If you suffer from depression and anxiety, it may lead you to self-medicate with drugs and alcohol. Conversely, substance abuse changes your brain chemistry and can cause mood swings and other mental health disorders, including depression and suicidal thoughts. If you feel that these symptoms are affecting your life, you may benefit from therapy and support from an addiction treatment center. However, if you are currently in crisis, dial 911 immediately.
At Pines Recovery Life Detox in South Florida, we honor Suicide Prevention Day on September 10th each year. This allows us to show solidarity with the millions of Americans living with depression, suicidal thoughts, and substance use disorders. Our dual diagnosis therapy programs are available to any individual struggling with substance abuse and a mental health disorder.
What Is Suicide Prevention Day?
On September 10, organizations, individuals, and government agencies recognize World Suicide Prevention Day. Government agencies and community organizations encourage groups of individuals to spread awareness of suicide prevention measures. For example, the International Association for Suicide Prevention (IASP) and World Health Organization (WHO) are large organizations that support and promote the importance of self-harm prevention.
How Are Substance Abuse and Suicide Risk Related?
You may turn to drugs and alcohol to escape feelings of depression and sadness or become depressed after developing a substance use disorder. Whichever came first, these two conditions are intimately linked. Substance abuse is a common co-occurring issue for those with mental health disorders.
Anxiety, depression, and ADHD can trigger or exacerbate dependence on drugs and alcohol. In fact, those with mental health disorders are more likely to develop substance use disorders. That’s because of a tendency to self-medicate or try to feel better by using psychoactive substances.
If you develop a substance use disorder first, drugs and alcohol can drastically affect how your brain works. Due to problems with brain chemistry, those with substance use disorders often develop mood disorders such as clinical anxiety or depression. Unfortunately, this includes those who develop suicidal thoughts while using drugs and alcohol, particularly during the early stages of detox and recovery.
Hopelessness, guilt, shame, and self-loathing make it harder to seek help for both diagnoses. Fortunately, the dual diagnosis program at Pines Recovery Life Detox strives to treat your mental health and substance use disorder at the same time. Without addressing both of these issues simultaneously, you could end up in a downward spiral of mental health and addiction problems.
Depression, Substance Abuse, and Brain Chemistry
Drug and alcohol abuse affects your brain chemistry in negative ways. By disrupting your natural reward system, drugs and alcohol make you crave these substances over other activities that typically provide pleasure. So, substance use disorders cause you to lose interest in former hobbies, activities, and friends that don’t share your drug obsession.
Feelings of apathy, lethargy, and depression can eventually escalate into feelings of isolation, loneliness, and, sometimes, suicidal thoughts. Those who drink are more likely to react impulsively than someone who is sober. However, both drugs and alcohol can lower your inhibitions and cause you to act on thoughts that you normally would ignore. Unfortunately, this can include attempted suicide.
Dual Diagnosis Treatment at Pines Recovery Life Detox
We highly recommend drug and alcohol detox at Pines Recovery Life Detox as a first step in overcoming the underlying causes of depression and suicidal thoughts. We offer a number of different therapies and provide an individual treatment plan for each client. First, we make sure that we diagnose every aspect of your illness, including mental health and substance addiction, that will impact your recovery.
Pines Recovery Life Detox’s inpatient detox treatment programs focus on health and wellness. Our comprehensive approach includes dual diagnosis treatment for multiple drug and alcohol dependencies as well as any mental health issues you may experience.
Our team provides programs that help you remove drugs and alcohol from your system while our therapists and clinicians attend to your mental and emotional care.
Some of these programs include:
- Inpatient detox center
- Medication-assisted detox
- Wellness programs
- Medication-assisted treatment
Find the Support and Care You Deserve at Pines Recovery Life Detox
Once you receive care at Pines Recovery Life Detox, you may find your self-confidence increasing as you learn coping tools to acknowledge suicidal thoughts without acting on them. Whatever you struggle with on your journey to recovery, we will help you bear the burden. Contact us by calling 800.263.3869 or completing our online form today for more information on how to begin your dual diagnosis treatment in South Florida.
