The Impact of Drug Addiction on Mental Health

If you are suffering from a substance use disorder that has developed into an addiction, you have experienced its many negative effects. Addiction can negatively impact not only your physical and mental health, but also your career, relationships, family life, and finances. 

As the negative effects of addiction continue to accumulate, people become emotionally and psychologically unstable and may even develop mental health disorders. Keep reading to learn more about how addiction affects your mental health. 

The science behind how addiction affects mental health: 

Drug use directly affects the brain. These substances can cause changes in brain structure and function over time. These changes can disrupt cognition, memory, impulse control, decision-making, and more, impacting a person’s mental health. 

These, combined with other negative effects of addiction such as job loss, failed relationships, financial difficulties, custody battles, and legal issues, can lead to anxiety and depression. 

You may also have an undiagnosed mental health condition, such as depression exacerbated by a substance use disorder. Many substances can worsen the symptoms of an existing mental illness. 

A common example of this is when pre-existing depression exists and the person self-medicates with alcohol. Alcohol consumption not only worsens symptoms but also increases the risk of developing co-occurring alcohol use disorder. 

What is dual diagnosis: 

When a substance use disorder co-occurs with a mental health disorder, such as bipolar disorder, the condition is called dual diagnosis. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, approximately 17 million Americans experienced dual diagnosis in 2020. Regardless of whether a substance use disorder surfaces first, co-occurring disorders can intensify the symptoms of both and make treatment plans more complex. 

The symptoms of dual diagnosis are as diverse as the possible disease combinations. For example, a person with an anxiety disorder and a benzodiazepine use disorder has different symptoms than a person with a major depressive disorder and an alcohol use disorder. However, what most dual diagnoses have in common is the severity of their symptoms. This occurs because each failure amplifies the effects of the other failures. 

Dual diagnosis is a complex condition that requires careful screening as individuals approach treatment. Dual diagnosis results from a thorough evaluation of both the mental health disorder and substance use disorder during the interview and assessment process.

Treatment protocols for co-occurring disorders: 

If you have a co-occurring mental health disorder and a substance use disorder, it is essential to find a treatment provider who understands the complexities of dual diagnosis treatment. These are specialized programs that incorporate psychiatric treatment and substance use disorder treatment into a customized recovery plan. 

A comprehensive dual diagnosis treatment program should include: 

Withdrawal management 

Individual psychotherapy 

Medication management 

Group therapy 

12 Step programs 

Psychosocial education and life skills 

Comprehensive treatment 

Relapse prevention Plan 

Appetite and weight changes refer to changes in your desire to eat food and your weight. Problematic drug use can hijack the brain, affect an individual’s metabolism, and shift priorities to focus solely on drug use and refrain from eating. 

Drug abuse can change the way your body burns and stores fat, leading to unhealthy eating behaviors. Scientists aren’t sure why this happens, but a 2013 issue of Appetite magazine titled “Cocaine Keeps You Thin: Insights into Eating Behavior and Weight in Cocaine-Addicted Men.” One study found that cocaine addicts who took cocaine didn’t gain much weight, even if they ate lots of fatty foods and carbohydrates, which is often the case when eating this way. 

Changes in appetite and weight can continue into drug abuse, but weight gain can occur once a person stops abusing drugs and enters recovery. 

Sleep disorders such as insomnia and excessive sleeping are the devastating effects drug addiction has on a person’s sleep patterns. Some drugs interfere with your sleep time and reduce the quality of your sleep, while others increase your sleepiness. 

Drugs may produce this effect by altering the brain’s neurochemical functioning and subsequently disrupting its sleep regulatory system. This directly affects an individual’s body clock, which controls the sleep/wake cycle. 

A study on sleep disturbances in substance use disorders by Timothy A. Roehrs and Thomas Roth published in North American Psychiatric Clinic in 2015 found that sleep abnormalities and daytime sleepiness/arousal were associated with active substance use and drug use. It turns out that they are related. It has been suggested that it may be observed both after use. use.

Nutrition and Exercise If your health condition may also be deteriorating, you may benefit from enrolling in a comprehensive, evidence-based dual diagnosis treatment program. 

Ashley Addiction Treatment (formerly Father Martin’s Ashley) is a nationally recognized nonprofit leader in evidence-based, integrative treatment for substance use disorders. Our program is accredited by the Joint Commission, which results in frequent publication of ongoing research into effective treatments. At our hospital, we provide holistic care that encompasses the mind, body, and spirit through inpatient and outpatient treatment, as well as a variety of services tailored to each patient’s individual needs, including drug detox, relapse prevention plans, and family health programs. We offer we offer. Our driving principle, “All About Recovery”, strengthens our mission to transform and save lives through the compassion of medicine, therapeutic technology and spirituality to help people heal with respect and dignity. 

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