While in consonance with the National Institute of Mental Health, depression is the most common diagnosis among adults in the United States today.
The above, there appears to be an ordinary tendency among those suffering from depression to abuse drugs or alcohol as a means of coping with their symptoms.
It is estimated that one three out depressed people suffer from some type of addiction or substance abuse problem. For instance, amidst the obstacles they face is while the person may feel depressed, there’re many drugs, including alcohol that create symptoms similar in nature to depression. As well as, dual diagnosis can create a very complex situation for both the professional the individual.
With that said, this selfmedication type generally leads to addiction or alcoholism with the person in need of drug rehab or alcoholism treatment. It is many times though, the depressive disorder appears first and the person begins to use drugs or alcohol as a means to better cope with the symptoms.
It’s not clear that one necessarily precedes the other, albeit there appears to be a clear link between depression and addiction or drug/alcohol use.