Back again .... which comes first depression or alcohol???
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Join Date: May 2014
Location: Canada
Posts: 2,449
Originally Posted by Mangoes 
Counseling is hard. Some days I've felt physically beat up coming home, but the difference is this: I'm not carrying it by myself anymore. And I can't explain what that does to feel that relief.
As long as you are on this site, you don't have to go through any of it alone.
Been there, done that!
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: London
Posts: 539
Alcohol is a depressant, so it's not surprising pumping your body full of a depressant is going to make you depressed.. Sometimes addicts like to over complicate things but I think it's that simple!!
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Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: Ireland
Posts: 25,826
Hey Julie,
I think in the end I drank not to be happy, but to have that numbing, nothingness feeling, that quick escape in the bottle that was alcohol!!
The problem though as you mention is that after sometime, alcohol itself increased my depression and anxiety, and so the bottom kept getting lower and lower, and the need to escape and numb it away was always increasing, it was a spiral that got increasingly worse!!
At some point we simply have to get off that cycle, string a few Sober days together, sure it's gonna be rough the first few weeks, but it's the only way to push through to the better times, because alcohol is leading us to nowhere fast!!
You can do this!!
I think in the end I drank not to be happy, but to have that numbing, nothingness feeling, that quick escape in the bottle that was alcohol!!
The problem though as you mention is that after sometime, alcohol itself increased my depression and anxiety, and so the bottom kept getting lower and lower, and the need to escape and numb it away was always increasing, it was a spiral that got increasingly worse!!
At some point we simply have to get off that cycle, string a few Sober days together, sure it's gonna be rough the first few weeks, but it's the only way to push through to the better times, because alcohol is leading us to nowhere fast!!
You can do this!!
Member
Join Date: Jul 2010
Posts: 10,912
Julie, this is a brief article that discusses your question and places it in the context of treatment:
Depression and Substance Abuse: The Chicken or the Egg? | Psych Central
I'm personally someone who never had depression before I developed an alcohol problem, but did have a serious episode while heavily drinking and also undergoing a lot of stress. In any case, you can definitely expect it to get better in sobriety, sometimes it takes a bit of time and additional treatment.
Depression and Substance Abuse: The Chicken or the Egg? | Psych Central
I'm personally someone who never had depression before I developed an alcohol problem, but did have a serious episode while heavily drinking and also undergoing a lot of stress. In any case, you can definitely expect it to get better in sobriety, sometimes it takes a bit of time and additional treatment.
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Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: in the city by the bay
Posts: 605
I haven't read this entire thread but I also drank because I felt it helped my anxieties. After I went off and I am talking maybe it took a couple weeks to 30 days...my anxieties started to decrease and my mood lifted.
What I read was that by drinking alcohol your neurotransmitters quit working as they should. When you quit the neurotransmitters start firing off, and that is what causes withdrawal. Then they slowly start working as they should and you feel better. That is highly simplified and maybe not completely accurate but it's something like that.
Anyhow, you need to quit and give it a couple weeks to a month. Good luck!
What I read was that by drinking alcohol your neurotransmitters quit working as they should. When you quit the neurotransmitters start firing off, and that is what causes withdrawal. Then they slowly start working as they should and you feel better. That is highly simplified and maybe not completely accurate but it's something like that.
Anyhow, you need to quit and give it a couple weeks to a month. Good luck!
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Thread Starter
Join Date: Jun 2014
Location: WESTERN AUSTRALIA
Posts: 518
Thankyou so much everyone...all these comments have helped me immensely, and I have not had
thanks
drink today.. actually yesterday as after midnight now here in West Oz and I will keep reading these comments and coming back to SR
thanks drink today.. actually yesterday as after midnight now here in West Oz and I will keep reading these comments and coming back to SR
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