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Mental Health Mental illness and addiction

C

closeau

Bluelighter
Joined
Jan 15, 2012
Messages
1,143
Location
Durham, N.C.
Hi. Im sure there may be simular topics out here but i figured id start my own. Im very interested how these two illnesses connect. I happen to have both and its like one feeds the other. Ive been sober a couple of years and clean about 3 weeks but i have had terrible slides in my mental health lately which is causing me want to use.

I can remember my first sponser in AA saying he doesnt want me to use my mental illness as an exuse. That was common with other sponsers. I never did but knew deep down there connected. Im not using it as an exuse now im just saying one tends to feed the other. I got a printout when i was diagnosed and it said 87% of people with my diagnosis are substances abusers. I can see now why.

I was just wondering if anybody out here can relate to this and if so how. I believe both but especially addiction treatment should be modernized. There has to be a better way to get sick people who wanna stop to stop and not have to go thru so much pain. Whats yalls thoughs? Thanks
 
I can 100% relate to this, when i have a depressing week or month or whatever, i always have an insane urge to just use anything that i can get my hands on because i know that certain substances will break this mood that im in. My mind knows that drugs work...drugs always work, but then i have an internal conflict about whether or not it would be a good decision because i know that after the high, ill be right back to where i started.
 
Exactly HeadHigh. Same thing for me. Drugs make the voices stop for me and the insane urge to die. Drugs fix all of that for me but they wear off dont they? Then more and more then like with opiates tolerance goes up and before younknow it you still suffer from all issues and your broke now. Sucks!! I have dual diagnosis groups around here but ive never been. Group therapy isnt my thing. My shrink now understands this connection well so i love her but shes lesving so God knows who ill get.

Not glad you can relate but then you know how much it sucks. I stopped abusing my painbmeds few weeks ago and its been terrible. Of course i miss getting high but it goes much deeper than that. My mental illness has flared and nasty anxiey. Ive been to my shrinks 3 times in a phycosis panic and they give me a shot of haldol and im fine but its temporary. I take my meds right on sched and their the right meds but they only go so far, you know? My kolonopin works very wellbon my attacks but not lately. My mind wants to feel better and taking 5 dilaudid instead of one can do that forbme but i cant. Anyway, live to fight another day. Thanks for the post man.
 
the term is "dual diagnosis" . its when you have mental health and addiction issues at the same time. This is very common, because we often self-medicate our mental health symptoms with drugs. I know I have mental health problems as well as addiction issues too...anyway just my 2 cents
 
Gotcha thelung. Ive seen their pamphlet at dual diagnosis meetings and theres like 19 steps, lol. So much needs to be done for people like us. I love my shrink but she always asks, still going to meetings every 2 weeks. Im saying no tomorrow cause im not. Their hurting me now not helping. Its outdated anyway. The link between mental illness and addiction needs to be looked at more closely. Modernization of all addiction care should be employed. Anyway, i could go on forever but fact is were still in stone age in treatment. My mental illness fuels my addiction and vice versa. Thanks for checking in. I hope more people do and a good convo can be started cause for some reason people like us got hit with both. I talk to my dad and he has neither and i often wonder what thats like. To have nothing gripping you down. Using with addiction and suicide with mental illness. Plus other medicalbproblems and financial hole. Its all to much sometimes but we strive on!!!
 
I think mental health and addiction go hand in hand. I have yet to meet an addict that wasn't dual diagnosed with a mental health issue. I think addicts turn to substance to help deal with pain from mental health issues, self medicating, and it becomes an addiction. Even people who are accidental addicts, i.e. Someone getting scripted opiates longer term, still have something going on mentally. I have known normals who were on pain management and had no issues outside of initial withdrawal coming off of them. Of course, I have no data to substantiate any of what I said, and the handful of normals I referenced coming off of pain management may just be an exception.
 
Awesome Sticky man. I put my 2 cents in. More like 100$, lol. I dont write very well but i tried to convey how this hell is. Def directly affectef mt today. No details here. Lets just say my pitiful mental state caused a problem for me tonight but its all good. My mental illness or addictions do not define me as a person. How i treat others and stay true to myself is of most importance. A little positivity in a negative issue. Take care everyone
 
closeau said:
The link between mental illness and addiction needs to be looked at more closely. Modernization of all addiction care should be employed. Anyway, i could go on forever but fact is were still in stone age in treatment.
Click to expand...

QFT!

One of the problems that I see is that while the connection is now widely accepted the treatment for both separately and together still is stuck in the stone age as you say. But the more people that are actually suffering from mental illness (and addiction) can articulate what they truly need to heal, the more improvements we will see. Check out the work of a consortium of psychiatrists, mental health clients, psychologists and mental health workers called The Foundation for Excellence in Mental Health. It's like seeing someone working on a wheel in the stone age.=D
 
Hey herbavore. I read the front page of it. Couldnt figure out if they had more text. Just a short reading and a video and fund collection of course. I get what youre saying. Phyciatrists and recovery counclers have a hard job cause usually patients are gonna hold back or flat out lie to them which makes treatment impossible. That spans the line from housewives to gangbangers. No body wants to be crazy, right? Just like noone wants to be an addict. It took me some time to be completly honest till i was miserable and ready

I really appreciate your post. I kinda just grouped treatment all together. Its really a mess. Im sure theres addicts that go to my provider just to get adderal or benzos and really dont need them. Then people in addiction treatment refusing they have and mental problems. The inner city is the worst. Those people have hardly any resourses to get well. Most have been hustling all their lives so why should be honest with their Dr. Maybe im missing your point but i didnt even think about patients not conveying to their Drs their real needs. I guess the whole community of mental heath professionals and addiction specialists are doing the best they can. If there was ever time for a magic pill its now. Its like the chicken or egg thing. For me i was already diagnosed with schizophrenia before i ever touched a drug or drink. But someone whos been on the streets smoking crack for 20 yrs no doubt have a need for mental health care. Well said herbavore. Its a complex issue i know cause i live it. Thanks again for the post and link
 
I'm bipolar and I can definitely pinpoint my poor judgement as a cause when it came to my heavy drinking. I wasn't clearheaded enough to think, "Maybe I shouldn't do 13 shots of tequila..." I just did what was fun in the moment.
Also when I was manic and wanted to be surrounded by people my solution was going to the bar where everybody knows my name. And when I was depressed my solution was going to the same bar so those same people would cheer me up.
 
Bipolar+Alcohol is very common thing, espessially among women. It can turn out also in drugs or sex addiction. Actually any type of addiction. I have seen so many cases of this.
servicing stop
 
Yes beemax, me too. Youre right about the women. I recently read a stat on that and it was high. Mose women sex addicts also have mental illness. Not to attack women, im not. My diagnosis was changed a couple of years ago from schizophrenia to bipolar 1 with pyhcosis. I didnt agree at first but after a few tries we landed on what im on now and i feel better than the schizo meds. My dosage is high in both meds cause it controls phycosis. Im also an alcoholic so its men too but i know when i was in program everybody seemed to be bipolar. So good call man. Thanks for posting!
 
Yeah alcohol is one of those drugs that can mask the effects of a lot of mental illnesses. Alcoholics use it to cover up symptoms of anxiety, depression, psychosis, trauma, insomnia, mania, and so on. Medications generally don't work as well if someone drinks on them. It's about how committed one is to their future I guess, along with severity of illness.
 
You shouldn't use it as an excuse, but it works as an explanation. You are facing additional obstacles that other persons of addiction aren't facing. It's going to be such a harder struggle for you. And that's real and that sucks.

The reasons why people with mental disorders are more likely to use substances is that they DO provide relief some symptoms. :/ & current medications usually "fog" the mind, make you slower, etc.. which is why nobody likes to be on them. Your only recourse is to find a psychologist who will work with a psychiatrist who will be able to provide you with individual therapy to help with the addiction and coping and at the same time provide you with medication (& adjust accordingly).
 
Ho Chi Minh, you make an rxellent point. I know they tried to give me meds back then and i woud either not take them or drink with them. I chose the bttle but that does not make me a bad person. Addiction is a hysical disease, not a moral or spiritual one. The spiritua concept wored well for a group of people in the 30's who were spiritually minded and had spiritual guidance in the Oxford groups. Not preveant in these days when most people are not spiritual. Thats all im saying is the modernization of addiction care.

Pretty diamonds i love your post. Substances do block some of the symptoms of mental illness. Say, if youre a meth addict and your used to being jacked up all the time yure not gonna wanna stop and take phyc meds that make you slow and dopey. Its like addicts are the frgotten people of our time. Every 10 min i see a commercial for some new med, usually bipolar since thats the popular diagnosis now. Wheres the meds for addiction. All the crazy meds theyvhave on market that do amazing things you can come u with meds that boxk wd and mre importantly kill the crazvings. If an addict had medical help and get and stay off withvthe meds then yu can get them to a shrin and get some medscand therapy going. They would feel like a new person. Feel is such an imprtant sense to an addict and if we can make them feel good without substances then get a good diagnosis and treat. We just need the meds but their tioo busy trying to keep 80 yr old erect and drugs for plastic surgery. I just saw 5 min ago a man od in the bathroom of a chicken pace. I know that store well. Needle in his arm and all. Whats it gonna take. Ook, overcoming an addictin takes wrk and im not asking fr acmagic pill but kinda am. Id rather that then watch people die or stay in their rooms their whole life using with no help than get then come get help ifvthey know theres acmed they can take that will kill the craving andvif that works maybe the go see a phyciatrst and they get a good diagnosis. Its a very complex issue and it wasnt till the booze was out of me culd i be honest with a dr and take my meds. And im still not right. The longer you stay out there the harder it is to save your life. I was out almost 30 years so my path back to metntal health and sobriety has been hard but ive dne it. Both my phyciatrist and therapist have been irreplacable for my well being. Sorry this is so long. I had a dream i was at a safe shoot up place last night so this is on my head. Btw, those places are a great idea. People are gonna shoot up anyway why not give them a sterile place to go and have nurses there in case of od. Its a great idea but God forbid we promote drug use. Having dancing with starts on for 4 hrs 2 nights promotes drug use, lol. Yhank you both for you posts☺️
 
No, of course it doesn't. Addiction is approximately half caused by genetics.

That's interesting. I think it does take a component of spirituality to recover from addiction, and mental illness overall too. But the institutions that be do not provide that spiritual component. I firmly believe one gets that part from developing positive relationships with others. The tough part is that there's no guidebook. It's easy to pop a pill. It's relatively easy to talk to a therapist. But cultivating genuine social relationships requires a very advanced form of being.

Yes, the meds are largely created with profit in mind. I think we're starting to come around, though, and treat addicts seriously. It's a slow-moving process, but it's there.

I'm glad to hear that you've dried out. It's no easy task, I'm sure.

There's a weird stigma about feeling good from drugs that aren't the major three: alcohol, caffeine, and tobacco. While other drugs are illegal, though, they are generally very taxing to use.
 
Thats the best post ive seen. I agree with everything you just said and im very happy you chimed in. Thank you Ho Chi Minh
 
They are no doubt connected. I've never had a serious addiction but the only reason I started using drugs is because of overpowering intrusive thoughts and they go away completely on opiates and kinda on benzos. if they ever go away I would stop doing drugs right then and there because I don't like to risk hurting others around me if they were to find out.
 
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