Self-Medicating Depression, Anxiety, and Stress

Drinking or using drugs to change your mood, face your fears, or deal with painful emotions? There are healthier ways than self-medication to cope with problems and improve how you feel.

What is self-medicating?

In these times of great anxiety and distress, many of us are turning to substances to try to change the way that we feel. You might use food to give your mood a boost or alleviate boredom. You might smoke a joint to help you relax, or have a drink or two before going out to settle your nerves and ease any social anxiety.

Or perhaps you turn to Xanax or Valium to help you sleep, ADHD medications to keep you focused during the day, or prescription painkillers to numb the grief and stress you’re experiencing at the moment?

While self-medicating may offer some relief in the short-term, a worsening of mood disorders, and increased health problems. It can also damage your relationships at home, work, and school.

We all feel down, worried, and out of balance from time to time in response to life’s struggles and setbacks. But when feelings of hopelessness, fear, anger, sadness, or overwhelming stress start to interfere with how you function in daily life, it can be a sign that you need help for an underlying condition.

n this age of coronavirus and widespread financial and social turmoil, many of us have tried to self-medicate our angst as the world seems to lurch from one crisis to another. 

With aspects of our lives still not back to normal—and the constant threat that things will get worse again—many of us are struggling to find healthy ways to cope with difficult emotions, stress