what is an alcohol blackout?

Answer 1

That's when you drink sooooooo much alcohol that you passout/blackout......................next day you may have large blank spaces in your memory cells or simply only remember up to a certain point............anyone consistently drinking to blackout stage needs to reassess their motives for doing so or say by by to their liver...............:)

Answer 2

Large amounts of alcohol, particularly if consumed rapidly, can produce partial (i.e., fragmentary) or complete blackouts, which are periods of memory loss for events that transpired while a person was drinking. Blackouts have long been associated with alcoholism. However, recent studies indicate that blackouts are much more common among social drinkers, including college drinkers, than was previously assumed. While often confused with passing out, or losing consciousness after excessive drinking, blackouts do not involve a loss of consciousness. Individuals can engage in a wide range of goal-directed, voluntary, often complicated behaviors during blackouts -- from driving cars to having sexual intercourse. A person doesn't become unconscious during a blackout. Instead, the brain stops forming the short-term memories needed to remember events.Sometimes people don't even appear drunk during a blackout, which can last for hours. They may seem normal, and walk, drive, go to work, have telephone conversations, send e-mail and shop. However, alcohol impairs their judgment and blackout victims may say and do things that cause serious problems. They engage in risky sexual activity with strangers, suffer injuries, get involved in hit-and-run accidents, and commit other crimes without remembering anything.

Answer 3

Overview and introduction

Overview
Alcohol interferes with the ability to form new memories. Large amounts of alcohol, particularly if consumed rapidly, can produce partial (i.e., fragmentary) or complete (i.e., en bloc) blackouts, which are periods of memory loss for events that transpired while a person was drinking. Blackouts have long been associated with alcoholism. However, recent studies (e.g., White et al., 2002; White et al., in press 2004; White, in press 2004) indicate that blackouts are much more common among social drinkers, including college drinkers, than was previously assumed. While often confused with passing out, or losing consciousness after excessive drinking, blackouts do not involve a loss of consciousness. Indeed, individuals can engage in a wide range of goal-directed, voluntary, often complicated behaviors during blackouts -- from driving cars to having sexual intercourse (White et al., 2002). Alcohol has only a minimal impact on the ability to remember information learned before becoming intoxicated or on keeping information active in memory for short periods of time. For these reasons, outside observers are often unaware of the individual's true level of intoxication. The history and current status of research regarding alcohol-induced blackouts, including knowledge of the brain mechanisms involved, will be reviewed below.

http://www.duke.edu/~amwhite/Blackouts/index.html

I used to drink...ALOT.
The above link is pretty accurate in its comment that blackouts are much more common amoung social drinkers.
I had a lot more blackouts in my early drinking days than in my later days when I was verging on CHRONIC and spending every waking moment under the influence.

Answer 4

When you consume so much alcohol that you do not remember anything you did, in the days to come you could get flashes of what happened but usually you never get it back and if you do you are to ashamed to go around anyone people have been known to do all kinds of very unusual things while in a black out driving to other states on there way home being naked somewhere doing rude and disgusting things to good people you should always take care not to get that drunk and never consume if you are under 21 you will end up in jail after blacking out kids.As I read above there is another common mistake passing out you go ni night blacking out you are awake and usually belligerent to all hell very unruly and dangerous .

Answer 5

when u can not remember what u did , who u hit, who hit u, why are u @ da hospital stealing a mop just for fun, , or getting in a fight with the neighbors dog, try to fight your best friend, landing in the Hospital with alcohol poisoning. or any time u get pictures back from a party and ask yourself "What a Hell was I doing here in the picture", losing your keys at the karaoke bar, giving yourself black eye while trying to trow up into a toilet and knocking yourself unconscious

Answer 6

when you have too much to drink and pass out. same thing blackout.

Answer 7

when you had too much to drink, knocked out, and couldnt remember anything the next day.