How Drinking and Drugs Can Worsen Depression and Anxiety

According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), about 15.5% of women and men in the United States suffer from major depressive disorder, and 19.1% battle some form of anxiety disorder. In addition, 8.1% have a mental health illness plus abuse substances, such as alcohol and recreational drugs. 

Drinking and drugging feel good in the moment, and offer temporary relief from anxiety and depression. However, these quick fixes don’t actually fix anything and, ultimately, make your mental health issues worse.

In addition to their lack of efficacy, these types of self-medication strategies are dangerous. More than 96,000 women, men, and kids died of drug overdose between March 2020 and March 2021.

Our expert counselors at The Soho Center for Mental Health Counseling in Greenwich Village, New York City, New York, help you find better coping strategies to manage mental health symptoms without turning to self-medication. We often recommend substance use treatment in tandem with counseling for anxiety or depression.

Why do alcohol and drug use worsen depression and anxiety? The answers are below.

Alcohol is a depressant

When you first become tipsy or drunk, you may feel energized and get a surge of relief from the symptoms of anxiety and depression. That drink, or that drug, may seem to give the courage to go to a party you dreaded, or give that presentation at work.

However, alcohol is actually a psychotropic depressant of the central nervous system (CNS). It interferes with your ability to:

• Move in a coordinated fashion
• Store information
• Process information
• Use logic
• Delay gratification

Alcohol also stimulates your reward system, so it’s hard to say “no” to the next drink. And the next drink. And the next. Abusing alcohol is the most common type of substance abuse disorder in the U.S.

Cannabis suppresses agency

Like alcohol, cannabis activates your body’s reward system and releases dopamine, a feel-good hormone. That “shot” of dopamine can become addictive, as your brain and body crave more and more to maintain stability.

Unlike alcohol, cannabis use doesn’t come with a surge of energy or euphoria. Instead, you may feel completely relaxed and “chill,” which could be a great relief from anxiety or depression.

However, cannabis abuse and addiction change the way you think, feel, and behave. You crave the next hit of dopamine so fiercely that you forget about the things you need to do to survive. You may lose your appetite, withdraw from loved ones, and start to skip work.

In addition, if you already have a mental health issue, you have a higher-than-normal risk of becoming addicted to cannabis. If you use other substances, including alcohol or cigarettes, that increases your risk of addiction even more dramatically.

Substance abuse breaks down your body

It’s harder to be mentally healthy when you’re physically unwell. Although alcohol and drugs may grant you a brief period of euphoria, these substances wreak havoc on your body and brain, weakening you over time.

When you abuse substances, one consequence may be a loss of appetite. If you don’t eat, and especially if you don’t eat healthy proteins and vegetables, your body isn’t nourished because it lacks the nutrients it needs to break down damaged cells and build healthy new ones.

Without proper nourishment, your body literally begins to eat itself. You may have noticed that some long-term alcoholics and drug users are unusually thin. They’re probably in a state called sarcopenia, in which your body burns muscle tissue for fuel. As they lose their muscles, they lose strength, too.

Counseling gives you healthier, longer-lasting remedies

Though a bottle, joint, or pill may seem like a quick fix for anxiety or depression, that relief can’t last and will only make your life more difficult and painful in the long run. Although counseling may not give you a surge of dopamine, it helps you learn new skills and strategies to deal with the symptoms of anxiety and depression.

Instead of a “quick fix,” you get lifelong coping strategies that you can use in many areas of your life. If you already use substances as a means of managing your mental health symptoms, we recommend substance use counseling as well as help with your anxiety or depression.

You can start your journey toward freedom from anxiety, depression, and substance abuse by phoning or scheduling an online appointment with our helpful office staff. You may also choose convenient, HIPAA-compliant teletherapy sessions.