Hi Nicam. I'm an ACOA as well. That's a really good question. I'm not sure I can answer it very well though because I believe I've suffered from depression my whole life too and have been diagnosed with PTSD and all that comes with that.
I have some friends who take anti-depressants. One says she used to always feel joy and happiness. After her last baby, she had post-natal depression for the first time and went on the AD's. She's off the antis' now and says she has that same feeling of joy and happiness she's always had. The difference between her and me is, she describes her childhood as "magical" whereas mine was a living hell. I've never experienced the "joy and happiness" she has been blessed with feeling her whole life (except for the that small period of time where she felt depressed after giving birth). Her life seems so easy (from the outside looking in, although I know it has its difficulties) and she has good family support. She says that it's 'normal' to wake up and feel happy! That is so foreign to me.
What I believe it all comes down to is how we feel about ourselves. When my friend was looking for a husband, she made sure he had a good job, owned a home and could provide her with the lifestyle she was accustomed to. When my husband came into my life, it didn't matter he owned nothing and had an alcohol addiction. I had such low self worth and I attracted what I felt I deserved.
I also have friends with crap upbringings who are ACoA's too and they're on anti-depressants because they have had rough lives from childhood to now.
I have anti-depressant/anti-anxiety medication sitting in my cupboard ready to take and a couple of my friends have told me to start taking them! I've taken them before and they did help. I don't know what's holding me back from taking them now. Maybe it's the part of me that knows I usually suppress my emotions and distract myself (like you described) and now it's time for me to feel the pain and reveal the real me and find out who I am? Discover myself as I've said before, rather than recover because I have never known who I really am and who I would have been without the abuse. I actually need to 'find' myself. Who am I? What do I need? What do I want? What do I deserve? How can learn how to love and accept myself? How do I live a life with joy and happiness in my heart?
So, back to your question about whether the depression subsides with alanon recovery. I don't know. All I know is that I have to take it one day at a time. One foot in front of the other and maybe take my meds...What I keep reminding myself is recovery (or discovery) is a process, not an event. All the best to you Nicam...