Key Takeaways

• Extended use of Kratom can lead to severe mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, and psychosis. It’s crucial to understand the potential risks associated with prolonged use.
• Kratom is known as a “natural” remedy, but it can be dangerous, especially if you use it wrong over time.
• Medical detoxification may be necessary to deal with withdrawal symptoms that come from using drugs for a long time.
• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) plays a crucial role in addressing the mental health issues that can arise from kratom abuse. It offers a path to recovery and a chance to regain control over your mental well-being.
• Intensive outpatient programs, opioid-focused interventions, and dual diagnosis care are all options for recovery.

Introduction

Kratom is a herbal substance made from the leaves of the Mitragyna speciosa tree. It’s often sold as a safe, natural way to relieve pain and improve mood. But using it over and over again for a long time can cause a lot of mental and emotional problems. High doses and long-term exposure to opioids can change the way the brain’s opioid receptors work, making people tolerant, dependent, and mentally unstable.

As more people learn about the mental health problems that can come from using kratom for a long time, treatment programs are starting to deal with this issue more fully by using medical detoxification and therapies that have been shown to work.

What Happens To Your Mental Health Over Time When You Take Kratom?

Low doses of Kratom may make you feel a little happy or awake, but higher doses can make you feel sleepy, like opioids. People who use it a lot may get worse depression, more irritability, hallucinations, paranoia, and problems with thinking. These effects are worse when you take kratom every day or in large amounts. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), although kratom is not yet federally scheduled, it presents many of the same risks as traditional opioids (NIDA, 2023).

How Do You Know When You Need To Detox?

When you stop taking kratom, you may have muscle pain, mood swings, tiredness, trouble sleeping, and intense cravings. These symptoms are often similar to those of opioid withdrawal and can make it hard to function.

Medical detoxification makes sure that patients can safely get rid of kratom from their bodies while being watched by medical professionals. This process can lower the risk of relapse and help with acute symptoms, getting people ready for the next stage of treatment.

Because kratom has a similar pharmacological profile to opioids, clinics that help people recover from opioid addiction often treat kratom dependence in the same way.

How Can Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Help People Get Better From Kratom?

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is one of the most essential parts of treatment for people whose mental health is getting worse because of kratom use. CBT helps people:

• Find thought patterns that are bad for you
• Know what emotional triggers make people use drugs
• Learn how to deal with things in a healthy way
• Take care of both anxiety and depression at the same time

CBT helps people stay sober and emotionally strong in the long term by changing how they think about stress, pain, or trauma. The National Library of Medicine highlights CBT’s effectiveness in addressing substance use and co-occurring mental health disorders (MedlinePlus, 2024).

What Recovery Options Exist Beyond Detox?

The first step is detox. Integrated care through an intensive outpatient program (IOP) or partial hospitalization can be life-changing for people who are trying to get over their kratom abuse. These programs usually have:

• Therapy for one person and a group
• Counseling for families
• Taking care of medications (if needed)
• Teaching people how to avoid relapsing
  

Trauma-informed care or dual diagnosis treatment may also help clients who have trouble with both drug use and controlling their emotions.

The National Institute on Drug Abuse emphasizes that effective treatment should address both substance use and co-occurring mental disorders for better long-term outcomes (NIDA, 2024).

What Are The Long-Term Risks Of Saying That Kratom Is “Natural” And “Safe”?

A lot of people think of kratom as a safe herbal supplement. This myth often makes it more challenging to receive the correct diagnosis and treatment. Kratom can:

• Make you dependent and cause withdrawal symptoms
• Make existing mental health problems worse or start new ones
• Act as a gateway to other opioids
• Make it hard to function socially, at work, and mentally

Regulatory agencies are still trying to figure out how dangerous kratom is. The FDA and CDC have both warned that it can have effects that are hard to predict and could be harmful.

Conclusion

Many people think of kratom as a natural remedy, but using it for a long time can have terrible effects on mental health. As more people become dependent and their mental health gets worse, complete treatment, which includes detox, CBT, and outpatient care, becomes more and more critical.

Don’t let the misuse of kratom jeopardize your emotional well-being or future. Reach out to Virtue Recovery Center at 866-461-3339 to explore safe and compassionate treatment options tailored to your needs.

FAQs

Does Kratom Make People Addicted?

Yes. Kratom is addictive in a way that is similar to opioids, mainly when used for a long time or in high doses.

Is It Dangerous To Stop Taking Kratom?

Withdrawal symptoms can be terrible, especially if you don’t have a doctor to help you. Seeking help from a professional is the safest way to undergo detoxification.

Does Using Kratom Make You Depressed Or Anxious?

Yes. Long-term use is linked to higher rates of depression, anxiety, and cognitive problems.

Does CBT Work For Mental Health Problems Caused By Kratom?

CBT is a very effective and popular way to treat addiction and other mental health problems that come with it.

How Do Professional Recovery Programs Deal With Kratom?

Detox, therapy, and structured outpatient care are all used to treat kratom addiction, just like they are used to treat opioid addiction.

Resource Links:

• National Institute on Drug Abuse. Kratom DrugFacts. NIDA, 2023, https://nida.nih.gov/publications/drugfacts/kratom
• MedlinePlus. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. National Library of Medicine, 2024, https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/001523.htm 

National Institute on Drug Abuse. Comorbidity: Substance Use Disorders and Other Mental Illnesses. NIDA, 2024, https://nida.nih.gov/research-topics/comorbidity/mental-illness-drug-addiction