Heavy Drinking Affects Emotional Center in Teen Brains New research has revealed the risks of binge drinking in adolescence. The 'Translational Psychiatry' study shows that teenage drinking affects the amygdala — the part of the brain that controls emotion, fear and anxiety. The researchers looked at postmortem amygdala tissue from both early-onset drinkers and late-onset drinkers. The early-onset drinkers had 30% less of a molecule called BDNF. Subhash Pandey, Director of the UIC Center for Alcohol Research in Epigenetics This may explain why teenage binge-drinkers have higher rates of emotional instability and anxiety disorders.