Addiction and Mental Health Help

Mental health is an often overlooked yet vitally important part of overall health. Many people don’t give it much thought until they experience a mental health issue such as anxiety, depression or substance misuse. If you or someone you know is struggling with a mental health issue, it’s important to stay informed and seek professional help to get better. Here’s what you need to know about mental health.

What is Mental Health?

Mental health refers to a person’s emotional, psychological, and social wellbeing. It includes their ability to think rationally, make sound decisions, cope with change, maintain relationships, and understand and control their emotions. Mental health is determined by a variety of factors, including how you cope with stress, family history, life experiences, and even biological changes in the brain.

Mental Health Symptoms

When a person’s mental health is not in a healthy state, they may experience changes in their behavior, thinking, and emotions. Common symptoms of mental health issues include feeling sad or overwhelmed all the time, thoughts of suicide or self-harm, changes in sleeping and eating habits, difficulty concentrating, withdrawal from friends or activities, and feelings of hopelessness or helplessness.

Types of Mental Health Issues

Mental health issues are classified within several major categories, such as anxiety disorders, depression, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia. Other common conditions include PTSD, OCD, borderline personality disorder, addiction, and eating disorders. Some people with mental health issues also struggle with multiple mental health conditions simultaneously.

Treatment

The treatment of mental health issues varies greatly depending on the individual and their diagnosis. Therapies such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), relaxation techniques, and stress-management can often help. In some cases, medication may be prescribed to help reduce symptoms. Furthermore, it’s important to foster supportive relationships with friends, family, and healthcare professionals to ensure the patient is receiving the best possible care.

Living with Mental Health

The key to living well with mental health is to take your condition seriously and seek professional help when needed. Make sure to discuss any medications or treatment plans with your doctor, and stick to the treatment plan given. It’s also a good idea to keep track of your progress and practice healthy habits such as eating a balanced diet, getting enough sleep, and engaging in regular physical activity.

Having mental health issues can be challenging, but it is possible to live a full and happy life. By understanding mental health and taking care of your own needs, you can manage your condition and maintain a good quality of life. Don’t hesitate to reach out for help if needed.

Your mental health has a great influence on your behavior, feelings, and emotions. Additionally, it determines how you deal with challenges, stress, and other aspects of life.  

Therefore, it is necessary to pay good attention to your mental health just the way you care for your physical health.

Here are some vital health tips to give you a better life

Surround yourself with positively-minded people

People who have good individuals around them are more likely to have sound mental health than those who don’t have such people. Look out for people who are positive and goal-oriented so that they can directly or indirectly influence you.

Learn how to manage stress

Knowing how to deal with stress goes a long way in improving your mental health. You can begin by learning to take breaks from work and focus on self-care. When you prioritize your physical health, it has a positive effect on your mental health.

Additionally, you can apply other health tips like exercising regularly, eating a nutritious diet, sleeping frequently, etc.

Set realistic goals

Another way to keep your mental health in shape is to avoid setting far-fetched goals. When you set realistic goals, it is advisable to write down the steps you will take to achieve these goals. Ensure your goals are SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound) ones.

Take a break

Learning how to take a break from work and other sources of stress is one of the ways to improve your mental health.

You need to realize that you can’t work round the clock each day and still achieve the same level of productivity. To remain at your best, consider taking a break by going on a vacation or spending some time alone from any serious commitment.

If you feel that your mental health is not in great shape, now is the best time to reach out to a mental health counselor. They will help you uncover the root cause of your situation and proffer solutions that will help your mental health thrive in the long run.

Many people struggle with mental health problems, but they are unaware of what they are facing. This is why most of them are not proactive when it comes to seeking help for their challenges.

In this post, you will learn the common signs of a mental health problem.

Feelings of worry or anxiety

It is normal for us to feel worried or anxious from time to time, due to the different issues that life brings our way. However, when these feelings become regular, it is one of the signs of a mental health problem. It is important to mention that some symptoms accompany some of these signs.

They are palpitations, headaches, restlessness, shortness of breath, etc. When you experience a combination of these symptoms, there is a likely chance of a mental health problem.

Sleep issues

Another way to spot a mental health problem is when the person experiences sleep problems. They may struggle to get enough sleep, or they may be sleeping too much. When they notice that this problem has lingered for a while, a mental health problem might be in play.

Changes in appetite

When you notice that your appetite keeps fluctuating, it might be one of the signs of a mental health problem. On some occasions, you might eat excessively, while on other days, you might not have the appetite to eat. If these changes go on for a long time, then a mental health problem is in play.

Changes in regular behavior

Mental health problems are also characterized by changes in behavior and feelings. You will notice that the person is not behaving as they use to be. People who are close to them will observe that something awkward is going on.

If you think that you or someone has a mental health problem, the first step is to see a healthcare practitioner. They will create an individualized treatment plan that will help you take care of the mental health problem.

When it comes to treating our dual disorder (mental health diagnosis and substance use disorder) a common concern is which do you treat first? The answer to this lies in the question, what are your concerns at the time of seeking out services? Sometimes it is an easy answer, your mental health may be stable, but your use is causing the chaos. Or you may be suffering with untreated mental health symptoms and that puts your substance abuse on the back burner. The question shouldn’t be which is primary, but rather where are my needs today?

Do you incorporate both mental health and substance use services?

If you and your team of providers can identify where your needs are, you can then decide how to best treat your personal symptoms and concerns. This may look different for everyone, you can either treat one diagnosis/area as your primary concern or you can incorporate your treatment for both diagnoses. By treating both of your diagnoses together, you will ensure that your overall well-being is being addressed. When treatments are combined, neither area takes precedence. Rather, you are handling everything together as they do have an impact on one another.

Does it really matter?

The short answer is yes, it does matter to a certain extent. However, the longer answer is no. First, we need to understand why it is important to understand your diagnosis. If you can recognize your symptoms, you can then differentiate if your mental health is fueling your use or if your use is fueling your mental health symptoms. So, if you know what you are experiencing, then it does matter if your mental health or your use is treated as primary.

Now for the long answer, assuming you are not sure if you are dealing with an actual mental health diagnosis or symptoms brought on by use, it doesn’t matter. Unfortunately, if you are unable to recognize which came first, so to speak, it will be nearly impossible to tease out which is primary. If you are struggling to recognize if your symptoms are separate things or one in the same, then the primary focus will be what is causing you the most distress in that moment. Not which diagnosis is primary and therefore your treatment will focus on stability.

Working through mental health and substance abuse can be difficult on their own. When they are combined, life can become very scary to navigate. Many agencies will want you to be stable for one diagnosis prior to treating the other. However, with proper research and understanding of your own symptoms and experiences you can seek out the services you need to best help you.

As you begin to map out how to get to recovery, your faith can begin to waver or fall to the wayside. However, it doesn’t have to be that way. Your faith can become the forefront of your recovery instead. You can utilize faith through church, houses of worship, 12 steps, finding your personal higher power, literature and more. What will be most important is how you incorporate your faith in to your recovery.

Your faith can push you forward in working through your mental health concerns as well. As you tackle recovery, those resources are often in abundance and easily tied in to your faith. However, mental health feels as though it does not always have a place within your faith and religious beliefs. By learning how to incorporate your faith, recovery, and mental health you will have a better grasp on how to help yourself.

If you choose to seek out faith through church or houses of worship, you can utilize resources such as clergy to talk to, weekly worship, finding support within your church community and attending any type of meetings at your church. Whether it be your pastor, priest, etc you seek out to talk to and work through your concerns regarding how to work through past trauma, abuse, unhealthy relationships and more. By doing so, you will help not only your mental health but also your recovery and keeping your faith strong.

Any type of Bible study or other groups that your church provides can be used as ways to work through your mental health and recovery. You can utilize not only the support of others, but the reading and studying of how to incorporate faith in to your daily living. Having people to speak with and turn to when you are having a good or bad day, is only going to further benefit your ongoing recovery.

12 step meetings can be a great way to work on your recovery, faith, and mental health concerns. You will not only find sober social supports, but some meetings specifically address dual disorders in recovery. 12 step meetings also incorporate finding a higher power and then learning how that higher power can serve as a further support in your recovery from both addiction and mental health.

By focusing on helping yourself using all the resources at your disposal, you will have a better support team and better odds of an ongoing positive future. By tying your faith, recovery, and mental health services together you will push yourself towards a healthier and happier life.

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.