In a previous blog post, I wrote about addiction and now plan on further investigating addiction in relation to individuals suffering with mental illnesses. Individuals with mental illnesses suffer in ways far greater than debilitating symptoms. Many individuals are forced to self medicate because of lack of monetary funds or medical treatment, and many become addicted to drugs or alcohol just to help them feel normal. Nearly seven to ten percent of police arrests involve individuals with mental illnesses. This is due to an increase in drugs usage to medicate and a lack of proper medical treatment and medications causing them to act publicly unacceptable. This being said, most parolees that had co-occurring mental disorders were rearrested faster than those without mental health problems. It is hard for the average person to understand how debilitating a mental illness can be and how it can unravel a person’s life so quickly. A first hand meeting of a thirty-seven year old lady with Schizophrenia, I found out first hand how she went from a professor to homeless in a very short time period. I saw, as she was unable to do simple tasks as her mind wandered and dressing herself in appropriate clothing became an unbearable task for her. Studies show that the more a disorder is explained and understood by the public, the more it is accepted. This is the first step in providing more funding and more medical research for drugs and further therapy techniques to help these individuals cope with different mental disorders without turning to self medicating strategies.
The vastness of reasons behind addiction has lead many scholars to search for correlations. This paper will look into the psychological disorders behind addiction, specifically those individuals already in treatment facilities. Many individuals that enter rehab facilities for addiction have previously documented forms of mental illness, and a number of them are diagnosed after entering rehab through the rehabs counseling program. This concept of two or more disorders or illnesses in one person is known as comorbidity. Comorbidity mostly implies that the interactions between the illnesses can cause both illnesses to worsen. These mental illnesses can either be caused by prolong addiction to certain substances or could have went undiagnosed possibly leading the client to self medicate by consuming alcohol or using street drugs. Many individuals with severe mental illnesses such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, have limited access to mental health care, if any at all. Those with severe mental health disorders may possibly be homeless or struggling financially due to inability to hold down a job because of the symptoms related to their disorders. Drug addiction is classified as a mental illness because of the way it changes the brain. Individuals who are addicted to drugs are twice as likely to have mood and anxiety disorders and vise versa is also true. These disorders often co-occur because drug abuse may bring about the symptoms of other mental illnesses. Mental disorders can also lead to drug abuse because many will turn to alcohol or drugs to alleviate symptoms of their mental illnesses, such as severe anxiety or depression. Shared risk factors in both mental illnesses and drug addiction can also play a role. These include overlapping genetic vulnerabilities; overlapping environmental triggers, similar brain region involvement, and they are both developmental disorders.
Knowing that there may be a correlation between mental illnesses and addiction can be very helpful to a number of people. Proper treatment of the mental disorders can save many individuals from a life of substance abuse. I have personally worked at a drug abuse counseling center and have seen first hand the amount of patients with co-occurring disorders. Some patients had symptoms of these disorders before the onset of addiction and others developed mental disorders after prolonged substance abuse.
Further research into the correlation between mental illness and addiction and proper diagnosis of both can be very beneficial to any community. It should also be known that early diagnosis and proper treatment of certain mental disorders could prevent substance abuse among many. This can also help show government officials that handle health care, that mental health care is very necessary and should be covered so everyone, rich or poor, can get the counseling and medication they need so they don’t find the need to self-medicate.
Franz, S., & Borum, R. Crisis Intervention Teams may prevent arrests of people with mental illnesses. Police Practice & Research, 265-272.
Rüsch, N., Evans-Lacko, S., & Thornicroft, G. (2012). What is a mental illness? Public views and their effects on attitudes and disclosure. Australian & New Zealand Journal Of Psychiatry.
Wood, S. R. (2011). Co-occurring Psychiatric and Substance Dependence Disorders as Predictors of Parolee Time to Rearrest. Journal Of Offender Rehabilitation.