Treatment Options for Substance Abuse Induced Anxiety Disorder
Substance abuse induced anxiety disorders are commonly seen in people who have a substance abuse problem. When people abuse substances such as alcohol or prescriptions drugs, they alter the chemicals of their brain as well as cause their body to develop a dependency on an unnatural substance that they may not have access to sometimes. When their body does not get a substance that it has become dependent on it will go into a shock type mode which can cause disorders to occur such as anxiety.
According to www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov, symptoms of substance-induced disorders run the gamut from mild anxiety and depression, which are the most common, to full-blown manic and other psychotic reactions, which are less common.
Treatment for Substance Abuse Induced Anxiety Disorder
In order to get rid of a substance induced anxiety disorder a person must first tackle the cause of the problem, which is the substance abuse. However, that does not mean that the problem will go away once a person comes clean from a particular substance, but it is the first step to recovery.
Overcoming your substance abuse problem will help you curb the anxiety.
Common anxiety disorders that people suffer from include:
- Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
- Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
- Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)
- Social Anxiety Disorder
- Panic Disorder
Anxiety disorders are typically treated with medication and behavioral therapy or psychotherapy. Anxiety disorders can be extremely difficult for a person to deal with and typically can cause other ailments to occur such as depression.
If a person is hoping to get treatment for an existing anxiety disorder they must first receive a diagnosis from a doctor. A doctor must carefully evaluate an individual to determine the anxiety problem before administering any type of treatment.
According to www.nimh.nih.gov, sometimes alcoholism, depression, or other coexisting conditions have such a strong effect on the individual that treating the anxiety disorder must wait until the coexisting conditions are brought under control. This is why a thorough evaluation needs to be made before any treatment is given.
A substance abuse induced anxiety disorder will have two main steps of treatment. First, the person will need to detox from their addiction, which will most likely involve some type of therapy as well, and then a person will need to begin treatment for their anxiety disorder.
Stopping a substance abuse issue may cause more anxiety to occur at first but if a person admits themself into a rehab program they will have the medical supervision and resources to help to limit their anxiety. Once a person has been clean from a substance for a while their anxiety may decrease but they should still seek out further treatment, such as behavioral therapy, in order to prevent the disorder from reoccurring or from coming back.
Anxiety disorders can significantly cause a person to shut off from the world and cause a person to want to use drugs and alcohol, which is why a person should get treatment immediately after detoxing from a substance so that they can get back to their life without the burden of a substance abuse induced anxiety disorder.
