Month: January 2023

Mental illness is often the result of struggles that arise, leading people to be unable to care for themselves properly. Mental illness can be impacted by various environmental, mental, societal, and physical factors.

Alcoholism falls under addiction, which is classified as a disease, and though it can be difficult, it is a disease you can find a cure for. Unfortunately, there is no medication or specific treatment that cures it; it comes down to your specific needs.

Both alcoholism and mental illness are highly stigmatized in today’s society. You may have a mental illness that is not related to alcoholism, but if you suffer from Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD), you classify it as a mental illness.

The best thing you can do is to seek specialized treatment to treat all underlying mental illnesses that may or may not be contributing to your alcohol use.

Keep reading to learn more about how alcoholism and mental illness are intertwined.

Alcohol and Mental Health

To best understand how alcohol and mental health coexist, it’s best to understand how alcoholism can happen and the different stages. Alcohol is a commonly used substance that doesn’t always lead to substance abuse, but having other mental health issues can contribute to substance misuse.

By getting to the bottom of the correlation between these two, you can begin to see why you or a loved one might struggle with both.

What Is Mental Illness?

Because alcoholism is a mental illness, it’s important to understand what it entails. Mental illness prevents a person from behaving or coping normally, meaning the ability to regulate emotions or make good decisions can feel more difficult.

Mental illness can bring forth pain not visible to the eye, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t there. It can also be very difficult and, for some, embarrassing to come forward about their struggles with mental illness. This means that not everyone gets the correct help to feel better.

As a result, more people turn to self-medicating to numb their pain. Alcohol and other substances have effects that can trick you into thinking that you’re no longer depressed or anxious. This is where the tie between mental illness and alcoholism comes into play.

What Is Alcoholism?

Alcoholism is unfortunately common and sometimes difficult to see happening right in front of you. There are different levels of alcoholism that all impact the brain and your life. Catching on early can really help to find the root of the problem and get you treatment sooner than later.

Problematic Drinking

What may have once been social drinking and very casual can become problematic. At this stage of alcoholism, it may not even be noticeable to the person drinking that things are taking a turn for the worse. But those around might begin to notice changes in behavior and increased drinking.

Financial and health issues may begin to arise during this period. Withdrawal symptoms are prevalent enough that when there is a lack of alcohol in the system, the person will feel cravings for it. This person will need alcohol to do just about anything, including wake up and get to work or function in social settings.

Severe Alcohol Abuse

After the problematic stage, you enter into severe alcohol abuse. At this point, the user is dependent on the substance and will experience rough withdrawal symptoms if they don’t drink daily. This stage impacts both the physical and mental health of a person.

You might experience more irritability, anger, stress, anxiety, depression, and aggression. It will be more difficult to control these feelings; others might view you as unpredictable. People around you may mention the issues they see, but often apprehensively.

At this stage, it is common to see people pulling away from their friends and family who want the best for them because it goes against what alcohol demands.

Obsessive Alcohol Abuse

Full-blown alcoholism has set in at this point. The user will need alcohol in their system at any point of the day to ‘function.’ This is because they have been programming their brain to expect alcohol, so when there isn’t enough in the body, the body feels like it’s going to shut down.

Often, an alcoholic will be so consumed with ensuring when they get their next drink that, it’s the only thing on their mind.

How Does Alcohol and Mental Illness Impact Each Other?

Alcoholism and mental illness is not a cause-and-effect situation. Instead, they often co-occur because of the way that they can both contribute to each other. Mental illness can contribute to substance use, and substance use can greatly impact mental health.

Co-Occurring Diagnosis

A person might use substances to try to minimize their feelings of depression, but at the same time, those substances can increase anxiety or paranoia. Over 50 percent of people with substance use disorder also have one or more mental illnesses.

Having a co-occurring diagnosis can be both helpful and difficult at the same time. When you know what you’re trying to treat, you can get the proper treatment to help both disorders. Though, having a co-occurring diagnosis means you’re more likely to struggle more intensely, with both disorders feeding into each other.

Affecting the Brain

In recent years, studies have looked more deeply into the impact alcohol has on the brain. It has been found that the more you drink, the more likely your brain’s makeup is to alter and significantly become less functional.

Your brain becomes dependent on the alcohol you’re feeding it, so without alcohol in the system, your brain will react negatively. It thinks that something is wrong if there is no alcohol in the body, convincing you that you need more to be okay.

Alcohol affects the prefrontal cortex and cognitive function, the basal ganglia, which supports motor function, and the extended amygdala, which controls reward recognition. If these parts of the brain are being impacted, it will increase the cravings an alcoholic feels.

Avoiding Treatment

As mentioned above, it can be difficult to find the right treatment when you struggle with a co-occurring diagnosis. Many people go undiagnosed for their mental illness or substance abuse, so when they go to get treatment for the other (if they do), they aren’t given the proper treatment plan.

This can lead to fewer people seeking out treatment. Especially if they had tried in the past but found that all the plans they tried were unsuccessful. If you aren’t considering all aspects of your mental health, you may not find success easily.

Is Alcoholism Considered a Mental Illness?

The short answer is: yes. Alcoholism and alcohol use disorder are considered to be mental illnesses. This became the case in 1980 when the American Psychiatric Association identified it as a primary mental health disorder in the DSM. This means that it’s not a choice to become an alcoholic and that there are treatments that can help you fight back and enter recovery.

Alcoholism is not just a problem for a certain kind of person in a specific setting. It can affect anyone at any stage in their life. Treatment is necessary to overcome substance abuse.

Getting Treatment for Alcoholism with Soba Recovery

At Soba Recovery Center in San Antonio, Texas, you don’t have to worry about getting the right treatment plan because we work with you to understand your needs better. During the screening process, we will dive into your past medical and mental health issues to see if you could be struggling with co-occurring mental illness and substance use disorder.

Not only will your substance use be treated through medically-assisted treatment (MAT) and therapy, but your mental health will be considered and treated as well. If you’re experiencing withdrawal symptoms, staying in an inpatient or detoxification program is in your best interest. This will give more responsibility to you and your actions.

During treatment, you are taught how to cope with your mental illness, improve your health, and regulate your thoughts and emotions better. All of this will become much easier as you progress through your recovery.

Soba Recovery offers inpatient services for those who need 24/7 around-the-clock care, outpatient care for those who still need to maintain some of their responsibilities, and sober living for people looking to find support in their community with like-minded individuals. If this could benefit your recovery journey, reach out to a Soba representative today!

Sources:

Alcoholism and Psychiatric Disorders | NIAAA

Alcohol-Use Disorder and Severe Mental Illness | NCBI

Alcohol and the Brain: An Overview | NIAAA

People can enter into addiction at any stage of their life. They might be happily married to their high school sweetheart and not fall victim until 20 years in, or they might become dependent during college while going on dates and trying to form connections.

For those that have struggled with addiction or have been in relationships with people who have substance use problems, it’s well-known just how difficult maintaining a healthy and happy relationship is. No matter how much you love your partner, addiction will always feel like it’s stealing your partner away.

Learning how to navigate a healthy relationship while dealing with alcohol or drug addiction is almost as much work as working on your addiction. Drug or alcohol addiction and the destructive behavior it can cause can impact a relationship just as much as a relationship can impact a person’s addiction. To benefit one, the other must be worked on simultaneously.

Keep reading to learn more about navigating a healthy partnership during addiction by understanding how to maintain good behaviors and communicate appropriately.

The Reality of Substance Abuse and Relationships

Many people can recount their relationships with family members, friends, or partners lost due to substance abuse and its impact on mental health.

Unfortunately, many people who struggle with addiction will have a story about someone that is no longer a part of their life because of their substance use. That person may have had to draw healthy boundaries to meet their own needs instead of focusing solely on another person’s addiction recovery.

Addiction does not hold back and can convince you to do many things that are not good for your well-being. While substance abuse is extremely difficult to deal with as an addict, addiction also affects the person in a relationship with the abuser.

Partners of addicted people often experience intense anxiety about their safety and health, might financially struggle if they are supporting their loved one, and feel guilt about facilitating addiction or not intervening successfully. These issues make it difficult to set boundaries and can lay the foundation for an unhealthy relationship.

The cycle of guilt and sorrow that forms with addiction can seem never-ending. This weighs heavily on a partnership. Often, the partner of someone with substance abuse must also do what is best for them and their health, and that can be leaving the relationship to work on finding happiness.

This difficult decision can mean negative reactions from the person struggling, resulting in a spiral, but it’s the reality for many. This is why healthy relationships and patterns are important. If you cannot practice healthy habits, you might not be ready to be in a relationship until you learn to take better care of your well-being.

Challenges That Addiction Brings

When in a relationship with someone struggling with addiction, many unique challenges may arise that a normal relationship pairing wouldn’t quite understand. Of course, in any normal, healthy relationship, issues come and go. Addiction makes things tricky.

Normal healthy partners aren’t constantly worried that their partner is potentially in danger or harm every time they go out. They might not have to take care of finances, bills, rent, food, child care, or schooling alone and might have better communication and trust. These are all issues that can arise in a relationship involving addiction.

Lack of Trust

For people struggling with addiction, lying and being deceitful might come with the territory. This can cause many issues in a relationship, but the implications can be much more dangerous when drugs and other substances are involved. A lack of trust can form between two people when substance abuse becomes prevalent.

A lot of denial goes into addiction, and it’s very hard for someone with substance use disorder to be truthful about their using habits and other aspects of their life. They might lie about where they are going, who they are going out with, where certain money is going, how their job or school is doing, and so much more.

These lies can add up and become overwhelming. Not only are they difficult to keep track of, but they diminish your trust in your partner, which is detrimental to a relationship.

Financial Issues

With substance use disorder comes financial issues. Drugs and alcohol cost money, and things can sure get expensive. In an equal relationship, money and finances must be a part of daily communication to function as a partnership.

With addiction, money can seem to fly out the door. There can be an imbalance of power when an addicted partner uses money their partner has earned and uses it to support them.

This kind of struggle can be overwhelming and lead to further issues in the relationship. It can sever trust and prevent people from helping you in the future.

Safety concerns

Not only are there safety concerns for the partner addicted to substances, but also for the partner who is not. You can cross paths with many people when you get involved with drugs and other substances. Some people might get into financial trouble with others as a result of their use, and this can be a concern for their partner.

Additionally, drugs and alcohol can push someone into dangerous situations where they could seriously harm themselves or others, including instances of physical abuse. No one should have to put themselves at risk due to another person’s drug use, and in many cases, the danger is what really drives people away.

Emotional Connection and Instability

On top of safety and finances, relationships are hard work. People crave intimacy and emotional connections with their partners, which isn’t always given when a person struggles with substance abuse. It’s difficult to be in a relationship with someone who isn’t putting all of their energy into it and is actively creating more distance due to drug use.

Someone using drugs and alcohol might not be fully present in a relationship until they have done work for themselves to enter into recovery. In contrast, the addicted partner might also struggle with codependency and rely on their partner completely.

This partner may suffer from low self-esteem due to their addiction and experience an inability to practice healthy self-care. Until they want to change and seek help, you may not see a stable and healthy relationship form.

Learning To Create Balance

To maintain a healthy relationship while struggling with addiction, it may come as no surprise that you need to work really hard. Finding someone who supports you throughout your recovery process is essential.

Still, you need to put in the work too! You can’t expect your partner to do everything for you and support you through everything if you aren’t trying your hardest to get better.

Recovery comes first

You can only maintain balance if you are actively working towards recovery. Recovery needs to be your main goal because the only true way for your relationship to prosper and be healthy is for you to find a solution to your addiction-related issues. Your partner will need to see that you are doing the work, so they know all of their efforts are worth it.

For people in a relationship with someone struggling with addiction, you have to allow them to focus on their recovery. Supporting them, showing up for them, and holding them accountable can help them throughout the process, even if it’s difficult.

This will give them additional confidence in themselves to overcome their addiction, knowing their loved ones are behind them.

Open and Consistent Communication

One of the biggest issues of having a relationship with someone in active addiction is lying and deceit. A way to combat this is to work on open and honest communication. Once you disrupt the trust your partner has been building with you, you can begin to see the cracks form in the relationship.

When you are open in your communication, you don’t need to hide your struggles from your partner. You can communicate your issues and not feel alone trying to deal with them. One of the many benefits of being in a partnership is that you have someone who will be on your side, and with addiction, the more people in your corner, the more likely you are to be successful.

Lead With Kindness

Being in a relationship while struggling with addiction can show your partner the really dark sides of you. You may have to remind yourself that they have your best interest in mind and that how you feel in a moment isn’t necessarily how you feel about your partner.

If you are thoughtful in your reactions to each other and situations that arise, you are more likely to overcome them with grace. Recovery is not easy on anyone, but it’s absolutely worth the few bumps in the road that it comes with. You and your partner will look back one day and know that the love and respect for each other were always there and just waiting to blossom!

Starting a New Relationship During Addiction

It’s not recommended to seek out a new relationship when struggling with addiction. If you are going to try to enter the recovery stage, you need to focus on yourself.

Recovery is not easy, and being by yourself can help keep you more focused on your goals. You might be more vulnerable during this stage of your life, and trying to enter into a relationship could give you further complications.

Reach Out for Help With Soba Recovery

Having your partner’s support can mean so much in your recovery journey, but getting professional help will push you deeper into recovery. If you are serious about recovery from the effects of drug or alcohol addiction, you can get help at Soba Recovery Center in San Antonio, Texas! You can access 24/7 around-the-clock care from treatment providers who want to see you thrive.

One thing about a partnership is that you often have many shared responsibilities within your household and in your relationship. Not everyone can drop everything and enter into inpatient care, but that doesn’t mean you can’t access care. Reach out to a representative to learn more about the following services that Soba provides to learn how you can get help today!

Inpatient Treatment Programs

For those struggling with addiction and needing more care than others, inpatient services are highly recommended. You get access to medically-assisted addiction treatment if you need it, both individual and group therapy and support group sessions, and a sober and supportive community. Inpatient services allow you to be around others struggling with the same problems.

At Soba, you build relationships with medical professionals and the community around you. 24/7 care allows you to get support whenever you need it, which can benefit many struggling people.

Outpatient services

Not everyone can drop what they are doing and enter into inpatient care. Outpatient care offers a solution to this issue. If you have commitments you cannot abandon, you can work with an outpatient program to develop a specialized treatment plan.

Outpatient services still offer therapy, group sessions, activities, and other treatment services to people who need more flexibility when receiving it. Depending on your work or school schedule, you can come in the mornings or late at night.

Sober Living

While living apart from your significant other might not be the goal, sober living can be helpful for some who are in recovery. When you live in a sober facility, you are eliminating the stressors of the outside world, where drug abuse and alcohol abuse could bring an anxiety-inducing situation.

Sober living spaces are supportive of your needs during recovery and give you a space that should be stress-free. Once you can get back out into the real world, you can build even more on your partnership. This time apart might just be what they need to see that you are serious about making strides in your recovery process!

A healthy relationship takes time as it is, but with addiction, it might take a bit longer. There’s no shame in that! Take all the time you need and build up your trust and communication to see your relationship flourish.

Sources:

Romantic Relationships And Substance Use In Early Adulthood: An Examination Of The Influences Of Relationship Type, Partner Substance Use, And Relationship Quality | NCBI.NIH.gov

Substance Abuse and Intimate Relationships | American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy

How Social Relationships Influence Substance Use Disorder Recovery: A Collaborative Narrative Study | NCBI