Unlike infection, depression is not curable in general. If you had an incurable infection, taking Tylenol and using band-aids might very well be a reasonable approach. Everything's a trade-off.
Everyone is different, but often after I sober up, I feel reasonably good for hours or days. Cured? No. As above, there is no cure.
A significant benefit of alcohol is that relief is more or less instant. That's good in itself. But it's also a useful lesson. Black moods suck, but they come and go, and the feeling that won't is just a feeling.
I don't care for analogies, but I'd liken booze to steroids. Harmful if taken in excess over long periods, but useful, even life-saving in some situations.
Some types of depression are curable. There is temporary depression and chronic depression (less curable). But I believe or hope that all depression is treatable.
Recommending alcohol for depression is dangerous because alcohol is a depressant, it might make you even more depressed. Not only that but it can lead to addiction and the creation of bad habits - to drink when you're depressed. Before you know it you might become a depressed alcoholic and you will have two behavioral issues to fight instead of one, and they will be compounded because if you ever take psychiatric drugs to aid your depression, alcohol will not mix well.
I've had two suicide attempts, several years apart. I thought my life was hopeless- had tons of different diagnoses from major depression to bipolar to borderline and lots of drugs (started ~13 and lasted for 10 years). I am really happy today. I think I was so depressed back then that I wasn't even capable of imagining a better future.
The thing that helped me the most was exercise. Exercise is a keystone habit that begins a gratuitous beneficial cycle. When I had enough energy after taking lots of baby steps, I decided to take ownership to improve my life and started exercising and training for a 5k using the couch to 5k program. The running tied in with my new love for stoicism helped me develop discipline. When you're able to run for 40 mins without stopping, you raise your pain threshold and increase your willpower. Plus you get the positive effects of natural dopamine, runners high. They talk about this in the book The Power of Habit but you can have one habit that kickstarts a chain of events. The exercise gave me energy, discipline, and confidence, that helped me find a partner. I had terrible social skills and major issues so therapy helped me navigate that and my partner gave me support, accountability, hope, and love.
Everyone is different, but often after I sober up, I feel reasonably good for hours or days. Cured? No. As above, there is no cure.
A significant benefit of alcohol is that relief is more or less instant. That's good in itself. But it's also a useful lesson. Black moods suck, but they come and go, and the feeling that won't is just a feeling.
I don't care for analogies, but I'd liken booze to steroids. Harmful if taken in excess over long periods, but useful, even life-saving in some situations.