If you live with anxiety and you use alcohol, weed, pills, or other substances to “take the edge off,” you’re not alone. A lot of people describe the same loop: feel wired and on edge, use something to calm down, feel better for a bit, then end up more anxious later and using even more just to function.
That isn’t a character flaw. It’s a known clinical pattern. Anxiety and addiction feed each other in ways that are predictable and treatable.
At Vered at San Gabriel in Georgetown, Texas, the team works with adults who are dealing with both substance use and psychiatric issues like anxiety, depression, and trauma. Our whole model is built around treating you as a whole person instead of splitting your mental health on one side and your substance use on the other.
Below, we’ll walk you through how anxiety and addiction get tangled together, what to look for, and how Vered helps people work on both at the same time.
What Anxiety Really Is (Not Just “Being Stressed”)
Everyone feels anxious sometimes. That doesn’t automatically mean you have an anxiety disorder.
Anxiety becomes a clinical problem when worry is persistent, hard to control, and out of proportion to what’s going on. It often brings physical symptoms like:
- Racing heart and tight chest
- Feeling restless or “keyed up.”
- Trouble falling or staying asleep
- Stomach issues or nausea
- Feeling like you can’t catch your breath
Anxiety can show up as constant “what if” worry, panic attacks, social anxiety, health anxiety, or trauma-related anxiety that gets triggered by reminders of past events.
Why Anxiety and Addiction Are So Common Together
Anxiety and substance use disorders don’t just randomly overlap. Research shows they commonly co-occur, and many people with anxiety report using alcohol or drugs to self-medicate their symptoms.
A few reasons they travel together:
- Self-medication. If you’re anxious all the time, a drink, vape, or pill that makes you feel calm for an hour can feel like magic.
- Shared risk factors. Genetics, early trauma, and chronic stress can raise the risk for both anxiety disorders and substance use disorders.
- Brain changes. Substances can change brain circuits related to stress and reward, which can worsen anxiety over time and increase cravings.
One large anxiety organization notes that roughly one in five people with an anxiety or mood disorder will also experience an alcohol or other substance use disorder at some point, and the reverse is also true.
Bottom line: if you’re dealing with both anxiety and substance use, you’re not an outlier. You’re in a very common but very treatable group.
How Self-Medicating Anxiety With Substances Backfires
Self-medicating usually starts with good intentions. You just want to sleep. Or get through a social event. Or take the pressure down for one night.
In the short term, substances seem to help.
- Alcohol and sedatives slow your nervous system, so you feel less keyed up.
- Marijuana can make thoughts feel less sharp and give you a sense of distance from your worries.
- Opioids or other drugs can create warmth, numbness, or euphoria that drowns out fear for a while.
The problem is what happens next.
- Tolerance. Your brain adjusts. The same amount doesn’t calm you as much, so you need more of it.
- Rebound anxiety. When the substance wears off, the nervous system often swings the other way. Anxiety spikes, heart races, mood dips.
- Reinforcement. Your brain learns, “When I feel like this, I drink or use. That’s how we survive.” Now, anxiety feels like a direct trigger to use.
Over time, the loop looks like this:
Anxiety → substance → temporary relief → rebound anxiety → more substance.
That’s how a “few drinks to calm down” or “just a little weed for sleep” quietly turns into dependence or addiction.
Signs You Might Be Using Substances To Cope With Anxiety
You don’t need a formal diagnosis to be self-medicating, and you don’t have to be using all day for it to be a problem. If any of this sounds familiar, it’s worth paying attention.
Emotional signs
- You feel like you “need” a drink, hit, or pill to get through social plans, presentations, or bedtime.
- You get edgy, panicky, or angry when you can’t use.
- Your anxiety feels more intense overall, especially when you’re sobering up.
Behavior signs
- Substances are your first move when you feel restless, worried, or overwhelmed.
- You avoid events unless you’re sure you can drink or use there.
- You start planning your day around when you can use next.
Impact signs
- Your use is causing problems at work, school, or in relationships, but cutting back feels impossible.
- You wake up with regret, shame, or fear about what happened while you were under the influence.
- People who care about you have said something about your drinking or drug use, and you’ve brushed it off as “just stress.”
If your main strategy for dealing with anxiety is a substance, you’re not weak. You are trying to solve a real problem with a tool that backfires over time.
Why Treating Anxiety Without Addressing Addiction (Or the Reverse) Doesn’t Work
This is where many people get stuck.
You might try to work on your anxiety with a therapist while still drinking or using heavily. Progress is slow or nonexistent because the substance keeps scrambling your sleep, mood, and nervous system.
Or you go to addiction treatment, do well for a bit, then leave with the same untreated anxiety that drove your use in the first place. The next time anxiety spikes, your brain remembers the old solution. Relapse risk jumps.
Organizations like SAMHSA are clear: when someone has both a mental health condition and a substance use disorder, they need both treated together rather than in separate silos. If you ignore one side of the equation, the other side usually pulls you back down.
What Effective Treatment For Anxiety and Addiction Includes
Integrated treatment doesn’t mean throwing random therapies at you. It means building a plan that understands how your anxiety and substance use interact.
Key pieces usually include:
Comprehensive assessment
A real intake looks at:
- How anxiety shows up for you (constant worry, panic, social fear, trauma triggers).
- What you’re using, how often, and why you reach for it.
- Medical issues, sleep problems, and current life stress.
- Past treatment attempts and what did or didn’t help.
Evidence-based therapy
You want approaches that have actual data behind them, like:
- CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy). Helps you notice and challenge catastrophic thinking, reduce avoidance, and build healthy behaviors that lower anxiety and cravings.
- DBT-style skills. Tools for emotion regulation, distress tolerance, and interpersonal boundaries.
- Trauma-informed therapy. Care that recognizes trauma history and works carefully with triggers instead of pushing through them.
Practical nervous system tools
- Breathing and grounding practices you can actually use in a panic spike.
- Sleep hygiene, routines, and body-based strategies to help your system calm down at night.
- Relapse-prevention plans are built around your specific anxiety triggers.
Thoughtful medication support
For some people, medication for anxiety or depression is part of the picture. When that’s the case, it works best when it’s coordinated with therapy and recovery work, not thrown at symptoms in isolation.
How Vered at San Gabriel Treats Anxiety and Addiction Together
Vered isn’t a generic “rehab.” It’s a wellness and recovery center for adults dealing with substance use and related psychiatric conditions, including anxiety, depression, and trauma.
Our philosophy is “recovery plus wellness,” not one or the other.
Clinical care for anxiety and substance use
Vered’s treatment programs are clinically driven and use therapies with a research backbone. Our programs highlight trauma-informed therapy, blending “proven therapies” with mindful, everyday habits that support long-term sobriety.
For someone with anxiety and addiction, that can mean:
- Working on the thoughts and beliefs that fuel both anxiety and cravings.
- Learning skills to ride out panic or worry without defaulting to alcohol or drugs.
- Untangling how past trauma or chronic stress is driving both your nervous system and your substance use.
Wellness that actually supports anxious brains
Vered’s Recovery & Wellness Program is basically a nervous system support toolkit built into your treatment plan. It includes:
- Mind-body practices. Yoga, mindfulness, and meditation that teach steady breathing and gentle movement, helping you calm a busy mind in real time.
- Sunlight therapy. Structured light exposure that helps stabilize mood and sleep, both of which are usually wrecked by anxiety and substances.
- Sauna and other restorative therapies. Warm, quiet spaces that help your body relax, reduce muscle tension, and support deeper rest.
- Movement and recreation. Low-pressure activity that gets you out of your head, connects you with others, and shows you that your body can be a resource instead of just a source of symptoms.
- Reflection and journaling. Guided prompts that help you notice patterns between anxiety spikes, cravings, and choices, and reinforce progress over time.
- Nutritional and detox support. Simple food and supplement tweaks that help steady energy, clear brain fog, and support sleep.
A step-by-step, personalized process
We follow a “Goal–Plan–Track–Support–Progress” flow. You and the team identify what you want (for example, fewer panic attacks and steady sobriety), build a plan, track your progress, adjust when needed, and celebrate real milestones.
Their Specialized Tracks show the same mindset. Programs for smoking cessation, sugar reset, and other focused goals are about changing ingrained habits with clear structure and one-on-one support. That translates well when you’re trying to break the anxiety-substance loop.
When It’s Time To Reach Out
You don’t have to wait until everything falls apart to get help. It makes sense to talk to someone when:
- Anxiety is starting to affect work, school, or relationships.
- You’re relying on alcohol or drugs just to get through ordinary days.
- You’ve tried to cut back or quit and keep sliding back whenever anxiety spikes.
- Panic attacks, insomnia, or constant worry are wearing you down.
If you’re not sure how “bad” it is, that’s normal. You can still ask for help.
Vered invites people to reach out even if they’re just starting to suspect a problem. Our team can walk you through what we offer, help you determine whether it fits your situation, verify your commercial insurance, or talk through private-pay options so you’re not guessing about costs.
Anxiety and addiction can make you feel like your own nervous system is your enemy, and substances are the only thing that helps. It doesn’t have to stay that way.
Wanting a life where you feel calmer, clearer, and sober isn’t asking for too much. It’s a realistic goal when you have the right kind of support.
