Substance Abuse and Mental Health Facilities in Oak Ridge, TN

Dual diagnosis is a common occurrence in Oak Ridge, as in the rest of the country. Although this condition covers a wide variety of substance abuse and mental health disorders, suffering from a particular mental illness could increase your susceptibility to abuse drugs and alcohol.

Examples of these mental illness that could eventually lead to addiction include major depressive disorder, anxiety disorders, mood disorders, schizophrenia, personality disorders, conduct disorders, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and suicidal ideation and actions, and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Psychosis

Research studies show a link between substance abuse and psychosis. Substance abuse occurs when you take any illicit drug, use prescription medications without a valid prescription or outside the prescribing instructions of your doctor, or taking legal substances in excess.

SAMHSA - the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration - reports that addiction tends to occur often alongside psychosis. This is because some of the symptoms of substance abuse often resemble those that occur when you are struggling with this mental health disorder. If you are diagnosed with psychosis, you may also turn to these substances and eventually find yourself dealing with a clinical addiction.

Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is linked to imbalances in the chemicals that are found in the brain - including but not limited to dopamine, serotonin, and glutamate. These imbalances will affect the response of your brain to external stimuli. As a result, you can experience hallucinations and hypersensitivity - some of the common symptoms of this mental health disorder.

There are also differences in the structure of the brain occurring with schizophrenia. These differences include enlarged ventricles (the cavities at the core of the brain that are filled with fluid), decreased gray matter, and decreased or increased activity in certain parts of the brain.

There are highly qualified dual diagnosis treatment programs available today. These programs are suitable if you have been diagnosed with both a mental health disorder as well as a substance use disorder or an addiction.

The treatment services provided by these programs are highly effective and integrated. This is because you need them to manage all the disorders that you have been struggling with at the same time so that none of them aggravates the other or causes you to suffer a relapse or a recurrence of any of these disorders.