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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 4 of 4. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Patrick C. on September 1, 2001, at 9:20:42
I have noticed that alcoholics and atypical depressants have many of the same symptoms:
anxiety/panic attacks, social phobia (i.e fear of people), general anxiety disorder (i.e fear of economic insecurity) and depression
Question: Is there anyone that suffers from Atypical Depression that has not had a drink in over three months?
Thanks
Posted by Adam on September 1, 2001, at 12:17:04
In reply to Atypical Depression=Alcoholism, posted by Patrick C. on September 1, 2001, at 9:20:42
Hmm. I think I have "atypical depression", whetever the heck that means. I HAVE had a drink in the last three months, but that had everything to do with the fact that these were social situations, and everyone was drinking socially. Play softball, go out for beer and wings, etc. I've been that way since my first introduction to alcohol.
I think substance abuse and addiction are tricky things, and the only safe way to generalize is to say that some people seem to be more prone to codependancy than others. Why this is true has yet to be clearly described, but there is almost certainly a genetic component. Some alcolholics were never clinically depressed. I'm sure there are more than a few "typical"/melancholic types who fell prey to liquor. Maybe there is a predeliction among those with anxiety to self-medicate with alcohol; it would make sense, since it is a GABAnergic compound. Do all self-medicators become addicts? Is self-medication itself a definition of addiction? I think there are far more questions than reliable answers here presently.
> I have noticed that alcoholics and atypical depressants have many of the same symptoms:
>
> anxiety/panic attacks, social phobia (i.e fear of people), general anxiety disorder (i.e fear of economic insecurity) and depression
>
> Question: Is there anyone that suffers from Atypical Depression that has not had a drink in over three months?
>
> Thanks
Posted by Cecilia on September 2, 2001, at 0:20:37
In reply to Atypical Depression=Alcoholism, posted by Patrick C. on September 1, 2001, at 9:20:42
I have atypical depression but no taste for alcohol-I don`t remember when I last had a drink but it`s been many years. (Chocolate is my addiction of choice!)
Posted by Tony P on September 2, 2001, at 2:04:07
In reply to Re: Atypical Depression=Alcoholism, posted by Cecilia on September 2, 2001, at 0:20:37
I too am not clear what "atypical" means, although I'm sure it's defined in the various medical/psychiatric diagnostic standards (maybe only by default?).
My personal experience is that I am an recovered alcoholic (9 years), that about two years into sobriety I finally acknowledged I had untreated depression, which did indeed respond to A/D therapy, but was "atypical" in the ordinary sense that my experience of my depresssion did not seem to me at the time much like the common picture of clinical or sub-clinical depression - and I had known quite a few people diagnosed as such. Since then, I've seen many people post on this board who do seem to experience the weird mixture of anxiety AND depression that is my personal world.
But to return to the original question,
1. I am sure I was fairly seriously depressed as an adolescent without knowing it, and discovered that alcohol (and some other drugs) gave some relief for a while.
2. A professional I know whose speciality is A&D abuse says he sees a significant group of recovering alcoholics in particular who continue to suffer depression after most others have recovered and are emotionally more or less normal (whatever that means).
3. I have certainly been more than 3 months alcohol-free on many occasions, with or without medication (currently 9 years as mentioned), but I am also sure that my depression was an important contributor on the occasions when I did go back to drinking.
Tony P
>
> I have atypical depression but no taste for alcohol-I don`t remember when I last had a drink but it`s been many years. (Chocolate is my addiction of choice!)
This is the end of the thread.
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