Individuals who report a history of treatment for mood disorders had a stronger association of self-medication drinking with incident as well as persistent alcohol dependence in contrast to those without any treatment history. This finding may indicate that individuals with a treatment history have more severe mood symptoms or symptoms that are refractory to the treatment received. It also may indicate that receiving treatment for mood conditions does not necessarily mean that some individuals will not also self-medicate with alcohol. Simply addressing the mood symptoms does not necessarily mitigate the subsequent drinking behavior.61 Once alcohol use becomes problematic, treatment modalities would need to address both the mood and substance use symptoms, as well as personal and environmental issues that may need to be considered when developing appropriate treatment plans.62;63 Some individuals may drink in response to mood symptoms, as well as to achieve relief and separation from painful or stressful emotional experiences,62 or as an attempt at bolstering inadequate or poorly developed coping skills. All of these may be challenging issues to address and often require a multimodal treatment strategy.
