Conditions · Dual diagnosis
Anxiety and addiction.
When anxiety and substance use feed each other in a loop, treating either one alone rarely holds. Integrated outpatient treatment for both at once.
The loop.
Anxiety drives toward the substance. The substance dampens the anxiety for a few hours. The substance wears off, the anxiety rebounds harder than baseline, and the loop tightens.
For some people the substance is alcohol. For some it’s benzos, cannabis, or stimulants. For some it’s a combination. The substance is almost beside the point — the anxiety underneath is the engine.
Treatment that ignores the anxiety leaves the engine running. People get sober and relapse, sober and relapse, because the underlying anxiety condition was never addressed clinically.
The anxiety presentations we see most.
- · Generalized anxiety disorder
- · Panic disorder and panic attacks
- · Social anxiety
- · Health anxiety
- · Performance anxiety (creative, professional, athletic)
- · Anxiety driven by unprocessed trauma
- · Anxiety driven by chronic uncertainty (job, finances, relationships)
- · Anxiety driven by ADHD or executive-function struggles
How we treat it
Both at the same time.
Our PHP and IOP programs are dual-diagnosis by default. The substance use and the anxiety are addressed in the same room, by the same clinical team, in the same weeks. Process groups, individual therapy, psychoeducation on anxiety mechanisms, experiential work, and medication coordination all happen under one roof.
We don’t require people to “get sober first” before we engage the anxiety work. That sequencing is part of why people relapse.
Tired of the loop?
One short message. We’ll help you figure out whether dual-diagnosis outpatient treatment is the right fit.