Post Traumatic Stress and substance abuse: Unraveling the connection

Post Traumatic Stress and substance abuse: Unraveling the connection

Posttraumatic stress disorder (also called PTSD) is referred to as an aggravated form of an anxiety disorder and develops after any individual’s exposure to any kind of a life threatening, life altercating or extremely serious event. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder does not simply go away. The numerous symptoms of PTSD can turn into both acute and chronic over time. Their occurrences are seen in short or sometime prolonged “phases”. The longevity of these phases is unknown and they might even reemerge after months or years, with the same intensity. Such sort of severe trauma can hamper successful long-term relationships with family, friends, and partners and even work place relations. Such types of post traumatic stress time and again leads to drug-dependency and other unpredictable and absurd behaviors for emotional relief.

Post traumatic stress rehabs are designed for those with unsettled trauma going in relapse; those whose pain feels insurmountable, those who cannot achieve sobriety until their trauma is resolved. The rehab provides sufferers with the restoration of hope, recovery and healing. The management of post traumatic stress is multifold. It has many facets and is a complex process.

The term dual diagnosis is often used to describe the condition wherein a person suffers from a mental illness and the problem of drug/alcohol or substance abuse. There are many theories to explain the relationship between mental illness and substance abuse, some of them being Causality, Alleviation of Dysphoria theory and super sensitive theory.

Undertaking a dual diagnosis treatment in substance abusers is very difficult because drug abuse itself often induces psychiatric symptoms. Therefore it is extremely necessary to differentiate between substance induced and pre-existing mental illness.

For The dual diagnosis treatment to be successful, the treatement of the two disorders should be integrated. Both the problems should be dealt with at the same time, equally and without a bias. People affected by Post traumatic stress may, as an alternative to escape the trauma, use substance addiction as a defense mechanism. It can be very difficult to find appropriate treatment opportunities for these people. And because most of the substance-abuse rehabs do not accept people with serious psychiatric conditions, and many psychiatric centers do not have expertise with substance abuse, the treatment of such patients needs the dual diagnosis treatment at specific, professionally staffed Post traumatic stress rehabs, which bring about a cure over both the problems at the same centre.