richard7

I am 42 days into sobriety and am having real trouble with depression. I am in group therapy and attending meetings regularly, but find myself spiraling down a rabbit hole of depression, not able to use my toolbox to pull myself out this spiral.

Over the past 10 years I have been on and off Prozac for depression but can't stand the insomnia that comes with the Prozac so I am trying to avoid going back on it.

Does anyone out there have any suggestions for getting out of this spiral? I am wrought with guilt and self loathing about what I have done to my family with my drinking and can't seem to get past these feelings to see the good things that are going on with my life and my recovery.

Thanks for your thoughts.

Rich

nandm

Hi. I noticed you talk about a "toolkit" that sounds a bit like Alcoholics Anonymous talk. If you are using AA that toolkit will help with the self loathing. The Steps that helps with that are the 4th and 5th Steps. I would strongly encourage you to work those Steps. Working the Steps promptly is essential to working the program of AA, in my opinion, since the Steps are your toolkit. If your toolkit is not complete then you lack the tools to solve the problems.

As far as medication goes, Prozac is just one of many different depression medications. I would encourage you to seek a mental health provider and get their professional opinion and consider trying some different anti-depressants.

Take care and keep us posted.

Zencat

Guilt and self-loathing were one of the symptoms of my depression. Those two emotions were also a byproduct of my attempts to regulate my mood with alcohol and drugs. The way I deal with the negative past is to not repeat it along with doing my best to repair the damage done. After that, I have to let it go, otherwise the self-loathing will drag me back into active addiction.

As for mood regulating drugs, I had to go through a few different types until the doctor found the right ones for me.

richard7

Thanks for your replies.

I went to a new Psychiatrist yesterday and he started me on some Wellbutrin and also recommended that I start taking Omega 3 Fish Oil to stabilize my moods.

Since my original post I have learned some new meditation techniques to get my mind out of an acute episode of depressing feelings and to bring me back to the here and now...It kind of gets me out of my own head and lets me come back to this world.

I will let you know how the medications help after I have been on them for a few weeks.