I'm left kinda wondering what the problem is. Perhaps that is a good place to start. Once the problem is identified, then appropriate solutions can be considered.
For me, alcoholism has always been the primary problem, though its symptoms often masquaraded, sometimes with my help, as something else. Self pity and resentment = depression, mood swings = temporal lobe condition, emotional discomfort = anxiety and so forth. In these instances going to AA was not the answer it would seem to be, but rather taking and practicing the 12 steps releived these symptoms.
But then I have an AA friend who has real depression. In fact his was the first voice I heard after my last bender and I have never forgotten that. His suffering is beyond anything I have ever experienced, like a trip to the chamber of horrors. Whenever he stops his medication, he ends up in a padded cell and it takes months to stabilise him. He practices AA for his alcholism, but AA has no solution for his depression. For that he uses medical professionals.
But there have been times for me when life throws up problems that AA is not equipped to deal with. When my wife died, a grief counsellor was immensely helpful. There were some family issues around the death, as there often are, and the grief counsellor was able to explain these and let me know that what I was feeling and how I was reacting were completely normal.
At one time I thought I might have some repressed memory issues so I spent time with a psychologist. We investigated the possibilities and concluded there were no issues. We discussed depression and one thing I remember him telling me was that medication was generally used to help the patient out of the worst of it in order that they would then be in a position to apply CBT or other therapy. The CBT being the long term answer, the meds only a short term solution.
I got a great deal from both practitioners and I believe I was able to benefit so much because I was sober and able to be completely honest with these people. The AA program is what got me sober, and continuing to practice those principles in all my affairs keeps me that way. But for other issues there are plenty of excellent professionals out there who do a wonderful job, provided we can be honest with them.