I would choose somewhere else for the date, like a coffee shop. If you don't ever drink alcohol, then I would just avoid happy hours. You could go and order a non-alcoholic drink, but that would be my second choice.

I would try to avoid lying to her about why you're not drinking if you end up in that situation. In my experience, people don't appreciate lies, even white ones, when they first meet you. You can always say something like "I don't react very well to alcohol sometimes so I'd rather stick with something non-alcoholic."

I, personally, would probably just say "I take an antidepressant, and it doesn't always react well with alcohol" if the person wanted to know why I wasn't drinking, but I am in my 50s, and it seems like half the people my age don't drink for one health reason or another.

If my date wanted to know more, I'd probably say "let's save that conversation for another time - I don't want to talk about my health when we're here to socialize."

As far as telling your family and friends, I think it's entirely up to you whether or not you tell them. It's not really any of their business if you take psych meds or any other kind of meds. If they confront you about not drinking alcohol, say something like "I've been trying to avoid alcohol - I feel much better when I don't drink it."

I am sitting here now feeling bad that people are still being judgmental about taking psych meds. I went through that in the 1980s. I like to think that people have gotten more educated about mental health matters, but I suppose they haven't in all areas of the country/world.