The Importance of Mental Health Counseling in Addiction Treatment Programs

Substance use disorders almost always occur out of the blue. In most situations, they are the consequences of various mental health problems, and that's a fact that has been proven by many studies.

Therefore, it's of huge importance for every person who is currently going through an addiction treatment program to prioritize their mental health too, if they want to be sure they fully recover from addiction.

Although this isn’t the topic that is often brought up, today, this informative guide will give a lot of its attention to it because it’s vital for everybody to understand the connection between addiction and mental health.

The Link Between The Two

The link between the two is so strong that it can seriously affect the recovery outcome. What lots of people fail to realize is that people who become addicts, usually resort to all kinds of substances because they aren’t capable of dealing with various mental health issues, like depression, anxiety, and many others.

Nearly fifty percent of people who abuse drugs or alcohol struggle with at least one mental health disorder, which just goes to show that there’s a very powerful need for integrated treatment plans.

This is especially the case with younger people, who often exhibit different mental health problems, yet they do not do anything about it (for various reasons). What they don’t know is that their mental health can only get worse due to substance abuse, because it is widely known that it exacerbates current mental health disorders, which can increase the risk of dealing with a bunch of new ones.

Additionally, a lot of young people, particularly teenagers, deal with anxiety or depression together with substance use. That’s precisely why you cannot solely focus on one problem, while completely ignoring the other.

It’s Here To Help You Identify Your Addiction Triggers

No one ever wakes up one day and decides that they want to use drugs and/or alcohol. This decision doesn’t happen overnight, which is why it’s of huge significance what caused someone to resort to them.

And that’s exactly when mental health counseling comes into play. A compassionate team at elevaterecoveryma.com wants to point out the fact that at almost every addiction treatment center, you'll be working with professionals who will help you get a better understanding of all potential triggers that led to this. Without the proper self-awareness, nobody can ever develop efficient coping mechanisms that will help them overcome this.

Of course, every person has different triggers and negative factors that push them toward substance abuse, and if you’re not sure what are your biggest triggers, you can always rely on mental health counselors to help you unveil them, and, concurrently, keep them at bay so you can recover normally.

You’ll Receive The Right Amount Of Support

This whole journey can oftentimes be very challenging, even if you’ve gone through it in the past, and that’s precisely why it’s pivotal to have a sturdy support system. This is something that should go hand in hand with your addiction treatment program.

People who are going through addiction recovery, usually feel very isolated and lonely because they feel as if no one can understand what they are going through. However, when you have good support in your life, all of your burden is going to be drastically alleviated.

Of course, it’s amazing when your friends and family members are here to support you, however, at times, their presence may simply not be enough because they haven’t been in your shoes before, and they may not be able (no matter how hard they try) to be as understanding as you want them to be.

On the other hand, mental health counselors have dealt with people like you (with similar experiences and problems) and they’ll know exactly what needs to be done to offer you positive support.

They are not only here to keep you motivated during your recovery, but also to enhance your self-esteem and overall morale because these are the things that can significantly speed up the recovery.

It Is Here To Help You Build The Necessary Coping Skills And Mechanisms

When you’re trying to eliminate opioids (or anything else that's harmful) from your life, at first, you need to adopt various coping skills and mechanisms that are going to help you move on with your life without ever using drugs and/or alcohol.

In the beginning, it can be challenging to identify them all on your own, which is why it’s always recommended to put your trust in the hands of therapists because they are going to help you successfully and effectively tackle various stressful situations, resolve different issues, and many other things.

Why is it important to build certain coping skills? Namely, many people who are battling drugs and/or alcohol and have embarked on a healing journey have the tendency to bottle up their feelings because they are scared that others will push them away if they see how vulnerable they are.

What they need to understand is that bottling up your emotions can be extremely counterproductive, and cause you to do the opposite, meaning to go back to substance abuse. If you notice that something like this may potentially occur to you, then you need to talk to your counselor about it to see what can be done to prevent this from happening.

Speaking of mental health therapy, bear in mind that it’s not something that you should opt for only during recovery, but after it as well if you want to avoid dealing with relapse. The whole point of therapy after recovery is to ensure you stay on the right track.

Your Quality Of Life Will Be Immensely Better!

When you’re tackling both mental health problems and substance abuse, you are killing two birds with one stone, which will undeniably positively impact the overall quality of your life (including your relationship with others, emotional regulation, etc.).

Addiction shouldn't be perceived as anything strange. It's just like a lot of diseases that impact not only your physical health but your mental health too! And if you want to be your old, happy self, then you need to incorporate mental health counseling into this journey as well!