Substance Abuse and Mental Health Facilities in Elma, WA

Both substance abuse and mental illness tend to cause each other. For instance, if you live in Elma and you start using drugs or drinking alcohol excessively, there is a high risk that you might start displaying the signs and symptoms of a mental illness.

On the other hand, if you have been living with a mental health disorder, you might start abusing these substances to deal with the signs and symptoms of your disorder. This could later give rise to the development of a substance use disorder, or an addiction.

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

Obsessive compulsive disorder will cause you to suffer intense emotional and mental pain. As a result, this could cause you to turn to alcohol and drugs in a bid to self-medicate for the symptoms caused by this mental illness.

This is because it can be difficult to cope with the obsessions that often accompany OCD. However, self-medication will only provide you with relief in the short term. Over the long term, this could lead to repeated substance abuse whenever you experience unwanted urges and thoughts. With enough abuse and time, you will eventually find yourself living with a co-occurring substance use disorder over and above your obsessive compulsive disorder.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

In case you have been diagnosed with or have been living with post-traumatic stress disorder, this condition would change the chemical structure in the same way that substance abuse would. In many cases, these disorders might occur at the same time and continue feeding off each other unless you seek treatment.

This is because the same trauma that caused you to develop post-traumatic stress disorder could also trigger the development of a co-occurring substance use disorder or addiction. You can only overcome these disorders through a dual diagnosis treatment and rehabilitation program.

Although dual diagnosis treatment takes many different forms, you will mostly find that it is offered on an inpatient basis. This means that you will have to live in the recovery facility for a period of time - which could be anywhere between 30 and 90 days - or even longer in some instances.

The reason why you might benefit from inpatient treatment is because you will require a wide variety of round the clock rehabilitation services to manage both your substance abuse and addiction as well as any other co-occurring medical and mental health disorders that you have also been struggling with.