Bipolar depression, also called bipolar disorder or manic depression, can be a devastating disorder. To be a victim of bipolar disorder is to be trapped between two distinct and debilitating psychological states. On the one hand, bipolar depressives are subject to the withering lows commonly associated with classical clinical depression. On the other, they’re prone to bouts of sustained mania, characterized by both physiological and cognitive agitation. It is obviously not the kind of life anyone would want to live. And that’s why so many bipolar depressives resort to drug and alcohol abuse.

Drugs and alcohol can mitigate the highs and lows of bipolar depression. The only catch, of course, is that they’re an inherently self-destructive solution to the problem. Bipolar depressives who’ve fallen victim to drug and alcohol abuse, then, need two kinds of help, the first to address their substance habits and the second to address their psychiatric states. Only with such dual diagnosis and holistic care can bipolar depression and addicts expect to get sober for good. Anything less simply will not give the long-term relief needed.