Dealing with co-occurring ailments? Discover how to handle dependence when you are also dealing with depression, anxiety, or another mental health issue.
The connection between substance abuse and mental wellbeing
For those who have a substance abuse problem and a psychological health problem like depression, bipolar disorder, or stress, it’s referred to as a co-occurring disease or dual diagnosis. Managing alcohol abuse, alcoholism, or drug dependence is not simple, and it is even harder once you’re also fighting with mental health issues.
In co-occurring ailments, the mental health problem and the alcohol or drug dependence have their own unusual symptoms which may get in the way of your capacity to function at school or work, keep a secure home life, manage life’s issues, and connect with other people. To make the situation more complex, the co-occurring ailments also influence each other. When a mental health issue goes untreated, the substance abuse problem normally gets worse. When alcohol or drug misuse raises, mental health issues usually grow also.
Co-occurring substance abuse Issues and mental health problems are more prevalent than a lot of men and women realize. Based on reports published in the Journal of the American Medical Association:
Approximately 50 percent of people with acute mental disorders are influenced by substance abuse.
37 percent of alcohol abusers and 53% of drug abusers have a minimum of one serious mental disease.
While substance abuse Issues and mental health problems do not get better if they are ignored–in actuality, they’re most likely to get worse–it is important to understand that you don’t need to feel like this. There are things you can do in order to overcome your demons, fix your connections, and get on the path to recovery. With the ideal support, self-indulgent, and therapy, you can defeat a co-occurring disease, recover your awareness of self-control, and get your own life back on course.
What comes first: Substance abuse or the emotional health problem?
Substance abuse and mental health disorders for example depression and stress are closely connected, although one does not necessarily directly trigger another. Abusing substances like marijuana or methamphetamine can lead to prolonged psychotic reactions, whilst alcohol may make depression and stress symptoms worse. Additionally:
Alcohol and drugs are often utilized to self-medicate the signs of mental health issues. Folks frequently abuse drugs or alcohol to alleviate the signs of an undiagnosed mental illness, to deal with difficult emotions, or to temporarily alter their disposition. Regrettably, self-medicating with alcohol or drugs causes unwanted effects and in the future frequently worsens the symptoms that they originally helped to alleviate.
Alcohol and drug abuse may raise the inherent risk for Psychological ailments. Since mental health issues are brought on by an intricate interplay of genetics, the environment, and other things, it is hard to say if harmful substances ever directly triggers them. But if you’re at risk for a mental health problem, abusing drugs or alcohol can push you over the border. By way of instance, there’s some evidence that individuals who misuse opioid painkillers have been at higher risk for depression and heavy cannabis use has been associated with an increased risk for schizophrenia.
