Written by Brandon Okey. Mina Draskovic, B.Psy., reviewed this content for accuracy.
Professionals consider addiction to be a mental disorder. To make matters worse, it’s a mental disorder that doesn’t typically appear alone. When two or more disorders or diseases appear at the same time, doctors refer to it as comorbidity. The more that people know about co-occurring disorders, the better the chance that they have to overcome it.
More About Comorbidity
Learning more about what is comorbidity is essential. There’s more to it than just having multiple mental illnesses. This state of health can prevent people from overcoming an addiction if doctors don’t handle it correctly.
In most cases, people don’t just wake up and choose to develop an addiction. Something is usually happening in their lives to cause them distress. Sometimes this distress comes from an outside influence. Other times, it’s the result of an underlying mental disorder.
To help people overcome addiction, therapists must help them deal with the underlying problem. Failure to do so can lead to relapse because the underlying problem likely led to addiction in the first place.
How Do Underlying Mental Disorders Lead to Addiction?
Most of the time, underlying mental health problems lead to addiction through self-medication. Instead of seeking professional help, people attempt to deal with the symptoms of their disorder on their own. Their solution is usually to use alcohol or drugs.
Drugs can provide temporary relief from the symptoms. The problem is that once they wear off, the symptoms return. Because of that, people have to keep abusing drugs to feel relief.
Heavily using drugs in this manner eventually leads to addiction. Since the drugs bring some relief, though, people typically refuse to stop using them. Even after getting addiction help, they return to using drugs if the core problem remains.
Common Mental Health Problems That Accompany Addiction
In terms of addiction, mental health problems such as anxiety, depression, and schizophrenia accompany addiction in some way. However, PTSD and obsessive-compulsive disorder are other common co-occurring mental illnesses.
Keep in mind, though, that these problems don’t always have to come first. Sometimes people develop addiction first, and then other mental health problems develop later. Doing drugs changes the chemical balance of the brain. This imbalance is what leads to the development of other mental health issues.
Find Out How to Get Help Today
What is comorbidity? The professionals at Ardu Recovery Center can help you learn more. We offer Salt Lake City alcohol addiction treatment programs and much more. Beyond comorbidity treatment, we provide services such as:
What is comorbidity? Once you know, it’s time to find help. Finally, don’t let multiple mental health issues prevent you from getting the treatment that you need to overcome addiction. Get help for comorbidity today. Contact Ardu Recovery Center today at 801-810-1234 to begin.
Brandon Okey is the co-founder of Ardu Recovery Center and is dedicated to empowering people on their journey to sobriety.
Learning more about what is comorbidity is essential. There’s more to it than just having multiple mental illnesses. This state of health can prevent people from overcoming an addiction if doctors don’t handle it correctly.
In most cases, people don’t just wake up and choose to develop an addiction. Something is usually happening in their lives to cause them distress. Sometimes this distress comes from an outside influence. Other times, it’s the result of an underlying mental disorder.
To help people overcome addiction, therapists must help them deal with the underlying problem. Failure to do so can lead to relapse because the underlying problem likely led to addiction in the first place.
