Did you know many of the people who suffer from addiction are people who silently struggle with anxiety? While it is not the case for everyone, it is the case for many. These individuals often do not realize that the symptoms they are experiencing, such as nervousness, heart palpations, extreme stress, and anxiousness are the kinds of symptoms that are commonly associated with an anxiety disorder. Unfortunately, those people may turn to drugs to ease the difficult symptoms they are experiencing, which only ends up making the situation even worse because they end up addicted to something that puts their lives at risk.
Understanding Anxiety
Anxiety may be caused by several different factors. For many people, it is a matter of genetics. If someone’s parents suffer from the disorder, there is a good chance that they will end up with the disorder at some point in the future, too. However, genetics are not the only cause of this condition. Environmental factors play a significant role in the development of anxiety.
A person may start suffering from the condition because they are dealing with some financial struggles or because they have gone through traumatic events and are dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder, such as abuse or even domestic violence. It is something that can happen to a person at any age, even if this person never experienced symptoms of the condition in the past. Sometimes it creeps up on a person out of nowhere, seemingly making life more difficult for them.
The Importance of Getting Help
Getting the right type of help for anxiety is most important because anxiety and addiction tend to go hand in hand. When a person does not know how to properly deal with the things that are going on in his or her life, that person may start to look for some sort of relief, even if it means using substances that are illegal or possibly habit-forming. Unfortunately, there are some people who have made the unfortunate decision to self-treat themselves instead of looking for answers by speaking with a physician about the symptoms they are feeling.
Proper treatment for anxiety disorder may include prescription medication and different forms of therapy, such as cognitive behavioral therapy. While receiving cognitive behavioral therapy, a person will focus mainly on trying to make some changes to the way that he or she thinks and reacts to different types of situations. It takes time to see some improvements, but many people who receive this form of therapy have managed to see results and have started feeling like they are more in control of their situation.
Getting Help With the Addiction
If an individual has already started using drugs to conceal and cope with the symptoms of anxiety and has since become addicted to those substances, it is important for that person to receive help at a treatment center that openly discusses co-occurring disorders in addiction and offers dual diagnosis treatment. The dual diagnosis treatment revolves around helping the individual detox to eliminate any specific kind of drugs from the system while working toward treating the root of the addiction, which may be the undiagnosed anxiety disorder that the individual suffers from and has not received help with yet.
During time spent at a rehab center, a person with this disorder can receive a diagnosis, begin therapy sessions, and even start taking medication that is commonly prescribed to those who suffer from anxiety. The medication may help to ease some of the symptoms while making the individual feel more relaxed and comfortable. Learning to cope with the disorder in a much healthier way is the goal for all clients who come into the rehab center for treatment because of the addiction they have due to their anxiety getting the best of them.
While such a disorder can take its toll on a person’s mental health, there are better ways to cope than to use drugs. Addiction and anxiety have a connection because many of the people who are currently addicted to different types of drugs initially started using the drugs because they wanted to improve the way that they felt, and they wanted to ease the symptoms of the disorder, such as those strong feelings of stress, anxiousness, and nervousness. However, healthier treatment options are available and anyone with an addiction should think about staying at a treatment center that offers dual diagnosis treatment options.