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There are many reasons why a person may fall into addiction – biology, genetics, environmental factors, trauma, and more. Mental health is another worthy cause to consider – many individuals do not realize that they suffer from a mental illness and choose to self-medicate through drugs or alcohol. Conversely, some individuals may fall into addiction and then symptoms of mental illness emerge later. Suffering from an addiction or mental illness does not mean that the person has failed or cannot recover. Many people do not know the resources available for discovering the status of their mental health and thankfully there are several tools that one can utilize to learn more about what they may be going through. Identifying the characteristics of a mental illness may help someone discover similar symptoms that they are experiencing. By exploring some of the symptoms to mental illness, one can become more active towards their well-being and can take steps to overcome their addiction. Here are a few underlying mental health concerns that may provide insight into addiction:

Millions of people suffer from both a mental illness and an addiction, and there are so many resources to assist an individual in recovery. From therapists to treatment programs, anyone can get the help that they need. Recovery is a courageous, beneficial step to living a healthy, balanced life and can increase a person’s overall happiness and well-being. Suffering from a mental illness and an addiction is called having a co-occurring or dual disorder. This is best treated through integrated care, such as therapy and medical treatment, and there are many excellent programs that health facilities provide to assist individuals who suffer from this. Having a co-occurring disorder does not mean that the person has “too much wrong with them” or that there are no resources out there. Co-occurring disorders are quite common because many individuals do not realize that they suffer from a mental illness and therefore try to self-medicate with drugs or alcohol to relieve the negative symptoms they are experiencing. Integrated dual disorder treatment (IDDT) is a common evidence-based form of treatment that focuses on both mental health and substance abuse treatment, typically in the same facility and with the same healthcare team. Research has shown that this form of treatment has been effective in working with individuals who suffer from co-occurring disorders. This form of treatment helps reduce relapse, hospitalization, arrest, duplication of services, and more by providing comprehensive care to the individual. By utilizing IDDT, a person will experience increased continuity of care, increased quality of life outcomes, stable housing, and independent living, which will help the person manage their co-occurring disorders while receiving optimal care. There are several core components of IDDT. Here is a small, but not exhaustive, list of some of the amazing components of this form of treatment:

For people who have decided to take the courageous path towards recovery, goals are an incredible component of treatment and serve as milestones towards successful change. By setting realistic goals, a person can be well on their way to a healthier life without putting too much pressure on themselves. Here are just a few examples and suggestions to ensure those goals are feasible: Unrealistic: “I will have a full-time job established by the end of this week.” Realistic: “I will continue to apply to at least 3 jobs a day, and I will strive towards obtaining a part-time job, at the least, within six weeks.” By deciding on a specific number of jobs to apply to each day, the person can easily keep track of where they are at. By opening the person’s perspective to part time jobs, they are also giving themselves enough room to breathe and subtly transition into the lifestyle that they want, without placing too much stress on themselves. Plus, by the person being open to a part-time job as well, they are opening their window of opportunity even more. Unrealistic: “I will not feel so down anymore.” Realistic: “Anytime that I am feeling sad or upset, I will do 2 things: 1) write down my thoughts in a journal, and 2) do something for self-care, whether it be talking to a friend, watching a funny movie, or taking a hot, relaxing shower.” By determining a plan of action for what a person will do if they are feeling depressed, that person has more specific steps they can take towards their well-being. The person can easily write their specific goal and hang it up or put it somewhere they will easily be able to find so that if they experience this, they have an excellent reminder of what to do. Suggestions:

There are several types of treatment and prevention models that are used in healthcare facilities. Motivational enhancement therapy (MET) is a counseling approach designed to assist individuals with their uncertainty around treatment and stopping their use of drugs. In motivational enhancement therapy, the aim is to spark internal motivation for change, rather than having someone walk directly through specific steps to recover. Individuals often understand the negative impact that their addiction has on their health, family life, or social functioning, but does not feel very motivated to change their habits. This type of therapy is person-centered, and allows the individual to work with a caring therapist who will help them see things more objectively. Here are a few components of motivational enhancement therapy:

Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD) is more than a body image issue. It is normal to feel a little conscientious about the way you look whether you wish you had a smaller nose, a tighter stomach, or have smooth, wavy locks. We may think about these things sometimes or when special occasions come up. People with BDD, on the other hand, think of real or imaginary flaws for hours daily, causing severe emotional distress. Distracting thoughts can leave those with BDD missing work or school, avoiding social situations, and isolating themselves because they are ashamed of letting their flaws go noticed. This can involve spending thousands of dollars in plastic surgeries and still never being satisfied with the results. BDD is not to be taken lightly as this disorder can ruin your health and your social life.

For anyone who has experienced depression, the symptoms can be debilitating. Having a lack of enjoyment in activities, isolation, and feeling hopeless are just a few characteristics of depression and can make a person feel defeated. Luckily, there are so many successful tools that can be used to assist with the devastating effects of depression, with acupuncture being one of them. Acupuncture is a form of traditional Chinese medicine that involves a doctor placing small needles into the body to alleviate pain. Acupuncture is ideally supposed to help balance the energy pathways throughout the body – a process that has been known to help alleviate symptoms of anxiety and depression. This technique is said to increase function and evoke the body’s natural healing responses through physiological systems. Acupuncture could be a wonderful way for a person with depression to relieve some of their stress and pain. Here is what one can expect after scheduling an appointment for acupuncture:

Recovery is a remarkable, transformative journey for anyone to embark on. Those who have recently began their journey of recovery or are considering their path towards recovery may wonder if they will ever be fully recovered from their addiction. Addictions can be managed successfully through therapy and rehabilitation. Recovery means something different for everyone, and it is up to the person to discover what recovery means to them. However, there are several resources available to assist individuals in recovering from an addiction. The two main types of recovery programs are:

One day at a time is common recovery phrase.  It may seem simple enough to live for today, but the phrase can mean more to the recovering addict or alcoholic.  There are reasons this statement is so important in recovery. Once an addict or alcoholic enters recovery, living one day at a time becomes necessary.  At the start of recovery, the addict faces financial, relational, vocational, and social problems.  There is a lot to address.  No one can fix everything in one day!  Recovery is a lifelong commitment to staying clean and sober.   Living one day at a time gives the addict the opportunity to focus on what they can do today and not worry about yesterday or tomorrow.  Research supports the idea that if an addict begins to focus too much on the future, recovery might be jeopardized.  During recovery there will be time to focus on the issues of the past including healing family relationships or resolving financial concerns.   One day at a time also emphasizes the positive idea that you did not use alcohol or drugs just for today.  This mindset allows many addicts to put the emphasis on not using today; tomorrow will take care of itself.  Living one day at time also means that one will not take on what cannot be worked on.  In some cases, recovering addicts will change this one hour at a time or one minute at a time.  This illustrates how difficult, but not impossible, recovery can be. Living for today is also spiritual.  This is the day we have been given and we will make the most of it.  We will focus our energy on the day ahead of us and what we can accomplish today.  If we cannot work on a problem today, we can review it tomorrow.  Living one day at a time provides a sense of serenity knowing that all of your post-addiction problems do not need to be fixed today.  We will find the time to work on our problems and find solutions as recovery unfolds.  For today, you did not use drugs or alcohol and that is a very good thing!

Addictions have a wide range of causes and no one cause is more relevant than the other.  There are those in the addiction community who believe that the causes of our addictions are not important.  What is important is getting help and abstaining from drug and alcohol use.  Genetics and the environment both play a role in addictions.

While trying to recover from your addiction, it is important to use all of the resources you can find- including spiritual resources. You do not have to be religious in order to partake in these rituals. You just have to find your faith in a place differently than where you have visited before. Spiritual tools advocate inner peace and help you feel larger than yourself. Your emotions will be controlled and can help you deal with the average ups and downs of everyday life. An inner strength could be discovered that you may not have known that you had. Making use of these spiritual tools involves you to keep your mind opened and be at one with yourself. One spiritual tool you could use is daily prayer to help make sense of the disorderly world we live in. Prayer will help you discover where your joy comes from as well as being thankful for what you have. You would be able to find guidance, strength, and wisdom from a Higher Power and express good wishes to your friends, neighbors, loved ones, and strangers. It also helps to read from spiritual texts of your choice every day. There are spiritual books of different religions you could read as well as ones from spiritual leaders like the Dalai Lama, Paulo Coelho, or Pope Francis. This may inspire you to find your faith by learning how these leaders found theirs. Another spiritual tool is meditation which could end up being frustrating for the first time but if you keep an open mind, it can end up being very rewarding. Feelings of serenity, clarity, and peace can follow you on your walks of life. Meditation can even cause physical changes in your brain to increase creativity, relieve stress, improve mental focus, boost compassion and strengthen memory. This also could be a good time to revisit and rethink your faith by joining or rejoining a place of worship. You can find religious groups that appeal to you and give you a new outlook on life. This will allow you to become more social with those around you as well as nurture your soul. Yoga is another great way to empower your soul as you will learn to deal with uncomfortable emotions, self-acceptance, and cope with stress. Using spiritual tools that are right for you will bring you on the right path to a healthy recovery.

Eating disorders are a behavioral health issue.  Eating disorders include bulimia, anorexia, and binge eating disorder. All three can have emotional, behavioral, and physical effects on the individual and can even be life-threatening for both males and females. Eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa are a behavioral health issue in addition to being much more.  A person with anorexia will go to great lengths to hide their weight through wearing bulky clothes or pretending to eat food even when they are not.  Calorie restriction is common with anorexics and the daily number of calories is far below the recommended daily requirement.  Additionally, the anorexic will exercise excessively throughout the day and may take laxatives or diuretics to keep from gaining weight.  An anorexic has an underlying fear of gaining weight and a distorted body image.  They see themselves as overweight even when the scale puts them within a normal range for their height. A person with bulimia can consume over 10,000 calories per day.  The behaviors associated with consuming this amount of food includes shopping for the food and hiding the food from family members.  With bulimia, another behavioral health issue is the purging that occurs following consumption of food.  Bulimics can experience health-related issues such as an inflamed esophagus or tearing of the throat lining.  There is a great deal of dishonest behavior that occurs with bulimics including lying to family members and friends.  They too will go to great lengths to hide their behavior. Binge-eating disorder is also known as compulsive overeating.  Individuals will consume large amounts of food on average two times per week for six months or more.  The person with this disorder will have difficulty in stopping the behavior, once started.  Mental health issues are commonly present including depression and anxiety. There are biological, psychological, and social factors at play with eating disorders.  A person can have a hormonal imbalance, which causes the overeating.  Psychological factors include low self-esteem, depression, lack of control over life in general, and an inability to experience healthy expression of emotions.  Eating disorders are commonly seen with those who have been sexually abused or who experience social pressures from peer groups and the media to look a certain way.

Bipolar disorder is also known as manic-depressive illness. It was coined by German psychiatrist Emil Kraepelin who coined manic-depressive psychosis as an episodic disorder with no permanent brain damage. It is more common to use the term bipolar disorder than manic-depressive as the former is less stigmatizing towards others. There are still some psychiatrists and other people who use the term manic-depressive if that term displays the nature of the disorder accurately. Bipolar disorder causes unusual shifts in energy, mood, activity, and doing day to day tasks. There are moments where you could be extremely upbeat, thrilled, energized (manic), very sad, gloomy, and hopeless periods (hypomanic). There are different types of bipolar disorders such as Bipolar I which are manic episodes that last seven days or severe manic symptoms that need immediate care. Depression and manic symptoms can occur at the same time. Bipolar II is when you experience depressive episodes and hypomanic episodes. Cyclothymic Disorder is when you go through many moments of hypomanic symptoms as well as depressive symptoms that can last two years. You can undergo emotion, sleep, and activity level changes as well as unusual behaviors. There are differences between manic and depressive episodes. In manic episodes, you can experience feeling cheerful, having a lot of energy, feeling more active than usual, talking really fast, and doing a lot of things simultaneously. There are also moments where you could have trouble sleeping, become agitated, irritable, and touchy as well as engaging in risky activities that you would not normally do. Depressive episodes consist of a lot of negative symptoms such as feeling sad, empty and hopeless. Your energy levels are very low as well as your activity levels. You feel like you cannot enjoy anything, tend to forget things, and have trouble concentrating. People who are depressed can also experience thoughts of death or suicide. To avoid these life-impacting consequences that come with being bipolar, there are treatments to control your mood swings as well as psychotherapy. Medications to treat bipolar disorder can be antidepressants, atypical antipsychotics, and mood stabilizers. It is best to talk to a doctor or therapist about the pros and cons of each medication before taken. Psychotherapy is also known as talk therapy to help give support, education, and guidance. There is family-focused therapy, psychoeducation, and cognitive behavioral therapy. All of these helpful treatment options can help you live a typical life.