Anxiety and Depression are the two mental health disorders that are most often associated with addiction. Anxiety–the runaway “fight or flight” response–can lead to self-medicating to calm the nerves that then oftentimes leads to addictive substance or alcohol use. Similarly, feeling depressed also very often leads to the self-medicating escape of substance or alcohol abuse.
Both depression and anxiety can act as coping mechanisms when the body’s nervous system is overwhelmed. Anxiety keeps the system in an emotional “ON” state and depression keeps the system in an emotional “OFF” state. In many cases, these may be a response to unsettled trauma.
Anxiety and depression tend to offer short-term relief when it feels like the world is closing in on you. If they take over, however, and you can’t function (or even get out of bed), it’s important to get help. You may realize that depression and anxiety run your life. You may know you need to get to the heart of the matter – you’re just not sure where to start. Let Omega Recovery help; our well-trained and caring team of clinicians can help you work through the pain, develop the tools and make the lifestyle changes that you need to live a healthier, happier life.
