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Is There A Connection Between Mental Health And Addiction Near Toms River?
December 05, 2024
Have you ever thought about what triggers substance use disorders (SUD)? Finding the answer could help us prevent and address these disorders. Fortunately, modern research is helping us understand substance use and manage it better. Recent studies have found a powerful bond between substance use and mental illness. If you grapple with a SUD, you might also have a co-occurring mental disorder. With this knowledge, you can find more worthwhile treatment that addresses both mental health and addiction near Toms River.
What’s The Connection Between Mental Health And Substance Use Near Toms River?
In a recent study, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) determined that about 17 million adults in the United States experience both a mental illness and a SUD. They also found that adults and adolescents with mental illnesses were more likely to use habit-forming substances. This evidence reveals a noteworthy connection between mental health and substance use in Toms River and throughout the country. But why do mental health disorders lead to substance use?
How Does Mental Illness Result In Substance Use?
It’s no secret that mental disorders can be challenging to live with. When not treated properly, your disorder can have you feeling confused, frightened, angry, and hopeless. You could even encounter some crippling physical symptoms. This can occur whether you have been officially diagnosed with a disorder or do not realize you have one.
If a mental illness makes your life difficult, it’s understandable you may have felt compelled to consume habit-forming alcohol or drugs to cope. The chemicals leave you feeling better temporarily. They might minimize the pain you feel or give you a “high” that feels good. When using, you could feel more at ease and capable.
When you use dependency-causing substances to handle the symptoms of a mental health condition, it is called self-medicating. You could use these substances to feel temporarily happier, more energized, or less distressed. You could also ingest them to deal with physical aches and pains. Self-medication encompasses utilizing substances not prescribed by a healthcare professional, such as illicit drugs or alcohol, as well as misuse or excessive use of prescriptions.
Self-medication typically begins accidentaly. Drinking too much alcohol or improperly using drugs looks like a release and a way of coping with reality. Unfortunately, it’s hard to stop taking something that causes you to feel better. Your body and mind become reliant on those chemicals, and you cannot get by without them. What results is a cycle of self-medication that can spiral out of hand and produce hazardous and harmful behaviors.
Recognizing the origin of your substance use provides a starting point for recovery. Once you understand that mental illness resides 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 illnesses and substance use disorders are frequently cyclical. The chemicals in addictive substances change neural pathways. They can lead to or aggravate mental illnesses. The stress of being overwhelmed by addiction can also prompt mental disorders like depression and anxiety. In response, you might depend on addictive substances even more to cope, and the cycle repeats.
Why Treat Mental Health And Addiction Together?
Confronting a substance use and mental illness may seem intimidating, even impossible. But delving into the cause of your substance use is vital for long-term recovery. Once you recognize what co-occurring disorder precipitated your drug or alcohol use, you have a great basis for treatment. Addressing mental disorders with therapy and approved medications puts you in a better frame of mind for abstaining from addictive substances. Many skills you work on in therapy for navigating mental health will serve you in maintaining sobriety, too. You’ll enjoy more success navigating your addiction when you improve any underlying mental health conditions first.
Get Help For Substance Use Disorders And Mental Illness Near Toms River
If you battle co-occurring addiction and mental health disorders, Evolve Recovery Center Toms River can guide you. Our qualified staff are equipped to help you manage the difficulties you face with proven treatment. Place a call to 732-629-9672 or fill out our contact form to converse with someone at once about our intake 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.