Why should I avoid alcohol if I am being treated for depression?

Medications shouldn't be debilitating or make you feel sedated (if they do, tell your doctor), but adding alcohol to the mix changes things. Rob Doyle, MD, clinical instructor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and staff member at Massachusetts General Hospital advises patients with depression to avoid alcohol. "One drink may act like an antidepressant, but it's a slippery slope," he says. "One drink feels good, then you have another and another, and the alcohol becomes a depressant."

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