Dreaming about drinking or being drunk: what the dream shows

Drinks and drunkenness in a dream: what usually lies behind them

Dream interpretation is not prediction and not diagnosis. This article separates what sleep research observes from what popular interpretation associates with the theme, always saying which is which.

Dreaming about alcohol or about someone drunk is not a warning of illness, of misfortune in the family or of an inevitable relapse. The scene usually reflects the relationship with alcohol, your own or that of someone close: a recent party, worry about someone who drinks too much, the decision to stop. Seeing someone drunk tends to come with shame, anger or fear; drinking in the dream, with craving, guilt or relief, depending on the dreamer's story.

For specific drinks, see dreaming about beer and dreaming about wine; if the dream involves other substances, dreaming about drugs.

Read also: Dreaming about beer and Dreaming about drugs.

Why alcohol shows up in the dream

The continuity hypothesis, tested by Michael Schredl and Friedrich Hofmann in 2003, holds that dreams follow what occupies waking life. People who went to a barbecue or a year-end party carry the glass and the noise into the night. So do people who live with someone who drinks too much: the worry of the day becomes a scene.

Alcohol also affects sleep itself. When it is drunk close to bedtime, it tends to reduce REM sleep, the stage of many of the most vivid dreams, in the first part of the night; when the effect wears off, that sleep usually comes back in the early morning hours, with intense dreams and awakenings. And among people who have stopped drinking, dreams of drinking are reported often, especially early in abstinence. Dreaming of a relapse is not a relapse, nor proof of failure.

Source: Schredl and Hofmann, Continuity between waking activities and dream activities, Consciousness and Cognition, 2003.

A glass in your hand, someone staggering: the most common scenes

If the scene took place at a celebration, read also dreaming about a party; if it ended in nausea, dreaming about vomiting.

See also: Dreaming about medicine or an injection and Dreaming about social media.

When a dream about alcohol calls for support

The dream itself is not the problem. It is worth looking at waking life when it comes along with signs of drinking that is cause for concern: drinking more than you planned, not being able to stop, having problems at home or at work because of alcohol, or hearing from people you love that you are drinking too much. In those cases, see a health professional. Public health services in many places offer free or low-cost care, and support groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous, and Al-Anon for family members, meet in many cities.

If the relapse dream keeps coming back and costs you sleep, tell the people supporting your recovery; frequent nightmares can also be treated. See how to have fewer nightmares. If you are in intense distress, in the US you can call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline).

Source: Morgenthaler and colleagues, Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, 2018.

Freud, Jung and faith before the glass

In Freud's psychoanalysis. In The Interpretation of Dreams, Freud describes a dream he could bring on in himself: after eating something very salty, he dreamed he was drinking water in great gulps, and only then woke up thirsty. He called it a dream of convenience, one that fulfills the wish and protects sleep a little longer. By the same method, drinking in a dream during abstinence would be a wish surfacing, not an announcement of what the person will do.

In Jung's psychology. In 1961, in a letter to Bill W., one of the founders of Alcoholics Anonymous, Jung wrote that the craving for alcohol could correspond, on a low level, to a spiritual thirst for wholeness, and he summed up the idea with the Latin formula spiritus contra spiritum. In Man and His Symbols, the key is compensation.

In symbols and faith. In A Dictionary of Symbols, Chevalier and Gheerbrant treat drunkenness as an ancient image of stepping outside oneself, linked to the rites of Dionysus, and also as a loss of control. The Bible separates celebration from excess: Jesus turns water into wine at the wedding at Cana (John 2), but Noah's drunkenness ends in shame (Genesis 9:20-21), and Ephesians 5:18 asks people not to get drunk on wine but to be filled with the Spirit.

Bringing both readings together. Research shows how the party, the worry and alcohol itself reach the dream; traditions ask what you are thirsty for. If the answer weighs on you, it is worth sharing it with someone.

Sources: Freud, Die Traumdeutung, 1900; Jung (ed.), Man and His Symbols; Chevalier and Gheerbrant, A Dictionary of Symbols.

Drink and drunkenness in the dream book

In O Livro dos Sonhos, a Brazilian dream book, L. P. Baçan has four entries on the subject. To drink: in life, changes ahead; in love, happiness. A drink: in life, instability; in love, illusion. A drunk: in life, profit; in love, problems. Drunkenness: in life, good health; in love, problems. That last one is only book tradition: drinking too much is harmful.

Freud called this way of reading the decoding method, in which each image gets a fixed meaning, without asking the dreamer anything. The glass in the dream of someone who raised a toast at a wedding and in the dream of someone struggling not to drink do not speak of the same thing.

Sources: Freud, Die Traumdeutung, 1900; L. P. Baçan, O Livro dos Sonhos, 2014.

Folk readings of dreaming about alcohol

In Brazilian folk reading, raising a toast is a sign of joy and of celebration nearby. Seeing an acquaintance drunk is read as a call to look out for that person. Turning down a drink speaks of willpower, and swapping a glass of alcohol for a glass of water, of renewal. As for colors, a clear drink suggests clarity; a red one, passion; a dark one, heavy matters. These are traditional readings, for reflection, not predictions. See what dream meanings look like according to science and culture.