study shows that alcohol activates the same brain pathway as medications that have been shown to have fast-acting antidepressant effects.

However, the researchers - including principal investigator Kimberly Raab-Graham, Ph.D., of Wake Forest School of Medicine at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, NC - stress that their findings in no way suggest that individuals with depression should turn to alcohol as a form of treatment.

Instead, the results may help explain why some people with depression take up drinking as a way of coping - a behavior known as the "self-medication hypothesis," which often leads to alcohol use disorders.

"There's definitely a danger in self-medicating with alcohol," says Raab-Graham. "There's a very fine line between it being helpful and harmful, and at some point during repeated use, self-medication turns into addiction." CLICK Here http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/313205.php for more.