Originally Posted by
cellardoor77 
For those of you who ended up using antidepressants after sobering up (and assuming they helped with the depression/anxiety), do you feel that having less depression and anxiety reduced your cravings for alcohol and or drugs? I understand that ADs are not drugs used to reduce cravings in the way
My depression began in my teen years but I wasn't able to get it properly diagnosed or treated until my forties. My drinking was definitely self-medication to deal with depression. Getting onto antidepressants levelled the playing field for me. I didn't care enough or have the motivation to recover before I began antidepressants. The medication gave me a fighting chance, emotionally, to recover. It didn't reduce my cravings for alcohol at all, but emotionally, I was in a much better place to manage things.