Comorbidity of depression and substance use

Comorbidity Of Depression And Substance Use In Among Women And Men In Australia
The manifestation of depression is usually complicated by the co-occurrence of substance use disorder (SUD), such as illegal drug abuse or alcohol or dependence. For a long time, there has been a discourse of whether these clinical conditions occur independently or are just coinciding diseases, interlinked by similar vulnerability or etiologic factors. It is noteworthy that the presentation of depression may be hidden by the similar side effects or characteristics of substance use disorder. It is for this reason healthcare professionals are often reluctant to intervene depression in SUD patients. In order for them to conduct treatment, the clinicians ensure that the patients attain sobriety (Davis et al., 2008).
In order to understand the comorbid nature of depression and SUD, it is critical to establish why the co-occurrence exists. There is a broad body of literature which explores these co-occurrence nature of depression and SUD. Some of the explanation for this association include elevated vulnerability risk for a secondary disorder that is caused by the primary clinical condition; shared risk variables; a result of self-medicating depression with particular substances; residual depression from occupational, social, and interpersonal issues caused by SUD; biologically fostered depression that is induced by substance use (Davis et al., 2008). Due to the varied explanation of the association between depression and SUD, comorbid depression has an adverse impact on the course of SUD.

As such, this relationship negatively affects the rate of treatment response among patients.
From the above discussion, it is evident that depression and substance use disorder co-occurrence is a critical issue in the treatment of depression among patients with substance use disorder. Additionally, given that there are many potential causes of the occurrence, clinicians in Australia needs to take this into consideration when treating depression and SUD.
Reference
Davis, L., Uezato, A., Newell, J. M., & Frazier, E. (2008). Major depression and comorbid substance use disorders. Current opinion in psychiatry, 21(1), 14-18.