Anxiety and substance abuse

Many people with high anxiety levels find that having a drink at night to “calm them down” does exactly that…it calms them down and decreases their anxiety.  The problem is this is a very short-term effect and typically gets worse because 1 drink per night turns into 2 turns into 3 and goes from abuse to dependency.  Marijuana is another substance commonly abused to help “calm down.”  It becomes a terrible circle because dependency on alcohol and other substances actually increases anxiety so the person then uses more to calm the anxiety…you see where this is going?  If you notice yourself or a loved on entering this stage get help soon because it will almost always get worse.