I'd wager that quite a lot of us are dual diagnosis.
I suffer from anxiety and depression. Alcohol was my tonic.
I had to learn how to sit with my extreme discomfort without the use of alcohol to numb it, bring it down, make me not care. It's probably the single hardest thing I ever had to go through. I felt like one big nerve ending - not only was it uncomfortable, but it was embarrassing! Too bad for me. Only it wasn't in the end.
The thing that helped me through that was primarily a hell-to-the-no commitment to never drinking Now. I could rant or cry and throw things, but drinking wasn't even an option that I left open to myself. Still isn't. Not Ever. Because I never drink Now, and it can not ever possibly be any time right now except for Now.
O