Is There A Connection Between Mental Health And Addiction Near Roswell?
December 05, 2024
Have you ever questioned what triggers substance use disorders (SUD)? Understanding the answer could enable us to stop and address these disorders. Thankfully, current research is helping us grasp substance use and handle it better. Recent studies have identified a strong bond between substance use and mental illness. If you grapple with a SUD, you might also be dealing with a co-occurring mental disorder. By being aware of this, you can find more worthwhile treatment that manages both mental health and addiction near Roswell.
What’s The Connection Between Mental Health And Substance Use Near Roswell?
In a recent report, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) determined that approximately 17 million adults in the U.S. have both a mental illness and a SUD. They also found that adults and teens with mental illnesses were more inclined to consume habit-forming substances. This information indicates a significant connection between mental health and substance use in Roswell and the rest of the country. But why do mental health disorders prompt substance use?
How Does Mental Illness Cause Substance Use?
It’s no secret that mental disorders are typically hard to cope with. When not managed adequately, your disorder can have you feeling angry, hopeless, confused, and fearful. You could even encounter some distressing physical symptoms. This will happen whether you have been formally diagnosed with a disorder or do not know you have one.
If a mental condition makes your life challenging, it’s not surprising you may have been pushed to take dependency-causing alcohol or drugs to manage. The chemicals cause you to feel better temporarily. They might reduce the agony you feel or give you a “high” that makes you feel good. When consuming, you might feel more at ease and functional.
When you consume dependency-causing substances to offset the symptoms of a mental health condition, it’s referred to as self-medicating. You may use these substances to feel temporarily at ease, more energetic, or less anxious. You might also take them to relieve physical ailments. Self-medication encompasses using substances not ordered by a physician, such as alcohol or illicit drugs, as well as misuse or excessive use of prescribed medicines.
Self-medication usually starts inadvertently. Drinking too much alcohol or excessively using drugs looks like a reprieve and a way of managing reality. Regrettably, it’s hard to stop ingesting something that causes you to feel better. Your brain and body become dependent on those chemicals, and you can’t function without them. What follows is a pattern of self-medication that might spiral out of hand and lead to harmful and dangerous actions.
Grasping the root cause of your substance use offers a a place to begin your recovery. Once you realize that mental illness exists at the foundation of your drug or alcohol use, you can treat both and have a stronger opportunity for recovery.
Can Substance Use Influence Mental Health Too?
The influences of mental disorders and substance use disorders can be cyclical. The chemicals in habit-forming substances modify neural pathways. They can lead to or intensify mental illnesses. The distress of losing your life to addiction can also cause mental health concerns like depression and anxiety. In response, you might turn to alcohol and drugs even more to get by, and the cycle begins again.
Why Address Mental Health And Addiction Together?
Facing a substance use and mental health condition might seem daunting, even hopeless. But getting to the origin of your substance use is essential for enduring recovery. Once you realize what co-occurring disorder caused your drug or alcohol use, you have a solid foundation for treatment. Treating mental illness with therapy and prescription medicine places you in a better place mentally for abstaining from addictive substances. The skills you work on in therapy for handling mental health will help you remain sober, too. You’ll be more successful in managing your addiction when you deal with any foundational mental health conditions first.
Get Treatment For Substance Use Disorders And Mental Illness Near Roswell
If you struggle with co-occurring addiction and mental health conditions, The Counseling Center At Roswell can help. Our expert staff are equipped to help you manage the challenges you experience with proven treatment. Dial 470-444-4280 or fill out our contact form to speak with someone at once about our admissions process.
Author
Born in Stratford-upon-Avon, England, Stephen Cooke brings over a decade of experience in international and American healthcare communications to Praesum. A prolific writer and published author, Stephen has dedicated his career to promoting health and recovery across various organizations.
