Substance abuse and mental health
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Mental health and drug abuse intersect because some illegal drugs can cause a person to experience the symptoms of mental health problems. On the other hand, mental health issues can lead one to drug use and alcohol. People with mental health often turn to drugs for self-medication. Also, nearly exposure to stress and trauma lead to mental disorders that cause the users to turn to substance use. Studies have found that many addicts are also diagnosed with other mental disorders (Watkins,2011). Both long-term and short-term drug abuse causes mental health issues such as hallucinations, anxiety, and depression among other issues.
People who are addicted to drugs roughly suffer from anxiety and mood disorders. Dealing with drug abuse is even more difficult when you have mental disorder problems. Both mental health issues and drug disorders affect an individual’s performance. According to (Watkins,2011) concurring substance abuse and mental health issues are common than many people think. The two issues correlate and affect each other. Research done by The Journal of the American Medical Association found that roughly 5o percent of individuals with mental disorders abuse drugs. At least 37 percent of the drug users abused alcohol.
People with mental illness and drug use problems experience behavioral changes, physical changes, and social changes. Behavioral changes include lack of motivation, sudden mood swings, paranoia, and unexplained change in personality (Watkins,2011). The physical changes include bloodshot eyes, sudden weight loss. Unusual smells in the breath and tremors. The social changes include legal problems related to substance abuse, unexplained need for money or financial problems, and deterioration of relationships. However, the relationship between substance abuse and mental health disorder does not completely define causality. For example, long term use of marijuana causes prolonged psychotic reactions while alcohol deepens the symptoms.
References
Watkins, K. (2011). A national survey of care for persons with co-occurring mental and substance use disorders. Psychiatric Services, 52(8), 1062-1068.
