courage2

I drank for ~35 years, most of that time drinking daily. During that time, particularly in my teens, some things happened that were fairly difficult for me to cope with. And I was young and on my own. So I didn’t try to understand them, I isolated myself from most of the world, and I drank and used drugs to keep myself from thinking – for a long time, as I said. A year ago the drinking got to the point where it was clearly a problem of its own, not just a way of avoidance. Plus it wasn’t working as avoidance. So with help from SR and AA I quit for a year.

Over the course of the year, especially after about the first 6 months, I noticed I would experience cycles of depression, mental confusion, and distorted thinking. There was a fairly bad one at about 9 months, and then a bad one around the holidays. After the first one, I cut back on my involvement in AA. The second cycle coincided with a lot of year-end pressure at work, seeing family, and being alone more than usual, also with a change in hormones prescribed by my doctor. I relapsed briefly.

What’s happening may be PAWS, may be repressed history coming to the surface that I don’t know how to manage, and may be menopause. I’m not interested in excusing my relapse – I just want to avoid another. Treatment with anti-depressants has been suggested to me, to help me get through any further depressive episodes that I experience, and help me refrain from relapsing again.

I have no experience with mental health care and am rather nervous about the idea. I’d appreciate hearing from other SR members who know more.

feeling-good

courage2 - I've been through the mill as it were when it comes to mental health care and can only say that it is definitely helpful but is not, by far, 'the answer'. I absolutely recommend going to your family doctor to talk through how things have been for you and seeing what they would suggest

karate

I read many self help books .

Im a big fan of " don't sweat the small stuff ,and its all small stuff ."

Just go to half price books and brouse through that section ,its cheap and effective .

I also used professional help as well ,Books helped me more though .

caboblanco

well usually first you have to see a psychiatrist. He or she will see you a couple times and usually prescribe you meds. You don't have to take the meds and whatever diagnosis they give you if they do you should take with a grain of salt. after the psychiatrist visit you can ask him or her about a therapist. This can be a psychologist or some other kind of counsealer that can't prescribe meds. you will usually get an

hour or so a week of talk therapy. the approach of talk therapy varies greatly from one therapist to another...depending on your insurance situation.you should do some shopping before you get a good fit.

jdooner

I believe finding a good therapist is like finding a good sponsor. I went through 3 awful therapists and have found a wonderful therapist that specializes in addiction. I psychologist. I went to two psychiatrists and found they prescribed meds for any and all ailments. I pay out of pocket so there is no record. $150 per week and I go weekly.

I value the relationship with my therapist more than anything else. Everyone is different though.

I usually don't go to another cancer patient to ask them to remove my brain tumor.

I do feel its helpful from a support perspective to be in a program. I have tried AA and RR twice now and I am back working my steps. Trying multiple programs helped me although it was somewhat dangerous in terms of being on uneven ground.

I too have carried the burden of some awful events that I actually suppressed for over 30 years. I am now dealing with them. I firmly believe my brain pushed me to drink so I would not face many of these issues and it has not been all roses but I am feeling much better and learning so much more about myself. I do feel awareness is the greatest gift we can give ourselves.

Steppin2

To achieve spiritual fitness I have to recover psychically and mentally. Sometimes this calls for help outside of A.A. The thing we have to be is honest with those who might help us. (Doctors) Do what you have to do to get whole. Some of us do need physiological help, and some of us don't know we do. I don't talk about my meds in meetings, but my sponsor does need to know. I really hope you go ahead and get the treatment you might need. This may increase your chances of staying sober.

Will keep you in my thoughts and prayers.

Jeni26

Hi Courage.

When I stopped drinking, it was then that I became aware of some obvious difficulties with my mental health. I had already suffered from some fairly serious bouts of depression which had left me unable to work for long periods, and was prescribed anti-depressants. I was too scared to look into any further therapies, frightened of facing my past, and basically just relied on alcohol to numb it all away.

After about 3 months of sobriety I began to suffer extreme insomnia, flashbacks and night terrors. I started to work the steps with my sponsor but they didn't help with this. I struggled but managed to stay sober with a lot of support, especially from people on SR.

Eventually after about 8 months I finally conceded that I needed some psychiatric help and began working with a therapist who specialised in addiction and childhood trauma. I was diagnosed with PTSD and a dissociative disorder.

I have had weekly sessions with her now for nearly a year. I'm not going to pretend this is a walk in the park. It has been hard work, but I am finally uncovering and putting together the pieces in my disjointed and fragmented memory.

Psychiatric help has been vital to me in my journey. It has helped me find peace in my sobriety. Best wishes to you, I hope you can find the same.

Gilmer

Although many have been helped by getting anti-depressants from their general practitioner, I found out the hard way that sometimes they're out of their depth, particularly if you have had repeated depressions. In that case, the wrong medicine can send you suicidal.

I don't want to be a fearmonger--but if you have had problems through the years, It is definitely worth it to see a psychiatrist to be screened for potential bipolar disorder.

MemphisBlues

Repressed memories, traumas blurred by booze and dope that come back in the first months of recovery, anxiety, insomnia, all of these things are very normal in early sobriety. For some people it takes months to get a grip, or like me, years.

If you see a shrink you will be prescribed drugs. That's my experience with 25 years in and out of the mental health system.

You will see a shrink, talk about your issues, and before the 45 minutes are up you will discuss medication. That. Is. What. Psychiatrists. Do.

That's all they do from, my experience.

A therapist, on the other hand, whether a PhD or social worker, will try to talk out coping mechanisms that you can apply without drugs or in conjunction with a prescribing psychiatrist.

And regarding the comment above about not seeing a cancer survivor to remove a tumor, I agree. But I would sure like to have a relationship with that cancer survivor on how they dealt with the cancer. A cancer survivor support group is sort of akin to AA in that regard.

I talked to a well-heeled psychiatrist specializing in addiction in a non-patient environment once, and he said that folks newly sober would qualify for a half dozen diagnoses of mental illness under the DSM-IV. I know I qualified for illnesses I didn't have. It's just the mental mess of getting sober after a few decades of abuse.

eddie73

Hi there, long time since i was on the forum. I think that you are 100% correct, if you feel you need psychological help, then go for it. There is no point in trying too hard and getting nowhere. I am now well over 2 years sober, and feeling mostly good. u will be relieved to hear that i dont think about drink at all, but i found the living part a challenge that I had to face with outside help.

No big deal, it will save u a lot of needless pain, worst case scenario is you stop getting outside help if you think it is not working. Gud luck.

Dee74

Counselling helped me enormously even tho I didn't 'do' it for very long.

There was something very cathartic about talking with someone who knew how to get at the things I was carrying around, without those things hurting me again.

I haven't used anti-ds for depression since my mid 20s but they were useful to me then.

There were some side effects then 20-25 years ago but the anti-ds I take now for pain have no side effects at all

D

karate

Very important to address the issues that caused the alcohol problem
In the first place .

I see it as necessary to being healthy and sober .