It’s a serious mental health condition that requires understanding and medical care. Left untreated, depression can be devastating for those who have it and their families. Fortunately, with early detection, diagnosis and a treatment plan consisting of medication, psychotherapy and healthy lifestyle choices, many people can and do get better. Depression is a mood disorder that causes a persistent feeling of sadness and loss of interest. Also called major depressive disorder or clinical depression, it affects how you feel, think and behave and can lead to a variety of emotional and physical problems.
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Sometimes it’s difficult to determine the cause-and-effect dynamic between alcohol and depression. Some people with underlying depression may start using alcohol to find relief from their symptoms. When you drink too much, you’re more likely to make bad decisions or act on impulse. As a result, you could drain your bank account, lose a job, or ruin a relationship. When that happens, you’re more likely to feel depressed, particularly if you have a family history of depression.
Management and Treatment
“In our society alcohol is readily available and socially acceptable,” says Jill Bolte Taylor, PhD, author of Whole Brain Living, explains. “Depression and alcohol misuse are often tied because we take a depressant to counter a chemical depression which only makes it worse.” It helps people understand events alcohol and depression and thought processes that lead to depression and substance misuse. During therapy, you can learn coping mechanisms that can help you return to life without drinking. Treating one of these conditions may improve symptoms for both. However, for the best results, your doctor will likely treat them together.
- If you’re dealing with severe alcohol withdrawal symptoms, such as anxiety, insomnia, nausea, and hallucinations, among others, then your doctor may suggest medications such as chlordiazepoxide or other benzodiazepines.
- Individuals diagnosed with clinical depression should be extremely cautious when it comes to using substances such as alcohol.
- Alcoholics frequently experience episodes of intense depression and/or severe anxiety.
- This, combined with heightened mood states, can have some unpleasant effects.
- But alcohol can cause people to further withdraw from loved ones and can increase feelings of depression and isolation.
Depression After Drinking
In summary, none of the three types of studies conducted (i.e., family studies, prospective investigations, and studies involving COA’s) proves an absence of a relationship between long-term anxiety or depressive disorders and alcoholism. As briefly discussed earlier in this article, the family studies are far from definitive because of difficulties in the methodologies used. It is also important to remember that some studies indicate a potential relationship between alcoholism and anxiety/ depressive disorders.
- Lifestyle changes that improve sleep habits, exercise, and address underlying health conditions can be an important first step.
- Children who have major depression as a child may drink earlier in life, according to one study.
- Many people who experience depression also have other mental health conditions.1,5 Anxiety disorders often go hand in hand with depression.
- It can also aggravate symptoms of pre-existing depression and endanger your health and mental health.
- It’s common for people to turn to drinking as a way to cope with a range of negative feelings.
- Behaviorally, you just want to pull back and withdraw from others, activities, and day-to-day responsibilities.
Alcohol and depression are connected in several ways, and the two often feed off of one another. People may turn to alcohol as a way to cope with mood problems, but drinking alcohol can also contribute to symptoms of depression. Alcohol use can also affect how antidepressants work, which can affect depression treatment.
A Look at the Latest Alcohol Death Data and Change Over the Last Decade
- Excessive alcohol drinking can also cause problems socially, such as issues with family, school, employment, and friends.
- And research continues to produce better medications and therapies to help you detox more comfortably and effectively treat depression symptoms.
- If you’re worried about drinking or feel it’s affecting your mental health, a lot of help is available.
- Women have been underrepresented in much of the research on co-occurring AUD and depressive disorders, particularly in the early research on this topic.
- Almost 30 percent of Americans will experience alcohol use disorder at some point in their lifetimes.