How does substance abuse affect mental health?
Substance abuse may sharply increase symptoms of mental illness or even trigger new symptoms. Abuse of alcohol or drugs can also interact with medications such as antidepressants, anxiety medications, and mood stabilizers, making them less effective at managing symptoms and delaying your recovery.
Why substance use makes depression and anxiety worse?
Why substance use makes depression and anxiety worse “Self-medicating” with recreational drugs and alcohol works temporarily to alleviate symptoms of anxiety or depression because they affect the same brain regions that the disorders do. But the result is that teens feel even worse when not using.
How do drugs affect depression?
Depression is common among people battling an addiction to drugs or alcohol. Substance abuse can trigger or intensify the feelings of loneliness, sadness and hopelessness often associated with depression. An estimated one-third of people with major depression also have an alcohol problem.
What comes first depression or substance abuse?
Assume you are suffering from mild depression before beginning to use. Substance abuse may initially make you feel better, but it will ultimately make you even more depressed than you were before. Because many people with mild depression go undiagnosed, the condition can appear to be the result of addiction.
Can drugs worsen depression?
Certain medications prescribed for various medical conditions do cause such feelings as sadness, despair, and discouragement. And those are feelings that are often associated with depression.
Can people feel depressed?
People can feel depressed, but the question with depression is for how long, and how much does it interfere with our capacity to go on with [our] life?” There’s no difference between depression and high-functioning depression. Depression ranges from mild to moderate to severe.
How do you deal with a depressed person with no reason?
In response, a person may “close up.” If someone you care about is depressed, especially if they are struggling with “having no reason” for it, the most important thing you can do for them is to be a compassionate and active listener. This doesn’t mean you should put your emotional needs second or withhold your own feelings.
Why do people with depression not talk about their pasts?
In relationships, people with depression may not talk about their experiences because they are afraid others won’t understand. They may worry that their spouse, family, and friends will stop loving them. They may fear the people they care about will blame them for the feelings they have.
What do people with high-functioning depression want you to know?
8 Things People with High-Functioning Depression Want You to Know 1. You feel like you’re constantly “faking it” 2. You have to prove that you’re struggling and need help 3. The good days are relatively “normal” 4. But the bad days are unbearable 5. Getting through the bad days requires an enormous amount of energy