Too Much Boozing May Lead to Loose Lips

Filed in archive Cases , Studies on August 10, 2006

Movie star and director Mel Gibson recently made big headlines when he publicly let loose with a tirade of anti-Semitic slurs after being caught driving drunk. During Gibson's outburst, he allegedly said that Jews are responsible for all the wars of the world. Gibson has since publicly apologized for his drunken remarks, entered treatment for alcoholism, and now insists that he's not an anti-Semite.

So when was Gibson being untruthful? Was it when he was drunkenly spewing his anti-Semitic comments or when he was later offering apologies stone cold sober? According to an article on FoxNews.com, some mental health experts believe that Mel Gibson's drunken rant revealed a more honest side of him than his sober explanation. In fact, some mental health professionals think that alcohol might actually be the closest thing we have to a truth serum.

According to Gary L. Malone, MD, an addiction psychiatrist and the medical director and chief of psychiatry at Baylor All Saints Medical Center in Fort Worth, Texas, drinking alcohol tends to lower inhibitions, freeing people to regress to a more primitive state and making it more likely that they will say whatever's on their mind. But Doug Thorburn, an addiction specialist based in Northridge, California notes that while alcohol may work as a truth serum for most people, it works differently in alcoholics. Thorburn explains that the brain's neocortex is supposed to suppress instincts and compulsions in the lower brain. In alcoholics, the neocortex doesn't work properly, so their behavior is different than that of someone who is not an alcoholic.

The world may never know if Mel Gibson is truly an anti-Semite or not. Right now, it looks like some damage has already been done to his career and his reputation. In any case, for those who don't have the public hanging on their every word, it might be prudent to watch alcohol consumption, especially when a secret is at stake.

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