The Relationship Between Cocaine Addiction and Depression
The first time that you use cocaine might be hard to describe. It feels like a lightning bolt has zapped your brain. You feel incredibly happy, and confidence soars higher than it’s ever been.
After cocaine, the effects of cocaine leave just as quickly. Many experience sadness or depression. But, does cocaine cause depression? And will it go away after getting treatment?
It can be tricky to navigate depression and cocaine, but Purpose Healing is here to help. Below, we’ll discuss the link between depression and addiction and what treatment for these co-occurring disorders might look like.
Cocaine Use and Depression: What’s the Connection?
It can be hard to believe cocaine influences depression with the uplifting effects many people experience after using the drug. But, cocaine changes brain chemistry. It causes a sudden surge of dopamine and other neurotransmitters to flood the brain.
These neurotransmitters produce the positive emotions you feel from cocaine use. Once the effects of cocaine wear off, though, it takes time for these neurotransmitters to be replenished. You feel sad and unhappy following cocaine use, something that contributes to the cycle of addiction.
Even though cocaine abuse can cause depression, depressive symptoms also occur on their own. And, depression might influence cocaine use. Many people struggling with depressions self-medicate, using the euphoria from stimulant drugs for temporary relief.
Depressive symptoms and even chronic fatigue from cocaine abuse can also develop independently. They share risk factors from genetics and environment to trauma, stress, and mental health issues.
Depression, Cocaine, and Self-Medication
Depression is exhausting, but it’s not something you can easily sleep off. It’s a dark hole you may feel powerless in pulling yourself out of. It can leave you desperate to feel better, willing to do anything – including use cocaine – to feel better.
Unfortunately, the happiness from cocaine use is short-lived. Your brain’s pleasure-reward system gets overstimulated. With frequent cocaine use, you won’t be able to feel happiness from “normal” activities like eating dessert or spending time with friends.
After ongoing use, you can also develop anhedonia when you stop cocaine. When this happens, the brain’s pleasure center has a hard time returning to normal. You won’t experience pleasure from non-drug activities, and you may experience suicidal thinking.
Depression as a Symptom of Cocaine Withdrawal
Cocaine addicts go through withdrawal as the effects of cocaine start to wear off. While physical symptoms aren’t considered as severe as withdrawal from alcohol or opioids, cocaine detox has a high risk of mental health problems.
Depression, mood swings, and restlessness are all common cocaine withdrawal symptoms. But, the amount of time depression lasts is different for everyone. It may be temporary (1-2 weeks) as your brain starts to heal. However, there’s also a risk of depression lasting months (or longer) and requiring medical intervention.
Cocaine Use and Worsening Depression Symptoms
After using cocaine, dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine flood the brain. Cocaine use also stops reuptake, meaning they aren’t reabsorbed by the brain like usual. This is why the effects of dopamine from drug use last longer than dopamine from natural sources.
It’s hard for your brain to compete with the high from synthetic drugs. It sends the message that you only feel good while under the influence, a factor that eventually leads to cocaine dependence.
In addition to this dependence, it’s hard to feel happy. Without producing the same level of neurotransmitters as drugs like cocaine, you feel an emotional numbness. It can lead to feelings of hopelessness that make depression significantly worse.
Comedown: The Depressive Effects of Cocaine
Even occasional cocaine use temporarily affects your brain. It takes time for the mind to recover and replenish the levels of dopamine and other neurotransmitters. This period of time is called “comedown” from cocaine. It describes that blue, low-energy period that commonly follows
Stimulant drug use. With occasional cocaine use, these symptoms should fade after a few days.
Long-Term Cocaine Abuse and Your Mental Health
Mental and physical health problems are commo with chronic cocaine use. Mood swings, depression, agitation, and restlessness are all common. When you don’t feel your best and are experiencing intense cravings on top of it, it can be hard not to listen to that voice in your head telling you that using again will make you feel better.
Even if you continue cocaine abuse, you’ll experience comedown when you aren’t high. Joy, happiness, and pleasure will be hard to achieve without the drug. You’ll find yourself trapped in a vicious cycle of spending money on cocaine, experiencing depression, and wanting to use again.
This cycle often continues until you have financial problems, trouble with the law, relationship struggles, health consequences,or another reason to quit. Unfortunately, your mental health doesn’t rebound right away. Many people need help managing their mental health symptoms when they quit substance use.
Treatment for Cocaine Dependence
It’s hard for your brain to compete with the false happiness produced by stimulant drugs. It also reinforces the idea that it’s a solution for sadness. While unhealthy, it helps cope with depression.
Factors like these can make it hard to quit without getting treatment for substance use disorder. Cocaine users might experience little or no pleasure from the things that they once enjoyed.
The Importance of Dual Diagnosis for Cocaine and Depression
Many cocaine addicts benefit from dual diagnosis care. By treating cocaine addiction alongside co-occurring disorders like depression, you’ll have a much better long-term outlook for sobriety.
One of the major benefits of dual diagnosis is help managing the acute withdrawal phase. After you stop taking cocaine, you’ll feel opposite of how cocaine makes you feel. You’ll deal with fatigue, lack of motivation, and depression.
Some people experience severe depression accompanied by suicidal ideations. If cocaine and depression aren’t treated together, there’s a huge risk of relapse.
What to Expect During Dual Diagnosis
Purpose Healing offers dual diagnosis across all our inpatient and outpatient treatment programs. We use a comprehensive approach that might involve medication management, medical detox, individual counseling, group therapy, and recreational therapies.
Antidepressants or other medications might be used to manage depressive disorders or other mental health symptoms. As you participate in counseling and support groups, you’ll learn skills to cope when you’re feeling depressed. You can rely on these skills instead of turning to drug use to produce intense feelings of happiness.
Our structured program also teaches healthy habits. You’ll adjust to a routine, have support to get good sleep, and develop healthy nutrition and self-care habits. All these things support your mental health, as well as your battle against cocaine addiction.
Choosing Between Inpatient and Outpatient Rehab
It is possible to treat stimulant use disorder in outpatient care, especially if you have support at home. It’s the more flexible option, better if you have work or home commitments. If you aren’t having severe depression or withdrawal symptoms, it can also be beneficial. It’s better for general sadness, rather than mild to moderate depression.
When treating cocaine addiction and depression simultaneously, inpatient treatment is beneficial for severe symptoms. If you are so depressed that you are considering suicide, even if you don’t believe you’ll do something, residential treatment might be the safer option.
It takes time for antidepressants to work, and many people don’t think clearly in early recovery. You may be impulsive or less able to reason with yourself. Be sure to reach out if you are worried you might hurt yourself.
If you’ve tried to quit cocaine before and struggled, residential rehab might also be a good choice. Purpose is a safe, comfortable place away from the temptations you might face if you try to detox on your own. You’ll also have a higher level of support, giving you time to start thinking more clearly and learn skills to cope with drug cravings.
Find Help for Depression and Cocaine Use Disorder at Purpose
Healing from depression, cocaine addiction, or other co-occurring disorders is easier at Purpose. We screen for depression before treatment, ensuring you have the right support. This continues during and after the withdrawal period, when depression symptoms are the hardest to cope with.
Developing depression from cocaine is a cycle that’s hard to break – but it doesn’t have to be.
Reach out to Purpose Healing Center today. Together, we’ll take the next steps on your recovery journey!
480-579-3319