Hello and welcome to the Cabin’s guide on how to stop self-medicating your anxiety, stress, and depression with drugs and alcohol.

This guide is going to show you how to get control of your drinking or drug usage through education, understanding, and practical steps to stopping your self-medication using some proven strategies from our rehabilitation clinic in Sydney.

We know it can feel difficult to break the cycle of self-medication, but there is hope. There are healthier ways to cope with stress or anxiety, heal your depression, and live a happier, healthier life.

In this article, we’ll show you proven strategies for breaking the negative cycle of medicating with alcohol and drugs, and how to move on to building a fulfilling, substance-free life.

Once you understand what self-medicating is and why you do it, you’ll have the skills and knowledge you need to break free.

Ready to start living a better life? Let’s jump right in.

What is Self-Medicating?

Self-medicating is when you use alcohol or drugs to deal with mental health issues such as anxiety and depression rather than getting to the root of the problem and healing yourself in a healthy way. People also self-medicate physical pains (for example, from an injury) or intense emotions as well.

If you’re managing mental health issues such as stress, excessive worry, intense anxiety, or a deep, unexplained sadness by numbing them out with substances, that is considered self-medicating…and it’s extremely dangerous.

It’s far more common than you might think. According to a study published in the National Library of Medicine entitled “Self‐medication with alcohol or drugs for mood and anxiety disorders” by Turner, Sarah, et al., in 2018, nearly 25% of people with mood or anxiety disorders self-medicate with substances.

In Australia, our drug of choice is usually alcohol. We all know the stereotype of the hardworking man who comes home from work and has a few beers to “take the edge off”.

But the reality is much darker than that.

Drinking alcohol brings temporary relief from our negative feelings. We get a sense of euphoria and a chance to numb out from all the evils of the world. For a brief moment, we feel “happy”.

But the problem is that self-medicating our deeper emotional issues does nothing but make them worse over time.

It leads to more anxiety, deeper depression, addiction, and severe physical and social problems that often require medical treatment.

People who use alcohol or other drugs to treat their mental health conditions often see these problems intensify over time. This in turn leads to worsening mental health, problems at work or school, strain on relationships, increased risk behaviours, and, eventually, physical problems such as liver disease or heart problems.

The only solution to “treat” these worsening symptoms is to consume more of the substance.

This is how addiction traps you in its negative cycle.

Don’t worry, you aren’t doomed to suffer this way for the rest of your life. There is a way out.

Once you learn healthier coping mechanisms than substance abuse, you can begin to heal. The majority of our patients here at the Cabin in Sydney go on to lead happy, productive lives substance-free. Many wonder why they ever chose to drink in the first place.

Before you learn how to heal, you need to understand why you self-medicate in the first place.

Why do People Self-Medicate with Alcohol and Drugs?

People self-medicate with alcohol and drugs for a number of reasons, but it almost always comes down to treating an underlying condition such as depression or anxiety disorder.

The good news for you is that once you identify what’s really bothering you, you can heal it and become someone who doesn’t even want to use drugs or alcohol.

Do you find yourself always worrying about the future or ruminating about the past?

Do you feel lost, hopeless, sad, anxious, or a sense of not belonging or being comfortable in your own skin?

These are all part of the human condition. We all feel this way from time to time. But when the feelings get overwhelming, it’s easier to reach for the bottle, smoke a joint, or take some pills than it is to truly figure out what we are feeling and why we feel this way.

People use substances to cope with traumatic memories, feelings of sadness or hopelessness, and overwhelming stress or anxiety rather than admitting they have a problem and seeking help.

Some people might even reach for the bottle out of boredom. After all, you worked all day. You deserve to unwind, right?

The problem is that, so long as you are using, you cannot heal. You must remove the substance from your life and face your condition with a sober mind if you wish to heal.

What Are The Different Forms of Self-Medication?

Alcohol is the most common form of self-medication, especially here in Australia.

According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare’s report on Alcohol, Tobacco, & Other Drugs in Australia, more than 5% of Australians consume alcohol daily.

In Australia, beer and wine aren’t just widely available, they’re part of the culture. Excessive drinking is almost encouraged here. People believe it helps them have fun. Alcohol companies have even tricked us all into believing that booze helps us to destress, makes us happy, and “cures our anxiety”.

Which is ironic, because alcohol is a depressant that actually makes anxiety, depression, and stress far worse over time.

Other forms of self-medication include:

• Marijuana: Weed and other cannabis products may temporarily reduce anxiety, but in many people, it makes them worse – especially at higher doses. This leads to a dependence on marijuana to function socially and, eventually, an addiction.

• Prescription Drugs: Prescription medications such as opioid painkillers and benzodiazepines are among the most addictive and widely abused medications on Earth. These drugs bring temporary relief and euphoria, which becomes wildly addictive in a very short amount of time.

• Stimulants: Cocaine, nicotine, and amphetamines are used to self-medicate anxiety, depression, and attention deficits. Their stimulating effects help the person feel more confident, energetic, and “present”. This is a quick way to deal with low mood or sadness. However, this short-term boost comes with severe long-term mental and physical health risks. If you find yourself feeling low, anxious, and disinterested in life without stimulants, there’s a strong chance you have an addiction.

• Food: There’s nothing wrong with treating yourself to delicious food from time to time. But people will often self-medicate feelings of sadness with sugary foods. For emotional eaters, eating sweet foods that are high in calories brings comfort and temporary relief from their internal pain. But this often leads to obesity, mental health issues, poor self-image, and other physical issues such as cardiovascular problems.

Why is Self-Medicating with Alcohol And Drugs Dangerous?

Self-medication with alcohol or drugs (or both) is dangerous because it only temporarily numbs your deeper emotional issues and doesn’t get to the root of the problem. And it does so with dangerous poisons that only make your condition worse and cause physical problems as well.

Instead of learning healthy coping mechanisms and healing your emotional issues, you’re harming your mind and body with poison in an effort to forget them. So, not only are you making your mental health worse, you’re actively poisoning your body, which leads to physical health problems such as liver disease, brain deterioration, heart problems, and even death.

There are healthy ways to cope with anxiety, stress, and depression, but using substances that only produce immediate, short-term numbing effects does nothing but lead to more pain…and addiction.

Some of the most alarming dangers of self-medication are:

• Worsening Anxiety and Depression: The main danger of self-medicating with substances is that they become the cure and the disease. For example, alcohol changes levels of neurotransmitters in the brain, which can worsen anxiety. To cope with higher levels of anxiety, you drink more. You’ve now fallen into the negative cycle of addiction. Medicating anxiety or medicating depression with substances does not treat your condition – it makes them worse.

• Overdose and Death: The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare reports that alcohol accounted for 59% of drug-related hospitalisations in 2021-2022 and that more than 1,700 people died from alcohol in 2022. Drinking increasing amounts of alcohol to cope with your mental health issues puts you at severe risk of being hospitalised or dying.

• Interaction With Other Medications: Substances like alcohol or other drugs can negatively interact with your prescription medications or block the positive effects of others.

• Addiction: If you self-medicate with alcohol or other drugs, it can eventually lead to dependence and full-blown addiction. And addictions such as alcoholism can wreak havoc on your personal, familial, professional, and social lives. If you’re self-medicating now, it can become a substance use disorder very quickly. One fascinating study published in the National Library of Medicine entitled “Self-regulation and self-medication factors in alcoholism and the addictions. Similarities and differences” in 1990 by Khantzian, EJ., explicitly states that “addicts and alcoholics suffer vulnerabilities and deficits in self-regulation. A principal manifestation of their self-regulation disturbances is evident in the way they attempt to self-medicate painful affect states and related psychiatric problems”. This means that addicts select drugs based on their ability to alleviate the underlying conditions that ail them.

• Preventing You From Healing: If you’re always numbing your pain with beer, wine, marijuana, or prescription medications, you may be oblivious to the fact that you need to get help. It’s only when you remove the substance that you realise you need to find healthier coping mechanisms. Here at The Cabin Sydney, we find that it took many of our patients years to even realise they had trauma, anxiety, or depression that required treatment.

What are The Signs That You’re Self-Medicating?

It can be hard to identify when you’re self-medicating, especially in Australia where alcohol and drugs are so prevalent.

Like we said before, alcohol is deeply ingrained in our culture, and recreational drugs like ecstasy, cocaine, and methamphetamine are readily available everywhere.

It’s hard to discern the difference between having a few drinks with your mates on the weekend and using alcohol to cope with deeper issues.

It really comes down to your motivations.

Are you really drinking a few beers to have fun while watching footy? Or are you drinking to cope with intense stress and anxiety?

Are you taking prescription medications because your knees ache? Or are you popping those pills because you’re overwhelmed with life and want to forget about it?

We highly recommend that you examine these signs of self-medication and be 100% honest with yourself. It might be scary at first, but you’ll find that, when you’re honest with yourself, you’ll find relief in admitting the truth. Once you accept reality, you can begin the journey toward leading a healthier, drug-free life.

Signs of Self-Medication Include:

Taking Your Drug of Choice When You Feel Anxious, Stressed, or Depressed

This is the most common sign of self-medication. Ask yourself “am I really using this substance to have a good time? Or am I using it as a coping mechanism?”.

If you find yourself reaching for drugs or alcohol any time you feel stressed, anxious, sad, or bored, it’s almost certainly self-medication…and you need to address it immediately.

There’s a major difference between using substances to “open up and have fun” and using them as a coping mechanism. This is especially true if you’re using them every day or almost every day.

You’re Experiencing Problems Due to Your Drug Usage

Is your performance slipping at work or school? Are you having financial, social, or family-related problems that you didn’t have before?

If you’re noticing strain on your relationships, problems at work, or social issues like loss of friendships, it’s most likely due to your substance abuse.

This is a clear sign that you’ve been self-medicating with drugs or alcohol, and you’re starting to lose control over the situation.

The only thing you can do now is admit that it’s a problem and start making changes.

You Feel Anxious And Stressed When You Can’t Have Your Medicine

A clear sign of self-medication, dependence, and addiction is feeling worried when you can’t have your drug of choice for an extended period of time.

How do you feel in social situations where you can’t drink or use drugs? Do you count down the hours at work dreaming about getting home to your beer or marijuana so you can finally take the edge off?

That’s a worrisome sign of self-medication and dependence.

Many of our patients here at the Cabin share many of the same experiences. They often tell us that they’d be worried about not having enough money to afford drugs or alcohol, or that they’d be stressed and anxious at family functions where drinking wasn’t socially accepted.

If you’re feeling this way, please speak to one of our counsellors immediately about how to stop these feelings and start enjoying life the way it was meant to be.

You Need More of the Substance to Get The Same Feeling of Relief

Do you find yourself needing more and more of your substance just to get that same feeling of relief you used to get?

This is known as tolerance, and it’s a clear sign that you’ve been self-medicating long enough to develop a sort of “resistance” to it.

Before, it may have taken only two or three drinks to relieve your symptoms and give you that feeling of relief. Now, it may take eight or ten. This increased tolerance means you need more drugs or alcohol to get the same effects you desire.

If you keep treating your underlying issues with substances, your tolerance will only keep increasing (and so will the problems you face because of it).

Drugs And Alcohol Are Severely Affecting Your Quality of Life

The problem with using drugs and alcohol to treat your condition is that they are only short-term fixes. They provide temporary relief in exchange for causing severe damage to your quality of life.

Are you experiencing any of the following due to substance use?:

• Poor sleep quality
• Mood swings
• Increased anxiety and depression
• Physical pains
• Heart palpitations
• Frequent sickness
• Withdrawal symptoms such as shaking or panic attacks
• Your behaviour seems to be getting worse (drunk driving, fighting, neglecting responsibilities)

This is clear evidence that your self-medication has begun to inflict its toll on your life. This is the trap of addictive substances like alcohol. They make you feel awful, which requires more of the substance to function. But since you need more of the substance, you now feel even worse – and the cycle repeats.

Your only option now is to break the cycle, treat your anxiety or depression in healthy ways, and begin living the life that drugs and alcohol promise you but can never deliver

We see it every day here at the Cabin. Our patients come to us complaining that their lives are unmanageable due to alcohol and drugs. And once they quit using and start healing, they feel better than they ever did in active addiction.

Your Depression And Anxiety Are Getting Worse

Drugs and alcohol do not relieve anxiety and depression – they make them worse. If you’ve noticed that your mental health keeps deteriorating, it’s a sign that you’ve self-medicated for too long.

How to Stop Self-Medicating and Live a Happy, Fulfilling Life

First off, congratulations. You should be proud of yourself for even getting this far.

If you’re reading this, that means you’ve taken the crucial first step: Recognizing your situation and seeking help.

The good news is that as soon as you start implementing a few simple self-help tips, you should see measurable improvements in your mental and physical health.

If you want to stop self-medicating and start living a happier, healthier life, follow these tips:

Tip #1) Recognize That You Are Self-Medicating And it Has to Stop

It’s easy to deny our problems and make excuses.

“I just like having a drink after work. Who’s to judge?”.

“I’m successful. I deserve a drink!”.

“It’s not like I’m living under a bridge drinking out of a paper bag”.

The first step to solving any issue is admitting that it’s an issue. In this case, you need to admit you have a problem with anxiety or depression and that self-medicating is not the answer. It’s NOT a sign of weakness. It’s a sign of strength.

You can now begin your healing journey.

Tip #2) Recognize That Self-Medicating is Making Your Problems Worse

It’s hard to make changes if you still believe that self-medicating your issues is helping you.

If you think that alcohol, drugs, food, or medications are helping you, then you’ll feel like you’re missing out on something.

That’s not true at all, however.

Drugs don’t relieve anxiety or depression. They make them worse or even cause them in the first place.

Alcohol doesn’t help you fall asleep. It makes your sleep worse.

Drugs don’t help you socialise. Drugs numb you to your social anxiety so you temporarily stop caring.

Recognize that these substances are causing nothing but harm, and that you need to find healthier ways to cope.

Speaking of that…

Tip #3) Learn Healthier Coping Mechanisms

Finding healthier ways to cope is the key to stopping self-medicating with drugs or alcohol.

Healthier coping mechanisms can help you heal and grow rather than cause harm. When you choose better ways to manage stress or emotions, you’ll start to feel more in control, calmer, and happier. Many of our patients report that they feel better just from not self-medicating for a few short weeks.

Here are a few healthy ways to handle anxiety, stress, and depression:

• Anxiety: Try deep breathing exercises like 4-7-8 breathing, box breathing, or diaphragmatic (belly) breathing. These exercises help slow your heart rate and calm your mind.

• Stress: Take a walk in nature or do some physical activity. Exercise releases endorphins, which boost your mood and reduce stress. Being in nature adds another layer of relaxation by lowering cortisol levels and helping you feel more connected and grounded.

• Depression: Focus on a hobby you enjoy, reach out to a therapist, or engage in social activities. These activities stimulate dopamine and serotonin, natural chemicals in your brain that regulate mood. Unlike self-medicating, which only numbs the pain temporarily, these healthy behaviours create long-term emotional stability by addressing the root of your feelings and helping to build a sense of purpose and connection.

Tip #4) Seek Professional Help to Heal Your Mind And Body

You don’t have to struggle alone. There is help. All you have to do is reach out and contact us.
Professional therapists can treat your underlying conditions like anxiety, depression, or trauma that make you turn to substances. Many people also experience co-occurring disorders, which means having both a mental health issue and substance use problem at the same time. With the right help, you can address both.

We use a holistic method that treats your condition with several different forms of therapy.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) helps you recognize negative thought patterns and change them. Talk therapy gives you a safe space to express your feelings. And group therapy lets you connect with others who understand what you’re going through.

Finding a community is a major benefit to those in recovery from mental health disorders that have proven to work. When you’re connected to other human beings going through issues such as yours, you’ll feel less stressed, anxious, and sad.

You may even wish to consider trying residential rehab until you feel better.

We’ve helped countless Australians just like you suffering from substance use issues heal their condition, break free from the negative cycle of addiction, and start living happier, healthier lives.

We can tailor your programme however you’d like.

How The Cabin Can Help You Stop Self-Medicating And Live a Happier Life Free From Drugs or Alcohol

First off, we want to say that we know exactly what you’re going through. We see it every day with our patients, and most of us are addicts in recovery too.

Self-medicating is a never-ending downward spiral. You feel terrible, so you use a drug to cover it up. But the drug makes you feel worse than you did the day before. And then you feel guilt and shame for using, so you wash it all away by using more.

It doesn’t have to be this way.

At our outpatient clinic in Sydney, we specialise in working with high-functioning, successful Australians suffering through drug and alcohol dependence.

At our centre, we use a holistic model that treats the entire person in a kind, understanding manner but still keeps you accountable in recovery.

We combine medication-assisted treatments with therapy such as group therapy, CBT, or one-to-one counselling to both treat your physical symptoms and heal your emotional issues. In just a few short weeks, you can turn your life around and break free from the chains of addiction.

For more information, schedule your free consultation with our admissions team. There’s a good chance your insurance may cover most of your expenses. The only way we can know is to talk with you over the phone.