Originally Posted by
jimmysheens 
I am always completely honest with my doctor, otherwise he could not treat me appropriately.
The only antidepressant I ever responded to was Aurorix, and it worked no matter what I did to myself. It just happened to poop out after about 8 years.
WHilst I appreciate your post, it does sound like your saying its my fault antidepressants havent worked because I can't get long term sobriety under my belt. Maybe this is so, but it is a chicken and egg problem. Getting sobriety while under serious mental distress is tenfold harder, and it's not through lack of trying that I am in this situation.
Thanks for your reply.
You effectively pole vaulted over what I was trying to say, and I don't know that many people would have interpreted my comments in the same way. I wasn't making the case that it's your "fault" that antidepressants have generally not worked for you, but it is the case that antidepressants are generally ineffective while drinking and using other psychoactive drugs. And it's extremely unrealistic to expect that they'll work under those conditions, even with brief periods of abstinence.
The fact that you used a single antidepressant with success over a period of time does not change this. Given your history (e.g. alcohol used to make you "feel good"), it's not possible to know whether or not it was the antidepressant alone that improved your mood.