# Trying to untangle addiction from my mental health struggles

**URL:** <https://forum.sharedquill.org/t/trying-to-untangle-addiction-from-my-mental-health-struggles/55029>\
**Category:** Addiction\
**Created:** [November 2, 2026, 8:00am UTC](https://forum.sharedquill.org/t/trying-to-untangle-addiction-from-my-mental-health-struggles/55029 "2026-11-02T08:00:11Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Lauren\_Mccormick](https://forum.sharedquill.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/l/ecb155/32.png) [@Lauren\_Mccormick](https://forum.sharedquill.org/u/Lauren_Mccormick)\
**Post date:** [November 2, 2026, 8:00am UTC](https://forum.sharedquill.org/t/trying-to-untangle-addiction-from-my-mental-health-struggles/55029/1 "2026-11-02T08:00:12Z")

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For a long time, I treated my drinking and my depression like two separate problems. I’d tell myself I drank because I felt low, then blame the drinking when I couldn’t get out of bed or follow through with anything. It became hard to tell what was causing what.

One memory that sticks with me is sitting on the bathroom floor after a binge, staring at the same crack in the tile while trying to remember whether I’d taken my medication. That scared me more than I admitted at the time. I realized I wasn’t just trying to stop drinking. I needed help understanding the depression, anxiety, and habits that made alcohol feel like the quickest way to shut everything off.

I’m trying to be more honest with my therapist and doctor instead of only talking about whichever problem is loudest that week. How did other people start separating the addiction from the mental health symptoms without treating them like completely unrelated issues?

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**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chandler](https://forum.sharedquill.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/4da419/32.png) [@Jonathan\_Chandler](https://forum.sharedquill.org/u/Jonathan_Chandler)\
**Post date:** [November 2, 2026, 8:02am UTC](https://forum.sharedquill.org/t/trying-to-untangle-addiction-from-my-mental-health-struggles/55029/2 "2026-11-02T08:02:43Z")

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Lauren, the bathroom floor memory sounds like a real turning point. Losing track of medication after drinking is frightening, and it makes sense that it pushed you to be more open with your therapist and doctor.

I found it useful to stop trying to decide which problem caused the other. I started tracking sleep, mood, drinking, and medication together, even with just a few notes each day. Patterns became clearer, and I could bring something concrete to appointments instead of relying on whatever felt worst that morning.

My therapist also helped me look at what happened before the urge to drink, not just the consequences afterward. Depression and alcohol still overlap, but they can be treated at the same time without pretending they’re identical.

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**Author:** ![Adam\_Peterson](https://forum.sharedquill.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/47e85d/32.png) [@Adam\_Peterson](https://forum.sharedquill.org/u/Adam_Peterson)\
**Post date:** [November 2, 2026, 8:33am UTC](https://forum.sharedquill.org/t/trying-to-untangle-addiction-from-my-mental-health-struggles/55029/3 "2026-11-02T08:33:31Z")

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@Lauren_Mccormick, the part about not knowing whether you took your medication really hit me. That kind of confusion can make everything feel unsafe, not just the drinking.

What helped me was looking at the first few hours before I wanted to drink. Was I already anxious, isolated, angry, or exhausted? I started writing down a few words instead of trying to explain the whole day. It showed me that alcohol sometimes followed a bad mood, but it also made the next day’s depression and anxiety much worse.

Being straight with the therapist and doctor seems like a big part of this too. They need the full picture to help safely, especially with medication and withdrawal. I still catch myself wanting to give the neat version, but the messy details are usually the useful ones.