Anxiety disorders like Chronic Panic Disorder, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and Social Anxiety so often co-occur with drug addiction or alcoholism that many people think one condition causes the other. In fact, people that do not believe in the disease model of addiction generally believe that by curing the anxiety disorder you will cure the addictive behavior. However, most people who have first-hand experience with drug addiction know that this simply isn't n effective practice - primarily because anxiety disorders can and do occur without the presence of addiction, and addiction and alcoholism occur independently of anxiety disorders. Therefore, understanding how to treat both concurrently is critical to achieving lasting recovery success.

Because both anxiety disorders and addiction are two of the most common public health issues, it's not surprising that by sheer numbers alone they would co-occur in the same individuals. In fact, Hazelden - a mental health services organization, stated in a recent web publication that: "Anxiety disorders are one of the most common mental disorders in America today. An estimated 13% of adults ages 18 to 54 in a given year (more than 19 million people) are affected by anxiety disorders." Couple this with America's epidemic numbers of drug users and it's easy to see why this is such a significant problem.

Problems related to anxiety and addiction can begin at the onset of treatment for a particular anxiety condition. Because medications used to treat anxiety disorders include Valium, Xanax and other powerful and addictive drugs, many people already battling with such a condition soon find themselves battling an addiction as well. This can be complicated by the fact that because these drugs are prescribed by a doctor, some people are not aware that they have become addicted to the drugs until it is too late.

Other people skip the doctor's office and medicate their anxiety symptoms on their own using illicit substances like marijuana, diverted prescription drugs, tranquilizers and opiates, among many others. While this can temporarily aid in dealing with anxiety issues, many drugs actually exacerbate such problems and can induce a moderately anxious person into a state of chronic panic and/or paranoia. With regular use it can be harder and harder for a person to live a normal life, and when they do refrain from using drugs their previous anxiety problems can be amplified dramatically by the stress of learning to live without drugs.

The only way to treat anxiety disorders and addiction is to treat each individually like the separate clinical disease they are. Anxiety might cause a person to abuse drugs and vice versa, but once both conditions occur you cannot simply treat one and assume that it will resolve the other. Treatment for anxiety includes various forms of therapy and medication, while treatment for addiction will likely require a detox program followed by longer-term addiction treatment such as an inpatient or outpatient program.

If you or someone you love is suffering from anxiety issues and a drug or alcohol problem, you should know that you are not alone and that help is readily available. All you have to do is reach out right now by picking up the phone.