Depression
Depression Treatment in South Florida
Depression can be debilitating, often accompanying drug and alcohol use disorders. One-third of people diagnosed with major depression also have a problem with alcohol, and it’s similarly true with addiction to drugs. When someone is using drugs or alcohol, it can trigger depression because of the effects of these substances on the brain. On the other hand, for many people, depression can come before addiction, leading to the use of substances to self-medicate and cope with symptoms.
Depression treatment in South Florida is available at Calusa Recovery. Our Fort Myers addiction treatment center includes care for co-occurring mental health disorders as well as evidence-based rehab programs.
What Is Depression?
It’s normal for everyone to experience high and low points in their mood and how they generally feel throughout their life, but clinical depression is something different altogether. With clinical depression, a person’s ability to function normally is affected. Someone with clinical depression may experience difficulties at work, in their relationships, and in other ways.
Depression is also called major depressive disorder, a serious but common medical illness that negatively affects feelings, thoughts, and actions. When you have depression, it can lead to feelings of sadness, you might lose interest in your normal activities, and it can create physical symptoms.
Other symptoms of depression frequently experienced include:
- Feeling sad for no discernible reason
- Problems sleeping or sleeping too much.
- Appetite changes, including weight loss or weight gain.
- Loss of pleasure in things that were enjoyable to you at one point.
- Problems concentrating, thinking, or decision-making.
- Feeling guilty
- Feelings of worthlessness
- Isolation
- Problems in personal relationships
- Fatigue or loss of energy
- Thoughts of suicide or death
For a depression diagnosis, typically, a person has to experience these symptoms for at least two weeks. Medical conditions with symptoms similar to depression, such as vitamin deficiencies or thyroid problems, must also be ruled out.
While everyone is different, depression risk factors include brain chemistry, genetics, personality, and environmental factors.
Calusa Recovery provides South Florida depression treatment as part of addiction treatment programs when clients have a co-occurring mental health disorder.
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Calusa Recovery Programs
ADDICTION TREATMENT THAT ISN’T COOKIE-CUTTER
One of the first steps when seeking treatment for substance abuse is the detoxification process. Here you are medically supervised and managed through withdrawal process to rid the body of drugs & alcohol.
Residential inpatient treatment is when a client lives on-site 24 hours a day, 7 days a week while receiving intensive inpatient treatment. Learn more about inpatient treatment and how it can help you on your journey.
The partial day program at Calusa Recovery combines the best of aspects inpatient and outpatient treatment to form a hybrid program that allows you to experience inpatient therapies on an outpatient basis.
Find out why the innovative intensive outpatient program at Calusa Recovery is your best choice when seeking an outpatient addiction treatment program in Ft. Myers, Florida.
Our outpatient program will enable your professional life to become limitless. We offer the tools for you to become the best you can be while being sober! If you’re in Lee County, don’t wait another day to start your recovery.
The family program at Calusa Recovery is an integral part of our programming. Family therapy is an essential part of the recovery process because it allows members of the entire family system to learn how to recover as a unit while supporting their loved-one in recovery.
Options for Depression Treatment in South Florida
Depression is very treatable, with anywhere from 80-90% of people responding well to available treatments. Nearly everyone receiving professional treatment will get some relief from symptoms, even if it’s not a complete remission.
One of the types of treatment for depression is medication. Our brain chemistries often contribute to depression and can be part of treatment. Antidepressants are useful for many people because they can alter brain chemistry. They aren’t addictive and don’t have the properties of being an upper or a sedative. There usually aren’t any stimulating effects from taking antidepressant medications.
The full benefits of these medicines can take a couple of months, but many people start to see some improvements within the first week or two of using them.
Talk therapy or psychotherapy can be used alone for treating mild depression or in combination with other treatments, like medication, in moderate to severe cases. Cognitive-behavioral therapy is one type of talk therapy that is especially helpful for treating depression. CBT focuses on problem-solving and helps clients recognize their distorted or negative thinking patterns, with the hope they’ll be able to change them and respond to triggers and challenges more positively.
A person can also do many things on their own to reduce their depression symptoms, like exercising, avoiding substances, and developing a healthy sleep routine.
Calusa Recovery is a center for depression treatment in South Florida and an addiction treatment center for effective care of co-occurring disorders.
Depression and Addiction
Mood disorders, which include depression as well as bipolar disorders, are the most commonly seen co-occurring psychiatric disorders in people with substance use disorders. When you receive treatment for your depression at the same time, it can help your addiction treatment be more effective. For example, it might reduce your cravings for substances and improve outcomes overall.
When someone has existing depression, there may be a temptation to turn to substances to alleviate difficult symptoms, which is known as self-medication. Someone who’s self-medicating might be trying to reduce their feelings of loneliness, despair, or guilt, for example.
Temporarily, substances can alleviate these symptoms, but then they make depression worse for most people. When using substances, if you have depression, it can heighten negative feelings and can increase self-destructive behaviors. For example, when someone has depression, they are at a 10% lifetime risk of suicide, and that risk goes up to 25%, with substance abuse being part of the situation.
Over time, what starts as a way to self-medicate or mask symptoms of depression can lead to dependence and addiction. The more someone uses substances, the greater their risk of addiction and dependence.
Addiction is a brain disorder characterized by compulsive substance use despite negative consequences or outcomes. Dependence can occur with or without addiction and includes physical symptoms like substance tolerance and withdrawal when not using drugs or alcohol.
According to available research, there are also risk factors that play a role in depression which are also contributors to substance use disorders.
- One example is the same brain pathways and chemicals related to both.
- Previous trauma and family history also contribute to depression and addiction.
- When you have depression, you may have lower than normal dopamine levels, and drugs also change dopamine levels.
- Serotonin is a neurotransmitter associated with mood disorders and depression, and people with alcoholism often have changes in their serotonin receptors.
- Reward pathways may be dysfunctional in the brains of people with mental health disorders and addictions.
- Stress in early life can raise the risks of both substance abuse disorders and depression.
At the Calusa Recovery depression center in South Florida, we specialize in treating mental health disorders that co-occur with addiction, improving outcomes. Our facility is newly-renovated and is safe and supportive for each client during this life-changing time.
Dual Diagnosis South Florida Depression Treatment
The technical name for depression that co-occurs along with a substance use disorder is a dual diagnosis. Around half of the people with a mental health disorder will also be diagnosed with a substance use disorder at some point. The interactions between the two can worsen both.
When someone has a dual diagnosis, it’s important that both conditions are treated, and the treatments for the two conditions are often similar.
At Calusa Recovery, we offer depression treatment in South Florida and tailored addiction treatment programs. Our programs include holistic therapies, adventure-based and experiential programs, and personalized options that speak to the needs of who you are as a whole person. Levels of care at our South Florida depression center and addiction treatment facility include inpatient and outpatient programs. Contact us to learn more about treatment for co-occurring disorders, including depression treatment in South Florida.
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Calusa Recovery does not accept Medicare or Medicaid as payment for substance abuse treatment.
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Chris T.