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Is There A Connection Between Mental Health And Addiction Near Orlando?
December 05, 2024
Have you ever thought about what causes substance use disorders (SUD)? Finding the answer could help us stop and treat these disorders. Thankfully, current research is providing insights that increase our understanding and refine treatment. Recent studies have discovered a powerful link between substance use and mental illness. If you struggle with a SUD, you may also be facing a co-occurring mental disorder. With this understanding, you can pursue more beneficial treatment that manages both mental health and addiction near Orlando.
What’s The Connection Between Mental Health And Substance Use Near Orlando?
In a recent study, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) estimated that approximately 17 million adults in the United States experience both a mental illness and a SUD. They also discovered that adults and adolescents with mental illnesses were more likely to consume habit-forming substances. This evidence indicates a noteworthy connection between mental health and substance use in Orlando and throughout the country. But how can mental health disorders prompt substance use?
How Does Mental Illness Cause Substance Use?
It’s well known that mental disorders can be challenging to deal with. If not addressed adequately, your disorder can make you feel miserable, angry, fearful and confused. You may even encounter some debilitating physical symptoms. This will happen whether you have been formally diagnosed with a condition or do not realize you have one.
If a mental condition makes your life difficult, it’s no wonder you may have felt compelled to take dependency-causing substances to cope. The chemicals cause you to feel temporarily better. They may provide a “high” that makes you feel good or dull the pain you experience. Under their influence, you may feel more capable and normal.
When you consume addictive substances to manage 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 energized, or less troubled. You could also ingest them to alleviate physical aches and pains. Self-medication includes utilizing substances not prescribed by a doctor, such as illegal drugs or alcohol, as well as overusing or misusing prescriptions.
Self-medication typically starts accidentaly. Drinking too much alcohol or misusing drugs may seem like a release and a way of coping with reality. Unfortunately, it’s difficult to cease ingesting something that causes you to feel better. Your body and brain become dependent on those chemicals, and you are unable to get by without them. What comes next is a cycle of self-medication that can spiral out of control and lead to harmful and hazardous behaviors.
Grasping the root cause of your substance use gives you a a place to begin your recovery. Once you understand that mental illness exists at the core of your drug or alcohol use, you can address both and have a stronger chance at recovery.
Can Substance Use Impact Mental Health Too?
The influences of mental conditions and substance use disorders can be cyclical. The chemicals in addictive substances alter brain pathways. They can trigger or worsen mental illnesses. The strain of losing your life to addiction might also prompt mental disorders like anxiety and depression. As a response, you may turn to drugs and alcohol even more to manage, and the cycle repeats.
Why Treat Mental Health And Addiction Together?
Facing a substance use and mental health condition could sound overwhelming, even impossible. But delving into the cause of your substance use is crucial for lasting recovery. Once you realize what co-occurring disorder precipitated your substance use, you have a great starting point for treatment. Treating mental conditions with therapy and prescription medicine places you in a better place mentally for abstaining from addictive substances. Many skills you work on in therapy for handling mental health will help you remain sober, too. You’ll be more successful in navigating your addiction when you deal with any underlying mental health issues first.
Get Help For Substance Use Disorders And Mental Illness Near Orlando
If you struggle with co-occurring addiction and mental illness, Evolve Recovery Center Orlando is here for you. Our qualified staff are equipped to help you manage the challenges you experience with research-backed treatment. Call 407-305-3458 or complete our contact form to talk to 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.