Substance Abuse Treatment for Lawyers

Like most diseases, addiction doesn’t discriminate. Anyone can end up with a substance abuse disorder regardless of socioeconomic status, race, age, or any other factors. People with highly demanding careers are often more likely to develop drug and alcohol addictions over the course of their career. Nearly 20% of lawyers and attorneys fall victim to drug addiction, alcohol addiction, or prescription drug addiction.

Yale Law School Mental Health Alliance published a report in 2014 on the mental health of Yale Law students. 50% of participants agreed that psychological health challenges impaired their academic performance, and more than half of the group agreed that mental and behavioral health challenges impacted their social lives. Drug and alcohol usage data collected during this study shows:

• 21.6% reported binge drinking at least twice in the past two weeks
• 20.4% have had thoughts of suicide at sometime in their life
• 6.3% have had suicidal thoughts in the last 12 months
• 17.4% screened positive for depression
• 20% reported having been diagnosed with depression at some time in their life
• About 1/6th of those diagnosed with depression received that diagnosis since starting law school.

Drug and Alcohol Addiction Treatment for Attorneys

Your clients depend on you to make the best decisions for their cases in order to defend them and their livelihoods. Even highly-functional addicts are impairing their ability to make decisions in these settings by abusing drugs and alcohol.

If your substance abuse issues are exposed, it could devastate your reputation, lead to legal consequences, destroy your career, and a myriad of other negative impacts. None of these consequences are worth the risk to yourself or your family.

Addiction Treatment Services helps attorneys, lawyers, and legal professionals suffering from drug and alcohol addictions find compassionate care, effective rehabilitation, and relapse prevention programs for long-lasting sobriety. Call our specialists today to learn more about the rehab treatment options available to you.

Increased Risk Factors for Addiction in Lawyers

Legal professionals have nearly double the risk of developing a drug or alcohol dependency compared to the general population due to the high stress nature of the legal profession. Not including other common addiction risk factors like genetics, behavioral health issues, mental health issues, trauma, and so on, the pressures of a career in law alone are enough to put these professionals at a higher risk.

At a professional-focused rehab center, you’ll be given the anonymity you need to seek treatment without risking your reputation while also getting a personalized addiction recovery plan focused around your needs as a patient and designed to target the root of your addiction.

Long Shifts

Similar to doctors, nurses, and other high-demand careers, lawyers tend to work very long hours when they’re in the middle of a case which can be a major source of stress. Since legal professionals are constantly faced with competitive pressures in the economy, a lawyer will typically work between 60 and 80 hours a week, which adds extreme stress and fatigue to their daily lives. Especially since they have little to no wiggle room for downtime, hobbies, or other healthier means of stress relief.

Personalities

Lawyers and attorneys often share a cluster of common personality traits that can support addiction development. Some of these traits include: perfectionism, pessimism, risk-aversion, and competitiveness. Although many of these traits attribute to their success in their field, they can also lead to ineffective coping skills and strain on the individual’s health.

Autonomy

Regardless of the office conditions of a lawyer or attorney, they usually have free reign over how their time is spent, since they are typically very self-motivated people. Unfortunately this comes with a fair amount of responsibility with very little accountability, giving them the means to live with addiction if they choose. And possibly even living with an addiction for years before anyone notices.

Mental Health

Roughly 30% of lawyers suffer from some type of mental health disorder such as depression, anxiety, or bipolar disorder. During rehab, patients are assessed to determine whether or not any pre- or co-existing mental and behavioral health issues are present. That way they can properly diagnose all dual disorders that lengthen or impact addiction treatment.

Let Us Help You Find Professional Rehab Treatment Today

We know that there’s a lot at stake for you concerning addiction treatment. You have a lot you could possibly lose, but also a lot to gain from following through with addiction recovery. We can help you get control of your life and career again, so let us help you find the rehab center or treatment program capable of giving you the confidential treatment you deserve.

Call one of our specialists today to get started. Our specialists are available 24/7 to help you make the first step towards addiction treatment.