I’m trying to figure out what’s addiction and what’s my mental health getting worse. Some days I can see the pattern clearly, and other days everything feels mixed together. I’ll use something to shut my head off, then feel more anxious, depressed, and scattered afterward.
The hard part is not knowing whether I’m treating the symptoms or creating new ones. I’ve started writing down what I’m feeling before and after I use, since my memory gets pretty unreliable. It’s not fixing anything yet, but at least I’m seeing a few patterns.
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The before-and-after notes sound useful, especially since memory can get unreliable when anxiety and substances are both involved. Sometimes the clearest clue is whether the relief lasts, or whether it turns into a rebound that makes the original problem harder to manage.
I’ve found it helps to record sleep, food, and how long the effect lasts too, not just mood. Those details can show patterns that are easy to miss in the moment. Are you sharing the notes with a therapist or prescriber, or mainly using them for your own tracking right now?
The notes before and after using may help separate the immediate relief from what comes later. I’d pay close attention to sleep too, since even one rough night can make anxiety and scattered thinking look like a bigger mental health shift.
It may be worth taking those patterns to a therapist or prescriber rather than trying to sort out the cause alone. A clear record can give them something concrete to work with, especially when memory is unreliable.
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@Kevin_Oconnor, the sleep point makes sense. I’ve had one bad night make me feel way more anxious and unfocused, so it would be easy to mistake that for everything getting worse.
I’ve started writing down roughly when I sleep and when I use, instead of trusting my memory later. I think bringing that to a therapist could make the conversation less confusing.