Anxiety and addiction can be seen among a number of female clients due to anxiety disorders including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). More and more clients with PTSD and anxiety are seeking help for their dual diagnoses for traumas unrelated to war. Anxiety and addiction often occur hand in hand. Treating anxiety and addiction concurrently offers clients the best chances for recovery.
Trauma, Anxiety and Addiction
More and more clients are seeking treatment for anxiety and addiction. These are people who have been traumatized due to different circumstances and events. Treatment can be crucial, as these feelings often manifest in dangerous self-mutilation including cutting, burning and inking.
Anxiety and Addiction – A Common Pair
Anxiety and addiction make up a common dual diagnosis. A dual diagnosis is when a client of addiction has been diagnosed with at least one accompanying mental health disorder such as anxiety. Addiction affects anxiety and anxiety affects addiction, making it important for clients to seek treatment. Some clients develop anxiety as a result of their substance abuse and addiction or as a result of life events related to it. Other clients become addicted to substances as they attempt to self-medicate to treat anxiety. Still in other cases, it is not so clear what the correlation is between a client’s anxiety and addiction.
Treatment for the Dual Diagnosis
If you have anxiety and addiction, please seek help for both in order to achieve successful results. Anxiety left untreated can lead to a relapse or block the path to recovery and addiction left untreated can worsen the symptoms of anxiety. At a drug and alcohol rehabilitation center, you can treat both concurrently with effective, tried-and-true treatment methods. In fact, the main treatment method for anxiety is also the main treatment method for addiction – psychotherapy.
Psychotherapy works by helping you uncover your personal, underlying causes for your addiction and/or mental health disorder. This gives you great guidance and tools in working to overcome addiction and in working to manage the symptoms of your mental health disorder. Psychotherapy sessions are conducted in various manners including family therapy, one-on-one sessions, group therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy.
Stress management and lifestyle counseling are also both helpful in the treatment of anxiety and addiction. This is because stress is a major factor for substance abuse as well as for exacerbating the symptoms of anxiety. Tailoring your lifestyle in a manner that allows you to manage stress and lead a healthy lifestyle is beneficial for managing both anxiety and addiction.
If you or a woman you love is having problems with drug abuse, alcohol dependency or mental illness, women’s drug rehab may be the answer. Remember that recovery from addition and alcohol abuse treatment means learning how to cope with intensely emotional situations, and identifying when you need help and support. Treatment for addiction relapse, counseling and aftercare can help you do this, so please call us today. Destination Hope is a full service addiction and women’s health treatment facility in Florida for women who suffer from substance abuse and behavioral health issues.