Originally Posted by
tursiops999 
Hi Nightmares --
Regarding your therapist, did you tell the therapist about your drinking? When I was drinking, I was going to therapy and not getting the results I wanted ... because alcohol is a depressant! I was never really honest with my therapist about the level of my drinking, so there wasn't much point to our discussions.
My mood, and my level of interest in life, are so much better sober. In my case, working my sobriety plan has solved my depression issues (everyone's different, and therapy and medications can be important, but for me a good sobriety plan was the key). That negative thinking was very much from the alcohol.
There are many paths to sobriety -- you can read up on this site about the methods people have used. AA may not be for you, but it is actually spiritual, not religious. I have friends in the program who are atheists and find a way to work it just fine.
I did tell my therapist about my drinking, it was actually one of the main reasons I started going. I did quit drinking shortly after I started going and that's where I was telling him I didn't enjoy anything in life, no matter how "fun" it was supposed to be. I could be going on a vacation to the Bahama's and my mood would be the same way it always is. That's when he told me he wanted to get me on some kind of medication.
I see a lot of people talking about a "recovery plan"...see I think that is where I went wrong last time. I just quit cold turkey. I didn't really think it out or anything, as I often don't with most things in life... I just knew I needed to quit so that's what I did. I kind of took everything as it came from there.
In the end, I made some stupid impulse decision to take one little drink and that was the end of it.
Anyways what I am getting at is how did you get the guidance to come up with your plan?
Also I should have rephrased the AA comment as it is not only that I am not religious, I am not spiritual either. I don't believe in anything. I believe that I am 250lbs of chemical reactions. How could I overcome that when the ultimate goal of AA is to get a sponsor and go through the 12 steps?