Substance Abuse and Mental Health Facilities in Carlsbad, CA

If you live in Carlsbad and you start abusing drugs and alcohol, there is a high risk that you might develop a co-occurring mental health disorder. On the other hand, if you have an undiagnosed mental illness, there is a likelihood that you might start abusing these substances to self-medicate the symptoms of your mental illness.

Research studies show that substance abuse and mental health disorders tend to have some underlying causes in common. These might include changes in the composition of the brain, early exposure to traumatic and stressful events, and genetic vulnerabilities.

Schizophrenia

According to research studies, schizophrenia tends to co-occur or happen at the same time as substance abuse and addiction. In fact, more than 50 percent of the people who live with schizophrenia also abuse drugs and drink alcohol excessively.

You might start using these substances to self-medicate the signs and symptoms of your mental health disorder. These substances might also prove effective at alleviating the feelings of depression and anxiety linked to schizophrenia

However, this will only aggravate your problems in the long term. This is particularly due to the heightened risk of developing a substance use disorder as a result of your pre-existing mental illness.

Suicidal Behavior

Of all the risk factors for suicidal behavior and ideation, only depression is more closely linked with substance abuse and addiction. If you are struggling with addiction, you are about 6 times as likely to make a suicidal attempt at one point or the other in your life.

Research also shows that veteran men who are addicted to drugs or alcohol have twice as high a likelihood of becoming victims of suicide while women with a similar disorder have 6.5 times as high a likelihood to engage in suicidal behavior.

It is recommended that you seek dual diagnosis treatment to manage all of the disorders that you have been struggling with simultaneously so that one does not cause the other to recur in the future.

This is especially true if you have been diagnosed with both substances abuse as well as another co-occurring mental health or medical disorders. Although these disorders tend to occur at the same time in many cases, it is possible to overcome them. To be able to do so, you will have to go through a highly integrated dual diagnosis treatment program.