In the population of patients diagnosed with recurrent depression, comorbid alcohol abuse reaches a striking3 40%, indicating common genetic and/or environmental causes. In agreement with this, we previously showed that SDPS, when coupled with operant alcohol SA, promotes AUD‐like behaviors, as reflected in heightened motivation for alcohol and increased relapse rate.20 Here, we extend these findings by showing that animals selected for depression susceptibility exhibit greater vulnerability to alcohol in terms of persistent seeking despite alcohol unavailability and delayed extinction of alcohol‐related learning. Furthermore, in our model, depression resilience subdued the emergence of addiction proneness, including enhanced motivation, signs of extinction resistance, and aggravated alcohol seeking during unavailability periods (time‐out and reinstatement). Of note, stress exposure resulted in a lasting increase in instrumental alcohol taking in SDPS‐resilient individuals, which showed no depressive‐like affective and cognitive deficits.
