I too self-medicated with alcohol. I live in a town of about 10,000 people, where I am now getting mental health care over the phone because they claim it is so rural.

For me, AA has been helpful to stop and stay stopped drinking and also to cope or at least not make my mental health worse through the effects of alcohol. It is my ONLY dependable support face-to-face group and ONLY dependable mental health where I live. There are 2-3 AA meetings/day at different times of the day in this rural town. There are meetings all over the U.S. and ways to find them, so one can drop in on a meeting while traveling and be accepted. Donations are only suggested, so it is affordable.

It is solution-oriented among peers who also had a drinking problem. While many may think it is a program about not drinking, the longer I am in it the more I realize it is a program of learning how to live (or cope) with life (including my mental health) with its ups and downs without having to drink. This is done by living one day at a time. There is no cure to drinking in AA--that approach resonates with my mental health not being cured either.

Re: mental health medications. This can be a problem for people with mental health who take meds and go to AA because some members insist we are not working a good program, if we take meds. That is their prejudice. That is not in the AA literature. For example, see Alcoholics Anonymous : A.A. Member-Medications and Other Drugs Yet this remains an issue. I choose to not engage in this battle and seldom talk about my mental health issues or meds. Recently, someone spoke up about their mental health, and I did so to--and several of us did. Actually I think it was about 25% of the people who were there did. More could have mental health issues but chose to be silent.

Yet, for some, the issue of the negative stuff some people in AA say about mental health disorders or meds can be a reason to not go. I once had a good counselor here who said she knew several of her clients were bothered by this and stopped going to meetings. This is sad because in my experience drinking doesn't help my mental health. It made it worse. I choose "Take What You Need and Leave the Rest" about AA meetings which is occasionally said at meetings.

Where I live, there is no religious connotation to meetings, but that may vary with geographical area. I am not religious, but I find that when I let go of stuff that it takes a burden off me and I live a bit lighter.

I went to a dual diagnosis meeting for a month here that had poor moderation. 2 weeks in a row a woman was talking about knifing men and that she carries a knife. I am a male and that was too much for me. That wouldn't be condoned in the AA meetings that I go to.

I came back to this PsychCentral Bipolar forum after a gap of several years because it is here I get mental health peer support from others. I continue AA as another source of support.

To those who try AA meetings, I suggest that you only talk about your drinking issues and not go into mental health and medication issues. Get a feel for the meetings, and maybe over time there are some that you feel comfortable talking about mental health with respect to your drinking. Treating drinking alone helps.

Anyway that's my experience. Others may have different experiences and more negative experiences that make it not worthwhile for them. I understand that. But for me, it is the "last house on the block."

I hope you find a way to deal with your drinking issue to live sober, whether it is rehab, church, counselors, self-help books, or various peer recovery groups such as AA. For many of us, willpower is not enough to keep sober on an ongoing basis, so practicing an ongoing program helps.