Everyone experiences stress, but living with high levels of it on a regular basis can cause enough distress to impact your mental well-being. Stress is often connected with substance use disorders, with many people turning to drugs or alcohol to manage symptoms. Stress management therapy programs can help.
Promises offers treatment programs that can aid you in addressing stress and the impact it has on your mental health. Call our team today at 844.875.5609 to learn more about how stress and substance abuse are connected and how you can help yourself heal.
Stress and Substance Abuse: Understanding This Powerful Trigger
Stress is a state of tension or worry brought on by a difficult situation. Although it’s a natural response that encourages you to address challenges, it can quickly overwhelm you mentally and physically. Stress is well-known for impacting heart health and increasing inflammation throughout the body, leading to issues such as:
- Aches and pains
- Sexual dysfunction
- Digestive problems
- Chest pain
- Exhaustion
- Weakened immune system
- Muscle tension
- High blood pressure
Stress is equally damaging to your psychological health. High stress levels can cause:
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Irritability
- Panic attacks
Living with chronic or high levels of stress can lead to the development of clinical depression or an anxiety disorder. These conditions can get so distressing that you are ready to try anything to help yourself feel better. That is when stress and substance abuse can meet.
Self-medicating with drugs or alcohol can quickly lead to the development of a substance use disorder. Although substance use may seem to help the symptoms of stress and mental health concerns in the short term, it can actually make them even more severe in the long term.
The chemical imbalances that are causing the symptoms can get worse, leading your moods to fluctuate even more drastically. That causes you to rely more on substances, leading to a vicious cycle.
The Challenges of Having Co-Occurring Disorders
If stress has led to the development of a mental health concern that prompted substance misuse, you may have co-occurring disorders. Treating these at the same time is vital to ensure that you don’t experience a relapse.
These co-occurring disorders feed off one another because they both make structural changes to the brain. They can become so tangled together that it’s impossible to separate one from the other. A dual diagnosis program can help you understand what the underlying cause of the problem is.
When dealing with high levels of stress, behavioral therapies can teach you stress management skills and mindfulness techniques to better manage anxiety. That helps both conditions because it shows you that you can cope with uncomfortable symptoms without relying on drugs or alcohol.
Going through substance misuse treatment can trigger more stress, too. Your body and mind have to adjust to functioning without drugs or alcohol, and that can cause anxiety and depression symptoms to spike. By participating in targeted treatment programs that understand the interplay between these issues, you have a better chance of succeeding.
Start Treatment for Co-Occurring Conditions at Promises Today
Living with stress can erode your mental and physical health. If stress goes unmanaged for too long, you can develop mental health concerns that are so distressing you begin to rely on drugs or alcohol to get relief from the symptoms. In order to break away from these harmful behavioral patterns, it’s essential to get treatment.
At Promises, we offer residential and outpatient programs that can address stress, mental health conditions, and substance use disorders. By helping you understand what led you to develop these conditions and providing coping strategies, you can heal. Call Promises today at 844.875.5609 or fill out our convenient online contact form to learn more about our programs.