Valerie Farragher turned to drink to get through the day when she was depressed and quickly developed a serious problem.
For ten years she went to Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) and tried to cope. She says she was in hospital approximately 30 times during that decade, but was never offered psychiatric treatment.
Finally, following a suicide attempt, a psychiatrist diagnosed her with post-natal depression. She had had it since since the birth of her fourth child, 10 years earlier.
“It was only when I got into the mental-health services that things started to come together for me,” she says.
The psychiatrist prescribed an anti-depressant called Lexipro, she says. “What it did was calm down that galloping brain.”
Farragher left AA, and began attending Aware, a support group for people with depression. Today she works to support other women with drink problems.
Most addicts are using substances to self-medicate for underlying mental and emotional problems, she says. “People of sound mind don’t get up and go on the piss every day.”
Ireland’s health-care system is not well-equipped to help people like these who are dealing with both mental-health issues and substance-use issues.
Some say that needs to change, especially as research shows that many people who have substance-use issues also have underlying psychiatric conditions.
Source: Laoise Neylon, Dublin Inquirer, 24/05/17