hi artie, imho many of us that suffer from depression or mood disorders do/or have used substances to alter our mood. many of us become addicts or alcoholics, of course, from too much self-medicating. of course this only fed into my depression drinking alcohol but by then it was too late. i wish they would do a study on this cause i'm convinced there is a link, a glaring link. i wasn't a beer drinker. i enjoyed wine but of course did that to excess along with all the scotch in the entire world if i could have gotten my hands on it. gladly i found a more viable solution...sobriety and using a pdoc to be my chemist to help me along and lots of therapy. works for me.