If you are drug addicted and have mental health issue such as bipolar disorder, depression, schizophrenia, anxiety, or posttraumatic disorder, that is what is referred to as a dual diagnosis. Many people with a mental health illness try to treat themselves with drugs. The National Alliance on Mental Illness has found that at least 50% of the drug users in this country suffer from one form of mental illness or another. There are certain types of people who are more susceptible to dual diagnosis, including military veterans, the poor, and men in general. Any relationship between a drug habit and a mental illness is a complex one. In the Los Angeles area there are drug rehab centers that specialize in dual diagnoses.
The Relationship between Substance Abuse and Mental Illness
- First you will find the people who began using drugs as a way to cope with either trauma or a form of mental illness such as anxiety. When they start to feel anxious or depressed they find that getting high in one form or another makes them feel better, at least temporarily, and they think that they found a magic cure. What they don’t understand, at least in time, is that they have only exacerbated the situation by bringing in addiction into their life.
- Then you’ll find the people who have absolutely no prior history of mental illness until they begin abusing drugs. It may happen the first time or the 15th time, but somewhere in their psyche they were probably at risk for some form of mental illness and the drugs produced a psychic break.
- When it comes to drugs and underlying mental illness, the situation can become dire very rapidly. A depressed person under the influence of drugs could consider or even commit suicide. Say you have a person who suffers from severe anxiety attacks and under the influence of LSD, she suffers a complete and total break from reality,
Dual-diagnosis-help.com has staff that is experienced. They will treat you with dignity and heal in a judgment free atmosphere.
