Substance Abuse and Bipolar Disorder

In this episode, I wanted to talk about substance abuse and bipolar disorder. I give a little insight into my own struggle and also some advice for getting out of the dark.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Hello and welcome to Bipolar Thoughts. My name is Steven and I'll be your host.

(00:12):
So today's episode is going to be a little bit different. It's going to be a little bit more
informational, kind of like some of the other ones that I've done, except I mean there's also
going to be some personal, you know, my own experiences thrown in there, but I wanted to kind of give a
little bit of, not like deep dive, but just a little bit of, I just wanted to cover the topic

(00:37):
of substance abuse and bipolar disorder. So today's episode is all about exploring the
intersection of bipolar disorder and substance abuse. Some of this might sound kind of scripted
because it kind of is. I took a lot of different information from a lot of different resources
and just kind of tried to mash it all together into the best way that I could that didn't seem

(00:59):
overbearing or overwhelming or like just droning on with too much fucking information. Like nobody
wants to hear all that shit and you can do your own research. So today we're going to dive into
the complex relationship between these two issues and discuss strategies for breaking the cycle of
addiction within the bipolar community. So let's explore, like just to start off, let's explore

(01:25):
the connection between bipolar disorder and substance abuse. Research shows that individuals
with bipolar disorder are at a higher risk of developing substance abuse disorders compared
to the general population. I can attest to this because I am a recovering alcoholic. This
correlation can be attributed to various factors including attempts to self-medicate right here.

(01:46):
Self-medicate symptoms, impulsivity during manic episodes, which I'm also very guilty of,
and mood dysregulation. It's crucial to understand that these dynamics to understand these dynamics
to address the root causes of addiction individuals with bipolar disorder. So basically, there's more

(02:09):
to it than just having bipolar disorder. Like just because you have bipolar disorder doesn't
mean that you're going to have a substance abuse issue. It just means that you're a little bit
more susceptible to it. That also goes with if you have ADHD or any kind of impulse control,
mental issue, mental disorder, those impulse controls generally, like substance abuse is

(02:38):
pretty interlinked with that generally. The risks and consequences of substance abuse in the
context of bipolar disorder cannot be overstated. Using drugs or alcohol can disrupt mood stability,
interfere with the effectiveness of medication, and worsen overall health outcomes. Additionally,

(02:59):
substance abuse can exacerbate symptoms of bipolar disorder, leading to increased episodes,
mania or depression, and furthering complicating treatment efforts. So for me, before I found
out that I was diagnosed, I knew something was wrong with me. I didn't, I mean, again, I wasn't
diagnosed. So I didn't know exactly what it was. I just knew that I wasn't the same as everybody

(03:23):
else. And I self-medicated. There's no doubt in my mind about it that that's exactly what was
going on for the longest, this necklace is pissing me off. The longest period of time,
that's what I was doing. And honestly, I knew that that's what I was doing. I knew in my head

(03:45):
that that's exactly what I was doing. I was self-medicating. I was trying to feel, trying to
mask something. So there was a lot of, and that's kind of what's going to come up here in a minute,
is that it's not just having bipolar disorder. There's environmental factors that go into it.
I had some trauma whenever I was a small child, like abandonment issues, or that led to abandonment

(04:10):
issues, insecurities and other things. And I think I was trying to mask my pain of that,
but my bipolar exacerbated that. It made it worse. And they just fed each other, I think,

(04:32):
if that makes sense. So there is hope for breaking the cycle of addiction. Integrated
treatment approaches that address both mental health and substance abuse disorders are key
to recovery. Therapy, medication management, support groups, and lifestyle changes can all

(04:54):
play a critical role in supporting individuals with bipolar disorder in their journey towards
sobriety and stability. So I will say that I am three and a half years sober. I am a recovering
alcoholic. I used other intravenous drugs as well, but I mean, nothing. I never did heroin or opiates

(05:16):
really. Alcohol is really my thing, but I did do some other drugs. Very regulation. Alcohol
is really my thing more than anything else. And for the longest time, that was my medication.
Even once I became diagnosed with bipolar disorder, I wasn't seeing a doctor regularly.

(05:44):
And because of that, I had been prescribed Prozac, which didn't do shit for me. And I was
going, I wasn't going to a doctor. So I was medicating myself with alcohol, which for me
would quite often throw me, like I would cycle rapidly, because I would go like the alcohol

(06:09):
itself would make me manic. Like I don't know why that alcohol makes me gives me a ton of energy
and makes me super manic, like I'm very impulsive. And whenever I come down off of it, whenever,
like, you know, once the the drunk is gone, you know, and the fun is gone, I get real depressed.

(06:31):
And like I suicidal sometimes. So I have to be that's, you know, not the reason I quit drinking,
but it's a factor in why I stopped drinking because I mean, I just couldn't live like that anymore.
I did go to rehab for 30 days. It helped. It helped a lot in the fact that it helped me realize

(06:56):
that I need help, that I can't do what I've been doing on or like I can't try to stay sober on my
own. And I don't want this this entire episode to be strictly about like sobriety, which I feel
like it's kind of turning out to be that way. But my goal here is to make people like to let you

(07:17):
understand that like, yes, there is a correlation between the two, like there's tons of studies
that show that, you know, that they do go kind of hand in hand most of the time. But not it's not
true for everybody. And there are things that can make it worse or that can make it like for me,

(07:44):
I have ADHD, which is, you know, also an impulse control issue, you know, so if you have those
impulse control issues, you're already at a very, if you have, you know, family history of
drug abuse or alcoholism, you know, you're already predisposed, you add bipolar into that, and you

(08:06):
could be looking at a very dangerous situation. I think it's funny to watch like that show Shameless
and that guy, I can't remember his name, it's on the tip of my tongue, but anyway, he, you know,
in his bipolar, I don't, it seemed to me, I can't remember exactly which one he had, but it seemed

(08:29):
to me that he had bipolar one, which is what I have. So his cycles are a little bit more intense.
His, but the way they portrayed him on there, it, I don't, and maybe I'm wrong, maybe somebody else
agrees with it, but or disagrees with me, but I didn't feel like that was a very accurate portrayal
of bipolar disorder. Because I mean, in some, some cases in some ways it was, but like,

(08:58):
they pushed it to an extreme that I think made put a stigma on people with bipolar disorder, and it,
like, that kind of pisses me off a little bit, because like, we always get portrayed in some,
like gnarly light, you know, and although he didn't have a substance abuse issue, like problem, like,

(09:18):
issue, he, he did have, like, I think at one point he had a God complex, basically, like,
he started a cult. I mean, those are, those are, you don't necessarily have to have, be addicted
to drugs or alcohol to have a problem, you know, you can be addicted to food, you can be addicted
to gambling, you can be addicted to sex, you can be addicted to all kind of different things.

(09:40):
And so this isn't necessarily an episode about like, being sober, it's more about being released
from the addiction that is, you know, crippling you, you know, that's more what this is about.
So I mean, there's, there's, there's ways there, there is help and there is hope, but you, I mean,

(10:03):
you have to want it for yourself. I don't know, I feel like this episode took a long, long different
route than I wanted it to. I mean, I hope it's okay. I hope it's, you know, it turns out okay. I'm not
gonna, I'm not gonna judge it too much. I'm just gonna let it roll. But the point of this whole

(10:24):
thing was to let you know that if you have an addiction and you have bipolar disorder, you
can make it out of that. You, there is hope, you can, you can live a better life than you're living
right now. You just have to want it. Which is kind of like the whole point of like, of the,

(10:51):
like my little motto or whatever that I say at the end of every show, you know, you don't have
to sit in the dark alone. You don't, but you have to want to get out of the dark. If you're
stuck in the dark and you don't want to get out of it, then you're never going to. But if you're
stuck in the dark and you want to get out, you can get out. You know, I often find myself stuck
in the dark and, but I know now that in order to get out of the dark, I need help. And so I reach

(11:19):
out. You know, it's not easy for me to do, especially for me, because I'm not a touchy-feely
emotional kind of person, you know, or at least not outwardly. And so I have to, I know that I
have to ask for help or it could get really, really bad for me. So this isn't, this, I don't think

(11:41):
this episode ended up being as informational as I really thought it was going to be, or as I wanted
it to be. And I somewhat kind of feel like I'm rambling a little bit, but I just, the main
message of this episode is that you can, there is hope. You can get out of it. You can get out of

(12:02):
the dark. So with that, I'm going to get out of here and go work on homework and shit that I need
to get done for the week. But just remember that you can, there is hope and you don't have to sit
in the dark alone.