Thank you both for sharing. Alcohol is a depressant. It worked for me too. Then it stopped, my best friend became my sworn enemy. More was not enough, and I looked to other things. Recovery is about going in and looking at what caused the depression, and working on the hurts and pain that caused us to look outside of ourselves for that almighty fix to take it all away.
I had to get to the root causes, deal with my feelings, go to meetings, later counselling (sexual assault, divorce, mental and emotional abuse and all the emotions that went along with it. I had to stay clean and sober, so that I could get to the reality of the situation.
The program works if we work it. We have to be willing. Willing to go to any length to maintain our sobriety (soundness of mind). My father was an alcoholic, my mother used food, I was married twice, one who had sexual issues and the second was an alcoholic. My son is in active addiction. He will use anything that is available. When I take on other people's issues, I become depressed. If I don't let go and allow my issues to heal, I stay depressed.
