new study published in Addiction journal.”
Okay, there’s the science, so what’s wrong with the claim that, according to the study, people who don’t drink are less happy than people who do? Actually, that wording is okay, but could easily be misconstrued. However, my previous wording, that “drinking is good for a person’s mental health,” based on this finding, is false. Why? Because that’s not what they found. What they did find was an association, a correlation, between those-who-don’t-drink and depression.
Notice I wrote, “those who don’t drink” and not “not drinking.” For there is a huge difference. Huge.
Further down the article you will find this telling paragraph:
The authors conclude that in societies where some use of alcohol is the norm, abstinence may be associated with being socially marginalised or particular personality traits that may also be associated with mental illness.
Aha! So it may not be the non-drinking itself that leads to greater depression rates, but likely other factors: personality, social, what have you.
As has been said many times, and bears repeating, scientific/critical thinkers are cautious not to jump from a discovered correlation to a conclusion of causation.
drinking alcohol is a false way of getting happiness