Asking “Is depression a mental illness?”, is completely normal for anyone who battles with depression. There are a lot of misconceptions about mental illnesses. To make matters worse, there’s also a lack of education about the depression definition. Many people think that you can just turn depression off like a light switch. However, if you’ve ever suffered from depression, you know it’s not that easy. By understanding how depression works, you may get some answers that you’ve been searching for.
Is Depression a Mental Illness?
The first thing to understand is that having depression doesn’t mean that your brain is defective. The brain has billions and billions of cells called neurons, which send electrical charges to communicate with each other. The chemicals that neurons use to communicate with each other are neurotransmitters. The neurotransmitters in the brain of someone who has depression is wired a little differently than that of the average person.
Depression is, in fact, a mental illness, but it’s definitely one that a person can recover from when they seek help. There are a variety of ways to stimulate these neurotransmitters in the brain to begin healing depressive feelings. The problem is that many people self-medicate with drugs or alcohol as a way to deal with depression. Often, this just makes things worse.
Self-Medicating Your Mental Illness
Depression and anxiety frequently co-occur because one can trigger the other. Dealing with them at the same time can make life unmanageable. When depression hits, it can bring up a lot of feelings of anxiety. In turn, you may feel more depressed. Many people don’t know how to get out of this downward spiral, which can quickly lead to self-medication. The three primary reasons that people abuse drugs or alcohol are to feel something, to avoid feeling something, or to forget something.
If you’ve never been depressed, you may wonder why a person would have to try to feel something. Depression can make you feel numb and empty inside. Those with anxiety may have a brain that never stops, so they turn to certain substances to calm the brain. The problem is that the brain associates substances with feeling well, so it makes a person begin using compulsively.
Overcoming a Dual Diagnosis
Is depression a mental illness that’s feeding your addiction? Individuals who are struggling with an addiction, as well as a substance use disorder, receive a dual diagnosis. It’s imperative to treat both of these in order to get well. A professional drug and alcohol treatment center can help you tackle both issues. Pinnacle Peak Recovery specializes in helping people who struggle with depression, anxiety, and other mental illnesses. Through proven methods like CBT and other evidence-based treatment, we can help provide you with hope for a better life.
Find out more about Pinnacle Peak Recovery’s program by giving us a call today at 866-377-4761.
