treatment for alcoholism or for depression?

[pigeonca]

Until two years ago my brother never abused any substances.  In fact he rarely drank at all and never took anything other than booze, no pot or pills or anything like that.  Then, after a business setback, he became depressed and started drinking to the point where he was falling down and hurting himself.

His HMO insisted on treating him as an alcoholic rather than as a depressed person.  He was sent to group therapy for substance abusers. He has mostly stopped drinking, with an very occasional lapse, but is still severely depressed.  I think he should be in a depression program instead of an alcoholism program.  The HMO insists that he be completely sober before treating the depression, but it seems to me that if the depression was given priority then the sobriety would follow.  

He is too depressed to do anything proactive for himself.  Is there anything I can do to intervene with the HMO?

[louise65]

i agree with you. i never had a substance abuse problem until i became severely depressed, i think the stats are around 10% of depressed people develope an abuse problem. i quess though it would be hard to treat the depression if he was drinking heavily, but i would hope that it would be possible to do both. he certainly isnt the only one with this dual diagnosis.
i dont know that you will be able to intervene much because of patient privacy laws but you can certainly support him, which it sounds like you are already doing. thats great as he needs you, even when he doesnt want to talk, just knowing someone cares makes a big difference.
i hope things start to improve soon for your brother and you, take care louise

[pigeonca]

Thanks for the good advice.  I hope you are feeling better now.  It's a beautiful day here in southern california!