What Is The Link Between Mental Health And Addiction?
Substance abuse problems and mental health conditions are closely linked, and if you suffer from addiction issues, it is likely that there are some underlying mental health conditions that you need to deal with as well. If you are going to be able to manage your addiction, it is important that you understand the link between substance abuse problems and mental health issues.
Self Medicating
When people are suffering from a mental health issue and they are not seeking professional treatment, like talking therapies or medication, they will often find ways to self medicate. Sometimes, people resort to things like comfort eating to deal with mental health issues, but more often than not, alcohol and drugs are used as a way to manage depression and anxiety. Alcohol and drugs can temporarily boost your mood or give you relief from your anxieties. Unfortunately, people that resort to self medicating find that they soon become reliant on it. Alcohol and drugs will make mental health issues worse over time, so people start abusing drugs and alcohol more often to manage it, and it becomes a vicious cycle. This is often how addictions develop in the first place.
Making Symptoms More Severe
Even though a lot of people use drugs and alcohol as a way to manage the symptoms of their mental health conditions, it actually makes them more severe in the long run. Long term alcohol abuse, for example, increases feelings of depression. Alcohol can also interfere with mental health medications and make them less effective, so even if you are seeking treatment, addiction issues can make it harder to manage your mental health condition. Most people find that if they check in to a facility like the Lake Wellness Center and get a grip on their substance abuse issues, their mental health is a lot easier to manage. Even if you do not have an addiction, it is a good idea to stay away from alcohol and drugs if you are struggling with your mental health.
Increasing The Risk Of Underlying Disorders
If you already have a mental health condition, alcohol and drug abuse will make the symptoms worse. But addiction can also increase the risk of underlying mental health conditions in people that previously did not have them. For example, excessive marijuana use has been linked to an increased risk of psychosis and opioid abuse has been linked to increased risk of developing depression. That means that people that were perfectly healthy before their addiction could now have a long term risk of mental health conditions, even after they beat their addiction and stop abusing alcohol and drugs.
The relationship between addiction and mental health is a complex one and more studies need to be carried out before we understand it fully. But it is clear that addiction can increase your chances of developing mental health conditions and make symptoms worse in people that already have them. Mental health problems can also be a trigger for addiction in people that use alcohol and drugs to self medicate.