Co-Occurring Disorders
If you suffer from issues related to depression and
substance use, finding treatment can be difficult.
Some therapists will not see you if you are using drugs or alcohol or they don’t know how to help you if you have a relapse. Other therapists don’t understand the seriousness of substance use and may expect that your drug or alcohol use will simply go away if you feel better.
On the other hand, you may feel like some addictions counselors don’t take your mental health problems seriously and assume that all your emotional problems will go away if you just stop drinking or using drugs. While this is true for some people, for others, the painful emotional problems existed before the substance use and can continue even after years of sobriety.
Adaptation understands issues related to both depression and substance use and can provide you with a safe environment where both issues will be treated with respect.
What Can You Gain From Treatment
Emotional Issues
- Obtain emotional support to help you through difficult periods of depression.
- Explore your major life conflicts and make important decisions about them.
- Identify your strengths and learn to use them to battle depressive feelings.
- Learn to deal with difficult people, set boundaries, and say no to unreasonable demands.
- Improve relationships with the people you love.
- Set goals effectively and increase your opportunities for success.
- Manage stress to help prevent the onset of depression.
- Make healthy lifestyle changes that allow you to be more resistant to depression.
- Learn to identify and challenge thoughts that trigger feelings of depression.
- Change patterns of damaging behavior that contribute to depression.
Substance Use Issues
- Get objective information on your drug or alcohol use.
- Identify your core values and maintain motivation to address substance use.
- Create a system of accountability and recieve emotional support.
- Manage uncomfortable emotions without drugs or alcohol.
- Learn how to set goals effectively to conquer addictive behaviors.
- Identify your personal triggers to drug or alcohol use.
- Address addictive patterns of thought.
- Learn about resources to help you manage your substance use.
- Obtain referrals to psychiatrists sensitive to issues regarding substance use.
- Cope with family issues created by substance use.
- Regain trust of loved ones with respectful oral fluid drug testing.
