Alcohol use disorder (AUD) and major depressive disorder (MDD) are common psychiatric disorders associated with substantial social and economic costs. It has long been acknowledged that these disorders co-occur more frequently than would be expected by chance, but mechanisms underlying this comorbidity are unclear. Khantzian¹ has proposed that alcohol use to self-medicate negative affect plays a role in the observed association; other evidence suggests causation in the opposite direction,² with AUD increasing one’s risk of MDD, potentially through the neurobiological consequences of sustained heavy alcohol consumption. Biometric models suggest shared liability between disorders,³ in that a subset of factors influencing liability to one disorder independently influences liability to the other. These mechanisms are not mutually exclusive, even within an individual, although their implications for prevention, intervention, and treatment differ.

酒精使用障碍（AUD）和重度抑郁症（MDD）是常见的精神疾病，与大量的社会和经济成本有关。长期以来，人们已经认识到这些疾病的发生频率要比偶然发生的频率高，但是这种合并症的潜在机制尚不清楚。Khantzian ¹提出，酒精用于自我治疗的负面影响在观察到的联想中起一定作用。其他证据表明，因果关系是相反的，²澳元可能通过持续大量饮酒的神经生物学后果增加人患MDD的风险。生物特征识别模型表明疾病之间的共同责任，³因为影响一种疾病责任的因素的子集独立地影响另一种疾病的责任。尽管它们对预防，干预和治疗的意义不同，但即使在个体内部，这些机制也不是互斥的。