Depression Can Lead to Drug and Alcohol Addiction

Time seems to drag on and on. Your negative thoughts are starting to take on a life of their own. Once you realize what’s happening, you try to disconnect yourself from the pessimism and involve yourself in something else. It doesn’t work – your mind is drowning in sad self-loathing. As the days add up and the depression grinds on, you begin to lose hope and just don’t want to deal with it anymore. You need to make it stop right now.  This is the critical moment when you may launch a drug or alcohol addiction.

Depression Involves Despair and Mental Exhaustion

As you can see from the above example, depression can be an easy forerunner to a full-blown addiction. Not everyone with depression turns to drugs and alcohol. In my professional work and personal experience with depression, I can say that with authority. But I certainly understand how a person can get to that point. The depression can become unbearable and relentless some days. You may be able to fight it for a while, but it’s so exhausting. Depression can make a person feel physically exhausted anyway, and mentally you aren’t far behind.

Despair is often the turning point. After days, months, even years of putting up with depression and seeing little improvement, it’s easy to give up and assume that nothing will make it any better. And as long as it doesn’t seem to be going anywhere, blocking it out may seem like the only choice left.

Addiction Will Likely Need Professional Drug Treatment

Of course, this turns away from some more obvious sounding options like telling a loved one or talking to a doctor. However, the depressed mind doesn’t use typical healthy logic. It’s highly influenced by a person’s
overworked emotional state. Emotions are in charge of a depressed person’s life, something they aren’t equipped to do. Fears and exaggerated assumptions take the place of logical self-care choices.

If a depressed person takes the steps toward a drug addiction, they will likely need some form of dual diagnosis drug treatment to get better. It can be difficult enough for a person with a drug addiction or depression to lead a healthy life. And on occasion, people can work through these issues without formal drug treatment or counseling. When a person has both an addiction and depression together, the odds are very slim that they can become sober and manage their depression on their own.

Drug Treatment For Addiction and Depression

Addiction and depression are such a powerful combination. They feed off each other and play into each other in complex ways. Fortunately, dual diagnosis drug treatment is available around the United States and in many other countries. Recent developments in research support treating these two issues at the same time. This approach gives the addict the best chance at symptom relief and better prevention for relapse. If you fear that you or someone you know is headed down this path, contact a local drug rehab center today to ask questions and get help.