Alcohol-Induced Blackouts: Symptoms, Causes & Risks

Many people instinctively assume that blackout drinking is falling unconscious due to alcohol, but this is not the case. Instead, blackouts occur when someone drinking remains conscious but cannot recall events during intoxication. It’s as if a segment of their memory has permanently vanished, leaving a blank space in their recollection. A large study of twins found that genetic risk alone accounted for more than half of the blackouts experienced. In a different analysis, drinkers who reported that their mothers may have been problem drinkers were more likely to report blackouts than those who did not, but there was a difference here between the sexes. Men who said their mothers had a drinking problem were twice as likely to black out than women who said the same.

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All but two kept their hand up, and one who had lowered his hand said he was adopted and did not know about his parents. Take our free, 5-minute alcohol abuse self-assessment below if you think you or someone you love might be struggling with alcohol abuse. The evaluation consists of 11 yes-or-no questions that are intended to be used as an informational tool to assess the severity and probability of an alcohol use disorder. The test is free and confidential, and no personal information is needed to receive the results. Even infrequent blackouts can indicate you are misusing alcohol and should be taken seriously.

While blacking out isn’t overly dangerous, it can carry several negative consequences. The inability to remember what you have done can have serious implications if you did something illegal, had intercourse, got injured or made an important decision while inebriated. • Because the brain is still developing during our teenage years and early 20s, heavy drinking in adolescence, in particular, can lead to changes in the brain.

They’re evidence of a possible genetic vulnerability to alcohol.

The severity of a blackout depends on how high the amount of alcohol in your blood was at the time of the blackout. • It isn’t always apparent to others if someone is in the midst of a blackout. In some early studies on the phenomenon, blackout subjects were able to recall events a couple of minutes after they happened and could even perform simple calculations.

Alcohol-induced blackouts are defined as amnesia, or memory loss, for all or part of a drinking episode. This memory loss can be sputtering, called fragmentary, or continuous, called en bloc. The sole cause of alcohol blackouts is a high level of alcohol in the bloodstream. The higher the concentration of alcohol in the blood, the greater the chance of a blackout. While blood alcohol concentration (BAC) levels are the sole cause of a blackout, the exact BAC needed to cause one will vary for different people and even for the same individuals at different times.

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Although our understanding ofalcohol-induced blackouts has improved dramatically, additional research isclearly necessary. By fine-tuning our approach to studying blackouts, we willimprove our understanding of alcohol-induced blackouts, and consequently, bebetter situated to improve prevention strategies. Although alcohol-induced blackouts were previously thought to occur only inindividuals who were alcohol dependent (Jellinek,1946), we now know that blackouts are quite common among healthy youngadults. In fact, approximately 50% of college students who consume alcoholreport having experienced an alcohol-induced blackout (Barnett et al., 2014; White et al., 2002). Therefore, this systematic review provides an update(2010–2015) on the clinical research focused on alcohol-induced blackouts,outlines practical and clinical implications, and provides recommendations forfuture research. Both types of blackouts stem from alcohol’s impact on the hippocampus, the region of the brain responsible for memory consolidation.

She has now been sober for eight years and is glad to no longer fall into the black trapdoors of memory loss. For these reasons, questions about alcoholic blackouts are now increasingly being used in screening tools to quickly get at whether someone is a recreational drinker or a problem drinker. Those experiencing blackouts may be more vulnerable to potential perpetrators in the moment.

With a brownout, you may be able to remember certain details from the period of time you were affected, but other portions of time can’t be recalled. This living amends scholarship makes blackouts a useful marker and predictor of other detrimental behaviour. Haas and colleagues showed that women who experienced blackouts were more likely to engage in risky sexual behaviour while in a blackout state, compared to men and to drinkers who didn’t blackout at all. But blood alcohol levels do not explain why only some people lose whole chunks of their memory while others who drink similar amounts don’t. A 2016 study led by Ralph Hingson, also of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, provided some answers. He found that out of 100 alcoholics, more than 60 experienced regular blackouts, some total and some fragmentary.

1. Most of the existing research on alcohol-induced blackouts either uses asingle item from the Rutgers Alcohol Problem Index or the investigator’sown description/definition of an alcohol-induced blackout.
2. In rats, White showed that there are doses of alcohol where brain cells “still kind of work”, and higher doses where they are completely off – which explains partial blackouts where only fragments are lost.
3. In the late 1960s, a researcher called Donald Goodwin recruited alcoholics in hospitals and job centres to identify what happens when a drunken memory disappears.

Depending on how bad their alcohol misuse has been or if medically-assisted alcohol detox will be needed for withdrawal symptoms, entering a treatment center may be a necessary option. Professional medical staff can assist in the difficult process of withdrawal, making the transition into sobriety less daunting. According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, alcohol delays signals in the brain that control the gag reflex and other autonomic responses.

People pass out when they have had so much to drink that it is like going under anesthesia. Consciousness lapses and people become comatose, unable to be aroused. Blackouts, on the other hand, have no objective signs of their presence and no alteration in the level of consciousness. During a blackout, people can carry on conversations and complete complex tasks. I once interviewed a surgeon who had successfully removed a patient’s appendix while in a blackout. If you think you’ve been injured, sexually or physically assaulted, it’s important that you get medical attention immediately and talk to the police about everything you can remember.

Someone who passes out has either fallen asleep or become unconscious because they consumed too much alcohol. Although this part of the brain can build up long-term tolerance to alcohol, this isn’t true of the hippocampus. If you experience a partial blackout, visual or verbal cues may help you remember forgotten events.