You may know someone who is fighting to rise above a drug addiction. Or, you may know someone who is struggling to overcome the symptoms of a mental illness. But you probably didn’t know that for more than 10 million Americans, the real obstacle is not one or the other—for many, it’s trying to recover from both.
”The road to recovery is riddled with setbacks,” said Alan Flory, ReDiscover President and CEO. “One of the biggest hurdles for those with drug addictions is identifying and treating a mental illness that they may not even know they have. Likewise, many families do not recognize that their mentally ill family member also has a substance abuse problem.”
According to data from the National Co-morbidity Survey, between 41% and 65.5% of people with an addictive disorder also have at least one mental disorder, and 51% of those with a mental disorder also have at least one addictive disorder.
Flory said, “In many instances, one problem may be discovered while the other issue is missed. For example, symptoms of depression might first be detected by a parent or a teacher, but a drug addiction might not be revealed. Or, a meth addiction could be exposed by the police department but bipolar disorder is not suspected. Symptoms of one issue may overshadow or mask symptoms of the other.”
One reason it can be so difficult to unravel the symptoms is because so many people simply don’t understand how substance abuse and mental illness work hand in hand.
ReDiscover Counselor and IOP Coordinator Angie Lewis explained, “Individuals with both issues may wrongly imagine that their drug problem and their mental illness are completely separate from each other. They may compartmentalize their issues and only blame drug abuse for creating a life threatening situation. Or, they may believe that the mental illness is the only cause of their pain. It’s actually more complicated than that.”
Common consequences that are associated with combinations of both substance abuse and mental illness include:
- Family problems
- Low self-esteem
- Anxiety
- Unemployment
- Increased emergency room admissions
- multiple hospitalizations
- divorce
- abuse to self and others
- School problems
- High risk behavior while driving
- Legal problems
- Possible incarceration
- Homelessness
- Suicide
Flory added, “Those who struggle with mental illness and substance abuse face a huge scope of problems. It’s difficult enough to cope with one problem, but the effects can be devastating on an individual and an entire family when the two issues are at work and only half of the situation is understood. The symptoms of substance abuse and mental illness are intertwined because both issues deeply affect the thoughts, personality, emotions, and behavior of the same individual. That’s why ReDiscover provides integrated treatment for people with addiction and mental illness.”
Help is available. If you suspect that someone you care about is struggling with a combination of substance abuse and mental illness, call ReDiscover’s Crisis & Access Line at 816-966-0900. ReDiscover provides help, hope, and healing for mental illness and substance abuse. ReDiscover is helping the community fight its drug problems by expanding its services to provide a new local program to help people in Lee’s Summit who have substance abuse issues.
For more information, visit www.rediscovermh.org.
###
