AUD and depressive disorders appear to share some behavioral, genetic, and environmental risk factors, yet these shared risks remain poorly understood. The substantial variability in the course of co-occurring AUD and depressive disorders may reflect discrete underlying mechanisms, requiring distinct treatment approaches. For example, AUD that develops after the onset of a depressive disorder and is characterized by coping motives for alcohol can alcohol make depression worse use may differ critically from a depressive disorder that develops following chronic alcohol administration. Data from studies of depression indicate that the substantial variability in the symptoms presented reflects a heterogeneous pathophysiology,32 yet research on heterogeneity in co-occurring AUD and depressive disorders remains limited. Many randomized trials have investigated treatments for co-occurring AUD and depressive disorders.

Psychosocial treatments and mutual help

And because what goes up must come down, your mood will eventually nosedive. Over the course of time, fatigue has a way of driving your mood downward, which can suck because you don’t have the ability to do the things you want to – like grocery shopping, working out and hanging with friends. But what you may know be aware of is excessive drinking can seriously cause your mood to tank because of insomnia and/hypersomnia.

Alcohol support services

• You can also try moving your body more during the day so that you feel more tired at night.
• Drinking water may not have a direct impact on feelings of depression, but rehydrating can absolutely help you start feeling better physically.
• These tests help them calculate your risk factors for either condition.
• A key premise of interventions based on motivational interviewing is that ambivalence is normal (Miller & Rollnick, 1991).
• Chronic alcohol use raises your risk for health problems, including heart disease, liver disease, cancer, and mental health disorders.

During his teens, he realized drinking boosted his confidence and made him feel like he “fit in” with his peers. “My relationships, my self-worth, my sleep, and even my overall health and well-being.” Once she began feeling pangs of shame while drinking heavily after work, she decided to go back to AA. Kitley continues to use https://ecosoberhouse.com/ this fellowship as a resource while working on her sobriety. As a licensed therapist, Kitley knew the signs of depression and substance abuse — in fact, she attended an Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meeting as part of her required grad school training. Ria Health is one program that strives to make this approach easier to access.

Is It Genes or Lifestyle?

This may be because they ‘self-medicate’, meaning they drink to deal with difficult feelings or symptoms. According to one 2021 study, when people with alcohol use disorder quit drinking, their symptoms of depression improved significantly. A statistical technique such as MSM is only as good as the data available to it, and Visontay et al. are circumspect in acknowledging the limitations, such as unmeasured confounders. Analysis of observational data produces associations from which causality is a conjecture but cannot be proven.

• SSRIs are shown to increase some people’s desire to drink.14 Alcohol can also worsen the side effects of antidepressants, which include dizziness, drowsiness, insomnia, blurred vision, headaches, and more.
• If you’re concerned alcohol has become your go-to method of managing negative feelings like depression, there’s no shame in reaching out for support.
• This can mean joining a support group, such as Alcoholics Anonymous or SMART Recovery.
• Alcohol can also contribute to arrhythmias (irregular heartbeats) and hypertension (high blood pressure), increasing the risk of heart attack, stroke, and heart failure.
• Conversely, the three types of studies highlighted in this section indicate that if an association between alcoholism and anxiety/depressive disorders does exist, it is likely to operate in a relatively small subgroup of alcoholics.

Getting help if you’re worried about your drinking

How alcohol worsens depression