Understanding the Connection Between Mental Health and Addiction 

The connection between mental health and addiction is a deep one—because alcohol, and other addictions, are a mental health issue. Addiction is a disease that alters the brain’s physical structures and chemical pathways. Most mental illnesses have similar physical and chemical components, even if they aren’t fully understood. 

Because addiction is a form of mental illness, the same genetic tendencies or life situations cause other disorders. These common “risk factors” lead many individuals who suffer from multiple mental illnesses, also known as a dual-diagnosis. With“dual diagnosis,” addiction makes mental illness worse, and vice versa. The patient spirals as they self-medicate, leading to potentially fatal outcomes. 

Fortunately, many medical providers who understand this inextricable link provide specialized therapies and medications for dual diagnoses. Treating one without the other is rarely effective, especially when the symptoms of one cause the other. 

Dual Diagnosis and a Vicious Cycle 

Roughly 35% of US adults with a mental disorder also have a substance use disorder. This co-occurrence happens because the two share “risk factors.” Risk factors are any attribute of their environment that increases the likelihood of developing these diseases. A mental illness is also a risk factor for substance use disorder, and vice versa. 

Because risk factors increase the odds of an addiction or a mental illness, and one increases the odds of developing the other, they often co-occur. Worse, once both manifest, they feed one another. Patients turn to drugs or alcohol to cope with the symptoms of their mental illness, drowning painful feelings with temporary highs. Alternatively,  the legal, social, and health consequences of substance use can lead  to mood disorders like anxiety and depression in high risk individuals. 

Shared Risk Factors 

Some mental health illnesses, like ADHD, can change the brain the same way drug cravings do. Physical changes from prolonged trauma and stress alter certain regulatory brain structures. People with damaged or impaired structures are at higher risk for developing both substance use disorders and mental illnesses. This phenomenon is especially common in minority groups who suffer discrimination in addition to the stressors of everyday life.

Traumatic events and stress from strained home lives during childhood are also factors. Other risk factors include a family history indicating a genetic predisposition to addiction or mental health disorders. 

Mutual Contributions 

A combination of these conditions can exacerbate one another. Many people drink or use drugs to cope with painful emotions caused by mood disorders. Other associations are much less well-understood; new research suggests there may be a link between cannabis use and schizophrenia but more research is required.

Mental illnesses, such as depression, reduce serotonin levels, a vital mood-management neurotransmitter. Drug abuse also lowers serotonin, putting the patient at risk for higher drug tolerance and depression. Alcohol and certain drugs reduce antidepressant and mood stabilizer efficacy, which limits depressive treatment efficacy. 

Self-Medication: Recognizing the Signs of a Dual Diagnosis

Using addictive substances to cope with painful feelings of depression, anxiety, or traumatic memories is a key indicator of dual diagnosis. This process is called self-medication. Temporary highs suppress emotional pain for a short time, but some people become unable to function without the substance at all. People relying on drugs to cope with their mental illnesses should seek formal treatment for a dual diagnosis, rather than treating their addiction and mental health independently. 

Why Treating Dual Diagnosis is Important 

Because one condition intensifies or causes the other, the other, a provider who treats only one ultimately fails to treat either. With one condition remaining, the other re-emerges. 

Unfortunately, the overlapping risk factors make dual diagnoses difficult to identify and treat. Dual diagnosis symptoms tend to be “more persistent, severe, and resistant to treatment” than either disease alone. An “integrated treatment” combines therapies and medications for each condition and targets both concerns simultaneously. 

Therapies 

Therapy, especially contemporary cognitive behavioral therapy, works well for both addiction and mental illness. However, any therapy program must consider both health concerns at all times. Cognitive behavior therapy for depression that fails to address alcohol abuse as a coping mechanism will not lead to successful recovery. Similarly, group therapy for alcohol use disorder may not be effective if it does not recognize how depression, anxiety, or trauma influence the attendees’ reasons for drinking. 

Medications 

Untreated dual diagnoses interfere with medication-based psychiatric treatment. Addictive drugs make certain medications less effective, and may interact with others in dangerous ways: 

• Opiates and antidepressants cause dangerous serotonin syndrome
• Alcohol dehydrates the body, which may cause lithium toxicity if a patient is using both for psychiatric treatment  
• Antipsychotics and amphetamines decrease each drugs’ efficacy, increasing the risk of overdose 
• SSRIs and cocaine, when taken together, cause bleeding in the brain  

Providers who don’t specialize in dual diagnosis treatment may not understand the gravity of these chemical interactions. They do not have the resources to prescribe safe, effective alternatives. 

What Dual Diagnosis Treatment Looks Like 

Reputable dual-diagnosis professionals can treat the complex interactions between patients’ mental health conditions and their addictions. Specialized counselors may provide medications that treat more than one disorder, and form support groups made up of other individuals struggling with a dual diagnosis.  

Programs often utilize therapies used for mental illness, such as cognitive behavioral therapy, in tandem with traditional 12-step programs. Patients participate in group therapies surrounded by peers with similar experiences and diagnoses, an experience public support groups can’t provide. 

Every treatment program is different. Other potential solutions include detox and withdrawal symptom management, education about the medical interactions between disorders, and guidance through lifestyle changes. 

SoberMind Recovery Offers Specialized Treatment For Dual-Diagnosis 

Los Angeles is home to many people who need help. Dual diagnosis treatment is one of the many services SoberMind Recovery offers to those in need. Other available services include programs for vulnerable groups, such as its LGBTQ+ sober living program. Its staff are experts in cognitive behavioral therapy—a powerful tool in dual diagnosis that treats the mood disorders that accompany addiction. 

SoberMind Recovery dedicates itself to the long-term results that only come with holistic treatment. Reach out to decide which of its programs, inpatient or outpatient, are right for you.