Struggling with mental wellness can become an all-consuming battle, but it doesn’t need to define your life. Whether you are struggling with other health issues, trauma, grief, or other concerns, finding the right healing community can make all the difference. There’s a clear connection between mental health and wellness. At Crestview Recovery, our mental health treatment programs cover mental health as a primary diagnosis. We also treat co-occurring mental health disorders and substance use disorders. If you think a mental health condition may be standing in your way, contact Crestview Recovery by calling 866.262.0531 to begin the journey to healing.
Mental Wellness and Addiction
Substance abuse and mental health disorders often co-occur. If you have a mental health disorder, you may turn to drugs and alcohol to self-medicate. Conversely, if you have a substance use disorder, it can put your mental wellness at risk. Our dual diagnosis treatment program addresses both disorders to improve your chances for a full recovery in the following programs:
- Inpatient drug rehab
- Medical detox
- Intensive outpatient treatment (IOP)
What Is Self-Medication?
Compromised mental wellness leads to anxiety, depression, and other disorders that disrupt your life. Alcohol and drugs numb these frightening feelings and help you feel more comfortable in the short term. Abusing addictive substances comes with its own set of problems. Additionally, dependence on illicit substances changes your brain chemistry, further threatening your mental health.
Examples of Self-Medication
Here are a few examples of how self-medication can lead to addiction:
- Someone with depression smokes marijuana to numb their feelings.
- Another person with social anxiety disorder consumes copious amounts of alcohol to relax in social situations.
- A third person consumes non-prescribed benzodiazepines to alleviate the symptoms of a panic attack.
- You feel a general lack of motivation without understanding why and decide to experiment with crystal meth or cocaine to increase your energy.
Unfortunately, using any of these drugs can lead to addictions with severe withdrawal symptoms. Now, you have a new set of problems that impact your mental and physical health and wellness.
Co-occurring Disorders
When you have a substance abuse disorder and mental wellness disorder, you need a therapist who can treat both conditions. Otherwise, you can end up in an endless loop of addiction and withdrawal.
Co-occurring disorders, also called dual diagnoses, are pretty common. In fact, about 7.9 million American adults suffer from both a mental illness and a substance abuse disorder.
The most common co-occurring disorders are:
- Anxiety disorders
- Depressive disorders
- Bipolar disorder
- Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
Drugs and alcohol can exacerbate mental health issues by causing delusions, depression, and other symptoms when you drink or use the drug. Too often, these symptoms persist after the effects of the drug wear off.
Can You Benefit from a Mental Health Treatment Program?
Chronic substance abuse can increase your chance of suffering violence or hurting others. Traumatic events can also cause mental health disorders, such as eating disorders and post-traumatic stress disorder. Poor decisions made while under the influence make people with substance use disorder more likely to experience legal problems.
Before you find yourself in this situation, check into a mental health treatment program that also addresses substance abuse. Dual diagnosis is available in our women’s rehab center and men’s rehab center.
Combining Mental Wellness and Substance Abuse Treatment
Our dedicated staff develops a treatment plan for every client. Whether you require drug or alcohol addiction treatment, we can tailor a program with your health and wellness top of mind. Along with individual and group therapy, you will receive counseling for your mental disorder.
When substance abuse treatment programs do not include mental wellness provisions, clients can end up cycling through periods of sobriety intermixed with multiple relapses. Let the staff at Crestview Recovery in Portland provide comprehensive care that can improve your chances for lifelong recovery.
Adopting Healthy Living Practices
Mental health conditions can take a major toll on your physical, mental, and emotional health. After detox and addiction treatment, you need to practice healthy living to make up for all the damage addiction has caused. When you’re in recovery, you should prioritize self-care and building up that fortitude needed to remain in recovery.
Some healthy living practices you can make time for include:
- Eating well-balanced meals
- Exercising regularly
- Making time for hobbies and recreational activities
- Practicing relaxation strategies like meditation and yoga
- Sleeping more than seven and a half hours daily
Relapse Prevention Therapy
One of the best ways to help to prevent a relapse is through relapse prevention therapy. During this therapy, the various motivations behind your past actions will be brought to light and addressed. Interrupting urges to use unhealthy behaviors to cope is the main component of relapse prevention therapy.
This type of therapy can be done in an individual or group setting. It is important to have a solid support system to help you through this process.
Relapse prevention therapy can help to address:
- The reasons you may have started using in the first place
- The triggers that may cause you to want to use again
- How to better cope with stress and other emotions
- Healthy coping mechanisms
- How to build a support system
If you or someone you know is struggling with addiction, please reach out for help. There are many resources available to you. You are not alone in this fight.
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Treatment in Oregon
Crestview Recovery in Portland, Oregon, has a mental health treatment program that addresses your anxiety, eating disorder, PTSD, or another disorder. Let us help you secure your mental wellness so you can concentrate on your recovery from drug and alcohol dependence. Contact us at 866.262.0531 today to determine how we can improve your health and wellness with the appropriate mix of evidence-based and holistic approaches.
Since 2016, Dr. Merle Williamson, a graduate of Oregon Health Sciences University, has been the Medical Director at Crestview Recovery, bringing a rich background in addiction medicine from his time at Hazelden Treatment Center. He oversees outpatient drug and alcohol treatments, providing medical care, setting policies, detox protocols, and quality assurance measures. Before specializing in addiction medicine, he spent 25 years in anesthesiology, serving as Chair of Hospital Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee and Chief of Anesthesia at Kaiser Permanente. This experience gives him a unique perspective on treating prescription drug addiction.
