Is depression common among alcoholics?

Up to 40 per cent of people who drink heavily have symptoms that resemble a depressive illness.

However, when these same people are not drinking heavily, only 5 per cent of men and 10 per cent of woman have symptoms meeting the diagnostic criteria for depression – not that different from the rates of depression in the general population.

About 5 to 10 per cent of people with a depressive illness also have symptoms of an alcohol problem.

People with depression sometimes use alcohol as a form of self-medication, for example, either in an attempt to cheer themselves up, or sometimes to help them sleep. Although in small quantities alcohol can briefly lift mood, if used to try to cope with a depressive illness, problems arise. Tolerance to the effects of alcohol can lead to individuals needing it in larger quantities to have an effect.

Alcohol in large quantities, whether taken to treat a depression or not, produces a depressant effect on people's mood.