The Link Between Mental Illness and Drug Addiction
An often asked question is, “why do so many addicts suffer from other mental illnesses?" and also, “which came first, the mental illness or the addiction?” Researchers at the Indiana University Medical School are looking beyond the widespread conclusion that addiction is the result of ‘self-medication’ in response to an existing mental health challenge, and are investigating the function and health of the brain itself. Dual diagnosis is common yet difficult to treat. Clinical reports cite that at least half the people who seek help with addiction or mental-health treatment have co-occurring disorders. The research team led by Andrew Chambers, MD, has found that the link between addiction and mental illness may be isolated to a walnut-sized part of the brain, the ‘amygdala’ as related to its integrity and development. Their findings are promising, leading toward improved effectiveness in the treatments for dual diagnosis.
"Given that the experimental and control rats were raised in the same tightly controlled conditions, the only difference being their brain status, researchers concluded that the integrity of the amygdala was the root cause of both impaired fear behavior and heightened drug response."
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December 17th, 2007 at 10:38 am
I have been diagnosed with dual diagnosis. I have been able to attain sobriety. I used therapy as a supplement to the twelve steps of alcoholics anonymous. The therapy was beneficial in the first few months of my therapy. The group therapy, provided at Gatehouse, was very useful. I found that I was not the only person who has other issues besides being an alcoholic and an addict.
January 8th, 2008 at 4:29 pm
This is pretty interesting stuff. It does say in Chapter 5 in the book Alcoholics Anonymous “There are those, too, who suffer from grave emotional and mental disorders” p.58.
I guess on a certain level this isn’t all that surprising. I can see how really having the psych stuff down to a science (literally) can (and has been) very helpful for those who are effected. I know that it was right around the time that I had 6-8months of sobriety that I realized I was depressed. It was strange, before it seemed like I was angry all the time. After taking a personal inventory the anger left which is when I realized that I was actually struggling with depression. I don’t think I had never been sober long enough (emotionally or physically) to understand that.
I think it is great that they are putting some of the pieces together on “dual diagnosis” situations. I hope it means that more people will be able to find and stay in recovery.
January 9th, 2008 at 1:15 pm
This is a really interesting article! I was a self medicator in my use, and a lot of my struggle was trying to find the right combination of different substances to “fix” my problems. I never thought of myself as an alcoholic, only as someone who suffered from different disorders and ailments. When i got to Gatehouse and started getting help with some of my problems, i found that even feeling better i still had the pecuiliar mental twist that us alcoholics have. Once i received help from my therapist and the Doctors here at Gatehouse i was able to really start focusing on the steps to get my alcoholism under control. Being dual diagnosed it has been a combination of outside resources and the steps that have helped me to be sober today!
March 7th, 2008 at 11:47 am
For many years, I was one of those people who could get sober, but not stay sober. At various times I would have a year or two of sobriety, and then, for reasons unknown to me at the time, I’d drink again. Finally, I sought inpatient treatment and learned that, in addition to being an alcoholic, I had a serious mood disorder with accompanying mood swings, severe insomnia, racing thoughts, crying jags, and overall emotional hypersensitivity. When I drank, these symptoms were resolved temporarily, but then my alcoholism would kick in and I would find myself on a series of senseless sprees. since I received the proper treatment for my mood disorder, I have been clean and sober, one day at a time.