Can you get mental disorders from drug use? In some situations, the answer is yes. Drug and alcohol use can worsen preexisting mental health disorders. In addition to this, drugs and alcohol can cause the onset of these disorders. Some people use drugs to hide their underlying mental health concerns because they do not know there is any other help. We can help you at The Ranch PA.
Mental Disorders from Drug Use Can Occur
Mental health disorders can happen with drug and alcohol use. This does not always happen. It may occur in some situations:
- Some types of illicit substances can cause physical addiction and dependence. This can lead to symptoms of mental health disorders.
- If you have existing mental health disorders, and they are not treated or diagnosed, that can sometimes lead to alcohol and drug use. This is a type of self-medication people use.
- Other underlying causes can bring about both mental health disorders and alcohol and drug addiction, such as genetics and trauma.
What Type of Mental Disorders Can Come from Drug Use?
There are many ways that drugs and alcohol can impact your health and your wellbeing. Mental disorders from drug use may include conditions such as:
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Post-traumatic stress disorder
- Schizophrenia
- Personality disorders
If you have symptoms of any type of mental health disorder, reach out to our team immediately. Whether you are using drugs and alcohol to manage them, left untreated, these conditions can create long-term damage and become life-threatening.
What Type of Drugs Can Create These Changes?
The type of drug, the length of use, the amount of use, and the severity of the addiction and dependence all play a role in your long-term wellbeing. These factors impact what type of mental disorders from drug use you may suffer. Common drugs to cause these types of mental health disorders include alcohol, opioids, hallucinogens, cocaine, methamphetamine, nicotine, and sedatives.
What Should You Do to Get Help?
It’s impossible to recover from alcohol and drug abuse if you have an untreated mental health disorder. That’s why most people need dual diagnosis treatment as a first step. In this type of treatment, the goal is to treat the mental illness alongside drug addiction. By providing complementing support like this, a person can work through the complications and find relief. For some people, this means gaining stability first. Drug and alcohol detox tends to be necessary for this. During this treatment process, your physical and mental health is monitored as your body detoxes from the substance. At the same time, we can begin providing medications to help stabilize your mental health conditions if that’s necessary. Once the drugs are out of your system and you are at a mentally stable place, you can begin the real work of understanding what’s happened to you. We help you through this process by providing support for the underlying cause of your addiction. For some people, this is through our pain management center. For others, the need for trauma-informed therapy is necessary. We couple this type of treatment with ongoing holistic care, too. This is a combined treatment plan that works to provide you with the best ability to move beyond both the mental illness and the drug addiction complications you’re facing.
Take the First Step in Getting Help at The Ranch PA
Mental disorders from drug use do not mean you can’t recover and rebuild your life. They do mean that you need some help making this possible. Our team at The Ranch PA offers the support and guidance you need to get to that point. Don’t wait. Call us at 717.969.9126 to learn more about how treatment options during a private, free consultation.
