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Is There A Connection Between Mental Health And Addiction Near Duluth?
December 05, 2024
Have you ever wondered what triggers substance use disorders (SUD)? Finding the answer could help us stop and treat these disorders. Fortunately, current research is providing insights that increase our comprehension and refine care. Recent studies have found a compelling link between substance use and mental illness. If you grapple with a SUD, you could also be dealing with a co-occurring mental disorder. With this insight, you can find more effective treatment that addresses both mental health and addiction near Duluth.
What’s The Connection Between Mental Health And Substance Use Near Duluth?
In a recent study, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) estimated that approximately 17 million adults in the US have both a mental illness and a SUD. They also discovered that adults and teens with mental illnesses were more likely to use dependency-causing substances. This information reveals a significant connection between mental health and substance use in Duluth and all of the country. But why do mental health disorders cause substance use?
How Does Mental Illness Result In Substance Use?
It’s common knowledge that mental disorders can be challenging to cope with. If not managed adequately, your disorder can make you feel angry, despondent, confused, and frightened. You might even feel some distressing physical symptoms. This can occur whether you have been officially diagnosed with a mental illness or do not comprehend that you have one.
If a mental illness makes your life difficult, it’s no wonder you may have been pushed to use dependency-causing alcohol or drugs to cope. The chemicals make you feel better for a brief period. They could give you a “high” that feels good or minimize the discomfort you feel. Under their influence, you could feel more at ease and functional.
When you use dependency-causing substances to handle the symptoms of a mental health condition, it’s referred to as self-medicating. You could utilize these substances to feel temporarily happier, more energized, or less troubled. You could also take them to relieve physical pains and discomforts. Self-medication involves utilizing substances not recommended by a physician, such as illicit drugs or alcohol, as well as excessive use or misuse prescribed medicines.
Self-medication often starts inadvertently. Drinking too much alcohol or misusing drugs looks like a reprieve and a way of managing reality. Sadly, it’s difficult to stop using something that causes you to feel better. Your body and mind become reliant on those substances, and you can’t survive without them. What results is an endless loop of self-medication that might spiral out of hand and produce hazardous and destructive actions.
Grasping the origin of your substance use gives you a a place to begin your recovery. Once you understand that mental illness resides at the root of your alcohol or drug use, you can address both and have a greater opportunity for recovery.
Can Substance Use Affect Mental Health Too?
The effects of mental illnesses and substance use disorders are often cyclical. The chemicals in dependency-causing substances change brain chemistry. They can cause or intensify mental illnesses. The distress of being overwhelmed by addiction may also cause mental health concerns like anxiety and depression. As a response, you may depend on alcohol and drugs even more to get by, and the cycle begins again.
Why Treat Mental Health And Addiction Together?
Dealing with a substance use and mental health disorder might feel overwhelming, even hopeless. But digging into the cause of your substance use is crucial for lasting recovery. Once you understand what co-occurring disorder caused your substance use, you have a great foundation for treatment. Treating mental illness with therapy and prescription medicine empowers you to steer clear of addictive substances. Many skills you develop in therapy for managing mental health will help you stay sober, too. You’ll have more success managing your addiction when you deal with any foundational mental health conditions first.
Get Treatment For Substance Use Disorders And Mental Illness Near Duluth
If you are facing co-occurring addiction and mental health conditions, Evolve Recovery Center Duluth can help. Our expert staff are equipped to help you navigate the difficulties you experience with evidence-based treatment. Dial 470-348-5426 or submit our contact form to talk to 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.