(ThySistas.com) Mood disorders and depression make some people turn to meth abuse. They believe that it will help them get better only to end up dependent on it. Such abusers rely on the euphoria effects that ice gives them thinking that it will help them cure their mental illness. What they fail to realize is that this feeling may last for a few hours then their depression gets worse.
Meth withdrawal symptoms are not easy to cope with since, at this stage, mental illness could become worse. Such conditions are what makes people continue relying on the drug to feel better because withdrawing becomes a challenge leading them to addiction. A survey shows that meth abuse and depression go hand in hand and meth adds to your illness instead of reducing it. More than 40% of adults using meth have been found to have a history of depression.
What is the connection between meth and depression?
Injecting crystal meth into your blood causes adjustments to the neurotransmitters in your brain that are responsible for your moods and behavior. When you continue taking the drug, fewer neurotransmitters such as dopamine that cause euphoria are produced. Less production of the receptors creates depressed feeling due to the toxicity of crystal meth. Rather than feeling happy like the first time, your depression becomes elevated. This impairs the potential for you to experience pleasure.
Symptoms of depression while taking meth
Anxiety
75% of people who use meth develop anxiety. The feeling might get worse if you started using meth to self-medicate from such mental conditions. You are bound to suffer irritability and nervousness that does not let you calm down around people. Being paranoid about bad events happening may make you more depressed and cause muscle tension as you fidget too much while working.
Psychosis
Meth- induced- psychosis increases depression due to emotional blunting and inability to communicate effectively. Your speech may become incoherent, and delusions may kick in due to chronic use of meth. Hallucinations caused by the drug may make you depressed due to imaginary bugs.
Suicidal thoughts
Meth withdrawal is so severe that some people contemplate suicidal thoughts. Depression caused by the drug gives one self-harming behavior. A feeling of hopelessness and unworthiness are familiar among meth users.
Confusion caused by memory loss
The National Institute on Drug Abuse shows that too much meth alters the normal functioning of the regions that are responsible for your memory in your brain. When these sections are tampered with, you are likely to experience confusion since your memory starts disappearing leading to more depression.
Impaired judgment
Abusing crystal meth leads to making risky decisions without thinking of the consequences. This may include unprotected sex which may get you infected with different diseases. It adds to your stress because apart from knowing how to handle your addiction, you have new conditions to think about. Stealing money to afford the drug may become a habit.
Lethargy
When high, this substance gives you the energy to carry out multiple tasks at once. Withdrawing from the drug may take away your energy to work as before thus making you depressed. Taking more to gain back your energy makes you dependent on meth.
Intense cravings
Withdrawing from the drug may make you crave it more. Such urges add to your depression as you try to break the habit without assistance and realize that you may be relapsing every time. This leads to cycles of irritability and agitation because of not knowing how to break the habit.
Isolation
Such feelings cause ice addicts to isolate themselves from others and indulge in more abuse to hide the pain that they are feeling. This is what makes treatment hard because you may find yourself in rehab and yet keep to yourself instead of socializing with people who can help. Depression tends to make you feel unwanted and unloved.
Treatment
Detoxification
Meth detox involves choosing a treatment program that helps a doctor determine the intensity of your depression and ice abuse. Your doctor recommends abstaining from the substance for a week as they monitor how your body is reacting to the change. This helps your body balance the required levels of dopamine in your brain so that they are not too low nor too high.
If your symptoms are not so severe, home detox with supervision from a nurse could also work. Supported withdrawal is helpful when a nurse uses a plan to help you with your cravings. They provide you with nutritional diet to help you detox as you take some few days off work.
Medication
Anti-depressant bupropion is a useful substance that minimizes the urge for more meth as well as helps you to manage depression. Anti-anxiety medicines will help you get rid of the anxiety. In case you are experiencing psychosis, your doctor will prescribe anti-psychosis medicines to prevent further hallucinations.
Motivational interview
Managing depression and meth addiction is not easy on your own. Inspirational interviews help meth users share experiences of their journey with the drug and how they are coping with depression. Counseling sessions help you manage your habits so that you can break relapses and stay on the right track.
Cognitive therapy
This works towards your thinking and behavioral patterns. A program that offers such treatment encourages you to have a schedule of the things that you should be doing the whole week as a way of changing your lifestyle to a more productive one. They aim at keeping you motivated in order to fight your depression. Therapy addresses suicidal thoughts to help you overcome your fears.
Final thoughts
Fighting both disorders may not be easy, but it does not mean that it is impossible. People should know that meth is not a solution to their depression. If you have this mental illness, address it with the help of a professional instead of turning to such deadly drugs. In case you are already into crank that is making your depression worsen, get proper care no matter how hard it may seem and replace addiction habits with activities that make you happy. Depression starts with the mind, and the more you declare positive thoughts to yourself, the faster you heal, for there is reliable power in positive thinking.
Staff Writer; Lisa Brown