When you’re experiencing the symptoms of a psychiatric condition, it can be challenging to carry on with your daily activities. Your relationships may suffer, as well as your work opportunities, personal finances, and well-being. For this reason, it’s crucial to seek professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment when you are feeling mentally unwell.
With the help of a medical professional, you can begin feeling better. However, once you’ve received a treatment plan, it’s helpful to know what activities could be harmful to you, such as drinking alcohol while taking Abilify.
Abilify, also known by its generic name of aripiprazole, is a common antipsychotic medication that can help with various mental health conditions. Drinking while taking Abilify can make the medication less effective, putting you at a higher risk of side effects.
Here’s everything you need to know about mixing alcohol and Abilify.
What Is Abilify?
Abilify is an antipsychotic drug in a medication class known as atypical or second-generation antipsychotics. You may be familiar with the five other medications in this class, as well: clozapine (Clozaril), risperidone (Risperdal), olanzapine (Zyprexa), quetiapine (Seroquel), and ziprasidone (Geodon).
Similar to other atypical antipsychotic medications in its class, Abilify acts within your central nervous system, impacting the neurotransmitter chemicals within your brain. Mental health conditions such as depression and schizophrenia can be associated with abnormal levels of these neurotransmitters. Abilify works by modifying these chemicals and influencing how your body responds to them. This can improve your mood, cognitive patterns, and behavior.
When Is Abilify Prescribed?
Abilify can be a helpful medication for people trying to manage several different mental health conditions because of how Abilify can affect your mood, thinking, and behavior. A medical provider may prescribe an oral form of Abilify, such as pills or a solution that you swallow. Abilify may also be prescribed in an injectable form on a dosing schedule.
Abilify is commonly used to treat depression, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia.
Can You Mix Alcohol With Abilify?
Alcohol and Abilify both take effect within your brain. For this reason, it’s essential to consider the effects of mixing alcohol and Abilify because they can amplify each other if taken together. Alcohol is a depressant, and taking Abilify with alcohol can increase the depressant effects of alcohol, which may jeopardize your judgment, control over your actions and physical body, and even breathing.
Abilify, on its own, carries the side effects of drowsiness and sedation, which also occur when drinking alcohol. For this reason, medical professionals do not advise mixing alcohol and Abilify. Using the two together could put you in a potentially dangerous situation. Depending on your circumstances, you may want to ask your medical provider about your ability to mix Abilify and alcohol.
Managing Mental Health Conditions Along With Substance Use Disorders
It’s not a good idea to mix alcohol with Abilify, but if you feel like you cannot stop drinking, you may have an alcohol use disorder. If you find yourself in this situation, it can be scary. However, it’s crucial to be honest with yourself and transparent with your medical provider about your drinking patterns to stay safe.
If you have a mental health condition, such as depression, and think drinking is also a problem, you’re not alone. Millions of people in America suffer from both a mental health condition and a substance use disorder, a scenario known as having co-occurring conditions. A study suggests alcohol use disorders and depression may be closely linked because heavy drinkers are more likely to struggle with depression.
Can Abilify Help With an Alcohol Use Disorder?
Taking Abilify and drinking alcohol at the same time can cause harm. However, Abilify may be an effective medication to help people stop drinking alcohol. A study shows that taking Abilify can help people with an alcohol use disorder better control their impulses. If you are struggling with a mental health condition and an alcohol use disorder simultaneously, you may want to talk to your mental health provider about the possibility of using Abilify to help you treat both conditions.
Seeking Effective Treatment Options for Co-Occurring Disorders
It can be challenging to manage a mental health condition and substance abuse condition. At the Indiana Center for Recovery, we understand the nuances of addressing a mental health condition and a substance use disorder, including investigating how one condition may have led to, or masked, the other.
Our Dual Diagnosis program helps our patients recover from co-occurring conditions within a comprehensive treatment framework. Our facility represents Indiana’s only full continuum of care, and we work with a board-certified psychiatrist, licensed mental health counselors, and an exceptional nursing staff to create each individualized treatment plan.
If you have been looking for a way forward and are interested in learning more about how we support people in their recovery journeys and pathways to better mental stability, connect with us today.
