Here at JACS we understand that addiction is incredibly complex and requires supports which recognizes these complexities. Concurrent services recognize these complexities with evidenced-based supports for substance use AND its related mental health issues.
Concurrent disorders is a term for any combination of mental health and substance use problems. There is no one symptom or group of symptoms that is common to all combinations.
The combinations of concurrent disorders can be divided into five main groups:
substance use + mood and anxiety disorders, such as depression or panic disorder
substance use + severe and persistent mental health disorders, such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder
substance use + personality disorders, such as borderline personality disorder, or problems related to anger, impulsivity or aggression
substance use + eating disorders, such as anorexia nervosa or bulimia.
other substance use + mental health disorders, such as gambling and sexual disorders.
To understand and treat a particular combination, we need to look at the specific issues to see:
how complex the issues are
how the issues affect each other
Mental health and substance use can affect each other in several ways:
Substance use can make mental health worse.
Substance use can mimic or hide the symptoms of mental health disorders or issues.
Sometimes people turn to substance use to “relieve” or forget about the symptoms of negative mental health.
Some substances can make mental health medications less effective.
Using substances can make people forget to take their medications. If this happens, the mental health issues may come back (“relapse”) or get worse.
When a person relapses in one area, it can trigger the symptoms of the other area.
A person with concurrent disorders will often have more serious medical, social and emotional concerns than if they had only one condition. Treatment may take longer and be more challenging.