Authors: David Peters
Year: 2016
Event: 2016 TheMHS Conference
Subject: Addiction and Mental Health, advocacy, attitudes, stigma and discrimination, challenges, communities, co-morbidity, lived experience, resilience and grief, social justice, social inclusion, wellbeing, mental health carers ARAFMI nsw sydney
Type of resource: Conference Presentations and Papers
Abstract: Introduction
Developing increased mental illness such as anxiety and depression is a common theme amongst recovering addicts, and this can often lead to relapse. When people are motivated to manage their own illnesses, they will often need to develop skills and supports to control symptoms and to pursue an abstinent lifestyle (Drake, et. al, 2001).
Body
Many addicts report embarking on a life of addiction as being a solution to combating feelings of inadequacy in social settings. These anxiety-based behaviours may be successfully masked in the form of an instant gratification. Once ‘unmasked’, there may be minimal ability in dealing with such concerns.
Therefore, many addicts may view their newly found mental illness as a very consequence of their journey of sobriety.
Conclusion
There is no clear evidence supporting any advantage of substance misuse programs for those with serious mental illness over the value of standard care (Bellack, et. al, 2006). Subsequently, there is a great need for more community based mental health treatment options to be available specifically for people recovering from substance addiction.
This presentation will discuss the need for increased mental health services specifically for supporting recovering addicts through the longer term phases of their recovery.
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