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If you have been diagnosed with a mental health diagnosis and substance abuse disorder, you may recognize the difficult position you are in when it comes to treating them. If left untreated, how can mental health impact your use and how can use impact your mental health? The simple answer is: very strongly, but the more complex answer is about understanding exactly how the 2 can impact one another.

When it comes to addiction, there are many pieces to the puzzle to begin to treat your problems. Some of the things that can be addressed and may need to be worked through are: coping skills, past trauma, abuse, relationships, family, friends, behaviors, thought processes and mental health. Without gaining an understanding of these many areas and how to treat them, your addiction will continue to be negatively impacted.

Mental health symptoms are often made worse or exacerbated while using substances. Due to this, if left untreated mental health can greatly impact your continued use and abuse of drugs and alcohol. Without properly diagnosing and treating your mental health concerns, your drug and alcohol use may never be properly handled. As your mental health symptoms go in to “remission,” your use may appear to diminish. You might begin to think that everything is okay and you don’t need to worry about the mental health any longer. However, because your mental health was not properly treated it can worsen and your substance use increases again.

This creates an ongoing pattern of your mental health continuing to negatively impact your ability to maintain abstinence and recovery. On the other side, without giving your addiction enough credit and treating it appropriately, it can hurt your mental health stability. Because addiction in and of itself causes so much chaos in your life, it can undo all the hard work you have put in to taking care of your mental health services.

By not treating your addiction i.e. recognizing the powerlessness, making changes to people, places and things, etc, you are allowing for the possibility that your addiction will negatively impact your mental health. Once this process begins, you will be fighting to regain control of both your mental health and addiction.

However, all of this can be avoided if you allow yourself to heal in all areas of addiction as discussed in the beginning of this article. You must treat your addiction and mental health together, it doesn’t necessarily matter which one is primary but rather that both are treated per what will best help you and your future.

When struggling with addiction and mental health, it can feel as though your Higher Power has left you. Oftentimes when our lives are chaotic and we are trying to find stability, we turn away from our faith rather than towards it. It is important to recognize that your faith can continue to grow even through your trial and tribulations. The question often, is how do you maintain that faith and belief when it feels that your world is falling apart?

If you have a connection to your church or house of worship, this will be a good place to start with keeping your faith while going through your struggles. Your pastor, worship leader, etc can help you to work through why your faith is wavering and how to get back to where you want to be. These men and women will also be able to direct to you to literature you can read to help you study and identify why your Higher Power has not deserted you. They will also be able to connect you with people perhaps struggling with your same or similar problems.

If turning towards a house of worship does not feel it will work or has not benefitted you, you can look in to faith based inspiration. This may be as simple as slogans such as “Let go, Let God,” everything happens for a reason, “If He brings you to it, He will bring you through it” and more. These are subtle and simple reminders that can help you to get through your day to day grind. You can also turn towards story and anecdotes that support having faith even in tough times. Some examples are: Footsteps in the sand, “Chicken Soup for the Recovering Soul” and many more. These stories provide comfort in knowing while you are struggling, you are never left alone.

Lastly, you can turn towards AA/NA communities to continue to gain strength in your faith while dealing with your addiction. The 12 steps incorporate a higher power, many slogans including the once mentioned above and real like stories of people coping with dual disorders. 12 step meetings and community rely heavily on faith in uncertain times and through sponsorship, you can also find support to work through your daily struggle. Through this community, you will also garner support people to call when you are struggling and need someone to talk to.

At the end of the day, your faith is what has carried you this far and continuing to turn towards it in times of stress will benefit you. It is always important to remember to turn for help even when you are struggling because you are never alone. There is always help to anyone who seeks it out. Never give up and never stop searching for what will work for you. Your faith can grow in times of distress if you allow yourself to do so.

When it comes to treating addiction and mental health, there are many approaches. There is no one guaranteed way of treating dual disorders and depending on your circumstances you will determine your needs. You can incorporate therapy with outpatient/inpatient treatment, therapy alone, therapy, outpatient/inpatient, medication management and so many other combinations. Today we discuss how adding in medication management can benefit your ongoing recovery.

When we discuss medication management we are talking about Suboxone, Methadone, Naltrexone, Vivitrol, Antabuse and more. These medications each serve a different purpose, but can be added to your plan of recovery as one more piece to your treatment. Suboxone and Methadone are typically used orally and can be prescribed as a daily dosing in an outpatient center or take home prescriptions. Vivitrol is given in a shot form that lasts up to 30 days and is not abuseable in any way. Antabuse must be taken regularly in order to provide the needed effect when the user goes to drink.

These medications are not “cures” or quick fixes to treating substance abuse and mental health however. Often people believe that by using medication management that it enough. This could not be further from the truth. Medication is used to treat your symptoms, but it still does not fix the underlying cause of your addiction and mental health concerns. Medication will be used in conjunction with other treatment methods to provide you with a personalized and well-rounded plan for recovery. These medications will be closely monitored by a physical or prescriber to ensure you are on a correct dose and it is benefitting you.

By also working a plan of recovery that includes therapy and medication for mental health as needed along with treatment for your addiction, you will have a plan for longstanding recovery. Once again, it is important to recognize that the medications won’t “fix” anything. You must still do the work to gain the rewards and this will include ongoing recovery maintenance through sober supports, healthy coping skills, doctor, and therapy appointments and so much more.

So often in addiction, we want the immediate gratification answer and recovery does not have one of those. It is going to require ongoing effort, work, time, and patience on your end of things. Medication will only be a bonus to your plan. Remember each of these medications while serving its purpose, is not a standalone solution. Using them as such will only work for so long as their use is typically to stave off cravings and they are used as maintenance medications.