Effects of Drugs and Alcohol and Tobacco on Mental Health

Drugs and Alcohol

When someone talks about mental disorders people often think of disorders such as anxiety disorder, eating disorders, depression and other similar disorders. It must come as a surprise that having drug or alcohol addiction is also a mental illness?.

Like many other well-known mental disorders, addiction to alcohol or drugs can also have a serious effect on one’s work life and personal life and how they carry out their day to day tasks at work or at school.

It can also have profound influence on how one manages their relationships with friends and family members. Statistically speaking more people who are affected with substance use are seen to be men which is 4.1 million in 2014 in the US.

Tobacco

You may have seen people doing or smoking tobacco. One of the other substances to which people get addicted to is tobacco. It can also have a profound negative effect on one’s health. One of the common forms of using tobacco is in the form of cigarettes. Statistics show that there is more number of people with some sort of a mental illness who are likely to smoke cigarettes than others.

When it comes to mental illness in this case it is most likely to be some sort of a major depression or schizophrenia. If 100 cigarettes are sold in the US approximately 45% of those cigarettes are purchased by people with some sort of a mental disorder. Use of tobacco is one other reason for people with mental disorders to experience Physical health issues.

In terms of support and treatment there are many resources available such as substance abuse and mental health administration (SAMHSA) which offers national helpline. Also there is a national institute on drug abuse (NIDA) , online treatment locators and step-by-step treatment guides available online. The government has also launched a web resource at smokefree.gov and also made available is toll-free smoking quitline at 1-877-44U-QUIT (1-877-448-7848).