Addiction and Anxiety Counselling

Abstract

Addiction and anxiety often go hand in hand. Depression may be the reason an addict begins using drugs or alcohol or, it may develop as the addiction progresses. Dual diagnosis of addiction and anxiety is, when a person has an addiction plus a psychiatric illness such as anxiety, doctors say that they have a “dual diagnosis”. The term is a reminder for the counsellors, physicians, and other medical professionals that this client has extra challenges on the road to recovery. Depression and other psychiatric illnesses increase the risk of addiction. Of all people who are diagnosed as having a psychiatric illness, roughly 29% are alcohol or drug abusers. As many as 37% of people who abuse alcohol and 53% of people who abuse drugs, have at least one serious mental illness. Depression, already common in the general population, is even more common among alcoholics and drug abusers. In this paper highlights the symptoms, causes, factors and counselling techniques of Addiction and Anxiety.