When you’re in recovery, it’s typical to experience frequent knocks to your mental wellbeing. If you suffer from substance abuse as well as a mental health disorder, this is known as a dual diagnosis disorder, and wellness problems often arise from this can include feelings of depression and anxiety before, during and after rehab. If you have a dual diagnosis disorder, you can also struggle with bipolar disorder, panic disorder, schizophrenia and other personality disorders, but whilst this can be unnerving or even scary, the important thing to remember is that you’re not alone.
Self-medication for major behavioural health disorders often leads to addiction, as drinking or taking drugs can help you to cope with or calm uncomfortable or alarming symptoms, such as voices, hallucinations or delusions, especially in people who have bipolar disorder, schizophrenia or other personality disorders. It is actually quite common for people to be diagnosed with mental health problems when they are in recovery for substance abuse.
If you do have a dual diagnosis, recovery for you can be more challenging than most. Luckily, qualified behavioural health professionals can help you better understand your illness and learn healthy coping mechanism that can reduce symptoms. Therefore, it is vital for you to remain in treatment and build a strong relapse prevention plan and support group.
Let’s take a closer look at some of the more common mental health problems. Whether you’re in recovery or not, depression is a very common condition that can arise when you need to make big lifestyle changes. It is characterised by feeling down or hopeless, changes in sleeping or eating and a feeling of not wanting to participate in hobbies or previously enjoyable activities.
Anxiety is a feeling of anxiousness or agitation, that affects your behaviour, decisions and choices. It can cause you to become easily annoyed or angry and have difficulty sleeping or concentrating. When you experience a craving or trigger, you may feel an increase in anxiety because you are all too aware of the temptation to relapse. With both of these conditions, some people have found that exercise, journal writing and group meetings help them alleviate the symptoms, but if you are depressed, anxious or are struggling with substance abuse and a co-occurring mental health disorder, it is important to seek treatment from a medical health professional.
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