Substance Abuse and Mental Health Facilities in Verndale, MN

If you live in Verndale 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.

Suicidal Behavior

If you are addicted to drugs and alcohol, it is important that you watch out of the typical signs and symptoms of suicidal behavior. Everyone who develops suicidal ideation and contemplates taking their own life will be dramatically different. However, the warning signs that these people exhibit tend to be related or interlinked.

That said, you might have been displaying many of the classic warning signs of suicide for a long time without making any attempts to take your own life. Even so, it is recommended that you seek help immediately you observe these warning signs of suicidal behavior especially if you are also struggling with addiction.

Depression

Although it is normal to experience highs and lows all through life, if you are depressed, this condition is likely to continue unabated for months or even years on end. Unless you seek professional treatment, the condition might even remain untreated for the rest of your life.

However, you might start abusing drugs and alcohol to self-medicate the symptoms of your depression. When this happens, you might develop a substance use disorder - or an addiction - much faster than you would have if you were not struggling with the mental health disorder.

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.