Can you drink alcohol on antidepressants?

By Trendy Publishing editorial team · Published 18 October 2026 · Sources

The short answer: it's generally best not to. There's no amount of alcohol proven safe with every antidepressant, and mixing the two can worsen your mood, pile on drowsiness and blunt the medication you're relying on. Here's what actually happens — and why the safest move is a chat with your doctor.

Alcohol and depression pull in opposite directions

Alcohol is a depressant. It can lift your mood for an hour or two, but its overall effect is to drag mood down — the opposite of what your antidepressant is working to do. Alcohol acts on the same brain systems that regulate stress and emotion, and it can intensify negative feelings and deepen low mood once the buzz fades.

That creates a quiet tug-of-war. Your medication is trying to stabilise your mood; a few drinks can undo some of that progress and leave you feeling worse the next day. Depression and heavy drinking also tend to feed into each other, which is part of why people living with depression are at higher risk of alcohol misuse.

The practical risks of mixing them

Beyond mood, combining alcohol with an antidepressant tends to amplify the downsides of both:

• You may feel more intoxicated. The same number of drinks can hit harder, leaving you more drunk, drowsy and dizzy than alcohol alone would.
• Heavier sedation. Many antidepressants cause some drowsiness. Add alcohol — also a sedative — and the combined effect can be much stronger and, at worst, dangerous.
• Worse coordination and judgement. The mix impairs reaction time, motor skills and decision-making more than drinking by itself, which makes driving and other focused tasks unsafe.
• Disrupted sleep. Alcohol might help you nod off, but it fragments sleep in the second half of the night — unhelpful when you're already managing low mood or anxiety.
• Missed doses. People who drink are more likely to skip their medication. Irregular use can stop an antidepressant working and bring on discontinuation symptoms.

Not all antidepressants are equal

How alcohol interacts depends heavily on which type of antidepressant you take. The table below is a general guide only — it is not a ranking of what's "safe".

What the health services say

Major health bodies land in much the same place: caution, and no green light. The UK's NHS states that drinking with some antidepressants is "not recommended" and can make you feel sleepy or dizzy. The Mayo Clinic warns that the combination can worsen depression, intensify side effects and impair the alertness needed to drive. And NSW Health's Your Room factsheet advises taking your medication regularly, avoiding alcohol while on antidepressants, and — if you're over 18 and do choose to drink — talking to your doctor about possible interactions first.

If you do choose to drink

Many people on long-term antidepressants will, at some point, want a drink at a celebration. If that's you, the harm-reduction basics apply — but they come second to a conversation with your prescriber, who can tell you how your specific medicine behaves:

• Ask your doctor or pharmacist about your exact medication before drinking — don't assume one antidepressant behaves like another.
• Never skip or stop a dose to "make room" for alcohol.
• If you drink, go slow, eat first and keep it modest — expect it to affect you more than usual.
• Don't drive or operate anything that needs full alertness; the impairment is greater than from alcohol alone.
• Notice how you feel in the following days. If drinking is flattening your mood or tempting you to skip doses, that's a sign to pull back and check in with your doctor.

Frequently asked questions

Can you drink alcohol while taking antidepressants?

There's no amount proven safe with every antidepressant, and health services generally advise against mixing the two. If you choose to drink, talk to your doctor or pharmacist about your specific medicine first.

What happens if you mix alcohol with an SSRI like Zoloft or Lexapro?

You may feel more drunk, drowsy and dizzy than usual, with worse coordination and judgement — and over time alcohol can undo the mood benefits the medication is meant to deliver.

Which antidepressants are most dangerous to mix with alcohol?

MAOIs are the riskiest, because tyramine in drinks like tap beer and some wines can spike blood pressure. Sedating antidepressants such as mirtazapine and tricyclics cause heavy drowsiness with alcohol.

Does alcohol stop antidepressants from working?

It can. Alcohol can deepen low mood, and drinking makes people more likely to miss doses — both of which can set back your recovery.

Can I skip my antidepressant so I can drink?

No. Skipping doses can trigger discontinuation symptoms and worsen depression. If drinking is a reason you're skipping doses, raise it with your doctor.