Linners820

I've struggled with depression and anxiety since I was a child. I've been on various medications for it throughout my life, and had many good stretches of time with only minor symptoms. But the last 4 years or so stick out to me as being particularly bad...awful anxiety, and just an underlying feeling of sadness. Coincidentally, around 4 years ago is when I started drinking, initially to unwind after working a stressful job. Can anyone else relate to this? I feel like my alcohol abuse actually made my anxiety and depression worse in the long run by far, and made the medication that I was taking for it useless. What are your experiences with this, and has anyone found that after quitting drinking, the anxiety and depression lessened? How long did it take? I'm really looking forward to feeling better and healthier.

Andante

I'm envisioning a giant classroom full of recovering alcoholics all with their hand up shouting "MEEEEE!!"

It's pretty universal, actually. If you read around other threads on SR, the fact that alcohol worsens anxiety and depression over the long haul is a recurring theme.

Also a commonly recurring theme is an inability to make the association between the alcohol and the anxiety/depression, so congratulations on connecting the dots!

I think you'll find that the longer you stay sober, the better able you'll be to manage underlying anxiety and depression issues, and the more effective will be the strategies you use, whether medication or other.

JD

I can definitely can relate. I self medicated for many years and the depression only got worse. Which isn't surprising since alcohol is a depressant. I quit drinking two years ago and while the depression doesn't go away it's much more manageable. Anxiety was not that bad for me.

Kate123

I can relate. I suffer from both. I honestly think that is one of the reasons the whole thing started because at the VERY beginning I thought it made me feel better. It certainly doesn't anymore though!

Linners820

Thanks, I felt a big sense of relief after reading this. I have this fear that I've messed up my brain chemistry beyond repair, so it's good to feel like I can look forward to some improvement on the mental health front. I knew there was a connection but I'm only just realizing how much. I'm basically drinking to put a bandaid over issues that were made worse by drinking in the first place, and the whole cycle continues...

Anna

Yes! I had depression and anxiety all through my teen years and from then on. I never had it treated though because I didn't really know what it was, and depression and anxiety weren't talked about much at all when I was growing up. I made it through to my mid-forties before I started self-medicating. And, then I had a few terrible years of drinking when the depression/anxiety worsened considerably. When I stopped drinking, I got my depression treated. I still have anxiety a lot and I still have to work on the depression sometimes, but both are manageable.

I read everything I could find, and if you're interested, these books offer a lot of help:

Amen, Daniel Change Your Brain, Change Your Life

Bassett, Lucinda From Panic to Power

Burns, David MD When Panic Attacks

Chodron, Pema The Places That Scare You

Doidge, Norman MD The Brain That Changes Itself

Dyer, Wayne The Power of Intention and Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Life

Orsilla, Ken Mindful way Through Anxiety

Linners820

Thanks for the book recommendations. I'm going to check them out

Horn95

It is not just a recurring theme. Numerous peer-reviewed papers/studies show that alcohol worsens depression and anxiety. Moreover, quitting will lessen it in the long run. When you quit, however, it may get worse before it gets better because of changes in your brain chemistry caused by long-term alcohol use. Just got to ride it out. I have failed to ride it out many times though. I have had several relapses and each time the anxiety and depression come back with a vengeance, much worse than before.

2muchpain

I also have been dealing with depression and anxiety since I was a kid. Unfortunately back then doctors knew little about it so I never thought much about it either. Without realizing it, I was dealing with it with drugs and alcohol.
I can tell for with certainty that both the anxiety and depression lessens the longer you don't drink. For me it took time and a lot of patience and determination. It was a progressive thing, things getting better slowly. But it does get better. I'd say for me, I started to feel a real difference after around a month but I noticed small changes before that. Dealing with depression and anxiety is a whole lot easier not drinking than drinking. Just makes things worse. Good luck. John