Although I believe drug addiction is an illness in and of itself, it is my clinical experience that character insecurities, as well as anxiety and depression, often drive and sustain addictive behavior.
In fact, for those of you who turn to drugs, whether knowingly or unknowingly, as a means of self-medicating your anxiety or depression, your proclivity may be largely driven by biochemical imperatives.
Neuroscience suggests a strong link between mental health disorders and addiction in so far as the same neurotransmitters (dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine) that are responsible for the therapeutic effects of commonly prescribed antidepressants and anti-anxiety agents: Prozac, Zoloft, Cymbalta and the like — are the same neurotransmitters associated with drug addiction.
What I have found most effective in my therapy work with substance abuse addictions is a dual focus approach that addresses the psychological precipitants and the drug addiction syndrome simultaneously. My particular strength in treating drug abuse and addiction is in uncovering and resolving the psychological conflicts that both drives the addiction itself and fuels the symptoms of anxiety and depression associated with the addiction.
Individuals often turn to drugs out of psychological need: to relieve stress or anxiety, self-medicate a depression, overcome social anxiety and social phobia, and to silence that nagging voice of self-doubt and selfrecrimination that plagues us all.
As I assist you in satisfying these psychological needs through healthier means, your cravings to use and abuse drugs often significantly subsides. However, to achieve lasting sobriety, I strongly urge my drugabusing clients to participate in the twelve-step program that targets their particular addiction.Another component of my treatment approach with drug addiction is educating my addictive clients about the drug or drugs they are abusing, and the interplay of these drugs with mental health disorders, particularly anxiety and depression.
All drugs essentially destabilize your psychological and emotional equilibrium; your inner pendulum oscillating between expansive, energizing “highs” and imploding, deflating “lows.” Because abusing drugs overactivates the nervous system, once the desired effects of the drugs wear off, you, the addict, are left physiologically and emotionally drained, prone to agitation and anxiety as well as exhaustion and depression.
Anxiety and depression both fuel addiction and are a byproduct of addiction. The after-effect of depression or anxiety depends on the drug being abused: depressants, like alcohol and opiates, often induce depression during intoxication and anxiety during withdrawal; stimulants, like ecstasy and cocaine, often produce anxiety and euphoria during intoxication, and then depression and lethargy during withdrawal.
I have found that marijuana can act as either a stimulant or depressant, and sometimes both, depending on the personality and brain chemistry of the user. Under its influence, some become physically enlivened and emotionally and intellectually expansive and euphoric, while others become dead-headed and lethargic. Either way, addiction to pot has its unique psychological nuances and complexities that I have extensive experience in treating.
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