I've not really been one to shit on DSP when he's says he's depressed (I do think he's actually depressed but he obviously has no idea of what his depression or underlying issues are) but on this new year stream he attempted to explain something very poorly (I'm not a doctor, but I think this should be fairly common knowledge)...
♫ DSP triiiiies it:
"Alcohol is a depressant so it can kinda make you feel bad and down" ♫
"Depressant" is a fantastic meme because although popularly referred to doesn't mean what a lot of people think it does (i.e.:
"depressant means it makes you depressed"). "Depressant" refers to alcohol
minimizing or
depressing your senses, feelings, thoughts and brain and in particular your inhibitions and also potentially cause you to make decisions which you wouldn't normally have or take risks which can cause you or others harm).
If you're a keen student of DSP and sometimes travel to his prestream forest with your sperg-binoculars like an autistic bird watcher you'll already be familiar with one of his classic behaviors: avoidance. I don't think anyone would say he doesn't act or speak in a way which is avoidant almost every moment of his life.
So if you agree DSP is sometimes/often avoidant its easier to look at alcohol as "liquid avoidance" because instead of dealing with your break up/debt/job stress/slapfight you have a few drinks and suddenly the issue isn't as dramatic. The avoidant behavior with alcohol presents because a person can always have a few drinks and you can magically feel a lot less bad at whatever is causing you grief.
I'm sure there are people who are biologically depressed (which I doubt includes DSP or most people who experience mid-life depression) who react strangely with alcohol but "alcohol is a depressant" is just a meme, not because its incorrect but because people very often misconstrue the term "depressant" to mean depressed.
Alcohol is a
fantastic depressant. It can make your quandaries in life disappear and make you momentarily forget the anxiety/blues/agitation you have during the day, that is why its a "depressant" and
not because it makes a person feel depressed. The reason it is bad is because it minimizes a person's executive functions (increasing the chance a person makes bad/risky, short term/long term decisions with no regard for personal well being or consequence) and through continued alcohol use can eventually cause/contribute or combine with issues such as addiction, anxiety, alcoholism, compulsive behavior and depression (I believe most of these occur outside actual alcohol use and that alcohol is the escape people choose to avoid dealing with shit.
You can read more at the included link from Wikipedia, the ultimate source of medical information:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depressant
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcoholic_drink
Highlighted for your autismal analysis:
So when he says "alcohol is a depressant" you can ignore his explanation because its wrong, but you can't discount him actually being depressed but what you can likely take it to mean the following:
- I'm anxious or feeling shit because of my debt and alcohol allows me to exacerbate or escape those feelings
- I'm anxious or feeling shit because of my soulmaid and alcohol allows me to exacerbate or escape those feelings
- I'm anxious or feeling shit because of losing my house and alcohol allows me to exacerbate or escape those feelings
- I'm worried I can't do anything to turn my streams into a more profitable enterprise and alcohol allows me to exacerbate or escape those feelings
- I'm worried that I already peaked in life 5 years ago with YouTube and alcohol allows me to exacerbate or escape those feelings
- I've always thought that I should branch into doing YouTube videos covering wrassling and I think I'd be good about it but I'm very apprehensive doing it because it might not be successful but I had a few drinks and it feels like it'd work right now.
- I'm threatened or hate people like Ninja and because I had a few drinks I'm very happy to talk about it openly on my Twitter at 3 AM.
And yeah even if he drinks only after streaming or "working" it still works as "liquid avoidance". I really doubt DSP is a full alcoholic but he probably shows some terms of alcohol dependence (meaning he pours himself a nice icey gin with a "gout soda" mixer each evening and lets his mind escape from his troubles).
If he were a fully fledged alcoholic I'd expect him to smash 6 shots of gin each morning and turn up to stream and call PewdiePie a white nigga. He hasn't really reached that point at all, but his likely "dependence" on alcohol on a regular basis probably isn't very healthy.