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Conditions

Co-Occurring Disorders in Portland, Maine

Anxiety treated while drinking goes untreated, or sobriety attempted while depression goes unaddressed — treating half the picture rarely holds. We treat both together.

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Written by the Bishop Health clinical team · Medically reviewed by Tamer Wassef, MD
Published August 15, 2026 · Last reviewed August 15, 2026

Co-occurring disorders means a mental health condition and a substance use problem happening together — each feeding the other. Bishop Health treats both sides in one integrated plan in South Portland: structured day programs, psychiatry and medication management, and individual therapy, with most insurance plans and MaineCare accepted.

Does This Sound Like Your Situation?

Not a diagnosis — a pattern check. The more of these fit, the more an integrated evaluation is worth your time.

○Drinking or using to quiet anxiety, low mood, or trauma symptoms
○Mental health symptoms that surge when you cut back or stop
○Needing more of the substance for the same relief
○Treatment for depression or anxiety that never quite held while use continued
○Hiding or minimizing use with providers, family, or yourself
○Mood, sleep, and concentration that worsen once the temporary relief fades
○Work, financial, or relationship fallout accumulating on both fronts
○Prior treatment that addressed one condition and ignored the other
○A sense that the two problems are tangled — because they are

Why These Conditions Travel Together

•Self-medication: substances offer fast relief that deepens the underlying condition over time
•Shared biology: genetics and stress systems overlap across addiction and mood disorders
•Each destabilizes the other: withdrawal amplifies anxiety and depression; low mood drives use
•Fragmented care: mental health and substance use are usually treated in separate systems that don't talk
•Sequenced treatment fails quietly: 'get sober first, then treat the depression' often leaves both untreated

When to Seek Help

If you've treated one side and watched it unravel because of the other, an integrated evaluation is the next step. Bring the full picture — the plan here treats both threads together, not in sequence.

How Bishop Health Treats Co-Occurring Disorders

Your evaluation routes you to the right tool — this is the map.

IOP / PHP →Integrated day treatment addressing mental health and substance use in one curriculum.Psychiatry & Medication Management →A thorough evaluation first — history, prior medications, what helped and what didn't — before anything new is prescribed.Individual Therapy →One therapist working both threads — substance use and the conditions underneath it.

Co-Occurring Care Questions, Answered

Do I have to be sober before starting mental health treatment?

No — that sequencing is exactly what integrated treatment replaces. Both conditions are assessed and treated together; requiring sobriety first has historically meant neither gets treated.

Do you provide medical detox?

Our programs are outpatient. If your situation calls for medical detox or residential care first, your evaluation will say so plainly and help point you to it — then integrated outpatient treatment continues here.

Which condition gets treated first?

Neither — that's the point. One team, one plan, both conditions. Sequenced care ("handle the drinking, then we'll discuss the depression") is how people fall through the gap between systems.

Is this like AA, or something different?

Different — this is clinical treatment: psychiatry, therapy, and structured group programming. Mutual-support groups like AA can complement it, and many patients use both.

What if I'm in crisis right now?

Don't wait for an appointment. Call or text 988 for the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, call the Maine Crisis Line at 1-888-568-1112, or call 911 if you're in immediate danger.