The overlap between addiction and other mental health conditions is high. When people are struggling with depression, anxiety, or any other mental health challenge, it’s tempting to try to mask the symptoms through substance use. The reason mental health and substance use disorders (SUDs) often co-occur is self-medication.
The connection between depression and addiction is strong, with nearly half of those with depression having an alcohol addiction while others are addicted to other substances. As we enter the season of shorter days, a depressive condition called seasonal affective disorder (SAD) will be on the rise. If you struggle with depression, seasonal or otherwise, and are concerned about your use of alcohol or drugs, please call The Right Step Houston at 1.844.768.0169 today. Our dual diagnosis treatment center in Texas can help you understand the connection between depression and addiction.
What Is Depression?
Everyone reacts to life’s challenges differently. Many people experience depression when a specific trigger sets it off. Grief over a death, loss of employment, or severe illness—yours or that of someone you love—these things can set you down a path of sadness and depression. Other people have a systemic disease called major depressive disorder. Sometimes, a situational depression settles into a long-term major depression. In the end, it doesn’t matter why you’re depressed or if there’s a “why” at all. What matters is that you get well. Depression itself is an illness that can lead to other symptoms and addiction.
The types of depression are listed below. But remember that depression requires intervention. No one deserves to live in a depressed state when there are treatments available.
- Major depressive disorder (MDD)
- Persistent depressive disorder (PDD)
- Postpartum depression (PPD)
- Bipolar disorder
- Seasonal affective disorder (SAD)
- Atypical depression
Depression doesn’t look the same for everyone. Ten people who share a diagnosis of the same kind of depression may present differently. A trained therapist can help you identify and accept a diagnosis so you can begin to heal. For approximately half of those diagnosed with depression who have a co-occurring addiction, a dual diagnosis treatment program offers the best outcomes.
Symptoms of Depression
If you’re beginning to suspect—or accept—that you’re misusing drugs or alcohol, consider if you also have some or all of the depression symptoms below:
- Low mood – The sadness doesn’t shift or lighten according to changing circumstances.
- Despair – Hopelessness and helplessness are hallmarks of depression.
- Low self-esteem – This symptom is a natural consequence of sustained guilt and sorrow.
- Lack of enjoyment – There’s no pleasure or interest in life, even things that once brought joy.
- Brain fog – Depression affects your ability to focus, make decisions, gain perspective, or plan.
Though drugs and alcohol may make it possible to forget your feelings of hopelessness or get you out of self-imposed isolation for a few hours, in the end, substance use is simply not helping your depression and probably making it worse.
The Season of Depression
For many, the winter months are extra hard due to the loss of sun. The human body is, in many ways, solar-powered, and an excess of darkness affects mental health. Combined with the winter holidays, which can be fraught and stressful for many, there’s an increased risk of depression. Called seasonal affective depression, it usually lifts with the return of the long days of summer, but the effects of seasonal depression are like those of any depression. They can lead to self-medication through substance abuse.
If you or someone you know shows signs of depression, either seasonally or all the time, and substance misuse, seek help in a dual diagnosis treatment center.
Call The Right Step Houston Today to Get Started on Dual Diagnosis Treatment
Let the staff at The Right Step Houston help you achieve better mental health and sobriety by providing evidence-based therapies in a safe environment. Peer support, professional care, and compassion go a long way toward healing. Call 1.844.768.0169 or complete our online form today.