[nandm]

Welcome to SR and our mental health forum!

I too have fought with depression from my early years. I also self medicated with alcohol for 20 some years before I got to the point of knowing that drinking was killing me and hurting all those that cared about me but at the same time I had no idea how to live life without the alcohol. For me the solution was AA. I do take anti-depressants and find they do work much better without the alcohol. It has been almost 8 years (March 13th will be 8) since I stopped drinking. Today my life is completely different than it was that day I decided I could no longer go on living in the insanity I was in. There are many roads to recovery, AA is not the only one. There is a list of recovery programs in the Alcoholism forum that you might find useful. As far as the depression goes, once the alcohol is out of the way the meds may work better for you. If you are not on anti-depressants you might consider talking with your doctor about them. It is important that you be honest with your doctor regarding your alcohol concerns so they can choose the best route of medical treatment.