An individual mental health refers to his or her psychological and emotional wellbeing. Drugs and alcohol lead to poor mental health when one suffers from total dependence. Alcohol and drug addiction cause disruption in an individual ability to become emotionally and spiritually resilient to survive pain, disappointment and sadness.
The most common drugs that cause mental health include hallucinogens, bulimia nervosa, analgesics, stimulants and depressants.
Common mental health problems caused by alcohol and drugs
- Disruption of daily functioning of the brain
Alcohol and drugs are depressants that cause disruption of the brain hence affecting thoughts, feelings and actions. The brain is usually forced to release chemical changes that create stimulation by weakening that part of the brain charged with inhibition leading to increase in confidence.
- Anxiety
Use of alcohol and drug intensify the persons underlying feeling by evoking past memories of trauma or by repressing feelings associated with painful events. The memories can always be so powerful that they create overwhelming anxiety. However, relieving these memories under alcohol and drugs poses a threat to the individual safety as well as others safety.
- Depression
This affects an individual mood. Alcohol and drugs alter the ability of the body to rest, this result in the need of the body to work harder for the alcohol to be broken down in the system. The results have an effect on the central nervous system which results into mood change in an individual. It can also numb emotions so then the person avoids difficult issues in his or her life.
- Impaired judgment
Alcohol addiction cause poor judgment to an individual by impairing their perception and vision of things. Their part of the brain charged with perception and interpretation of things being affected hence they cannot make good judgment.
Korsakoff syndrome
This is caused by lack of vitamin deficiency, the end results is memory loss and emotional disturbance.
- Memory loss and coordination
Alcohol and drug affect how the brain functions by altering the brain structure. They damage cerebellum, limbic system and cerebral cortex that affect the body communication pathways. Cerebellum controls the body motor skills and when this part gets affected, an individual experiences loss of balance, memory loss and also become unresponsive to emotional issues.
- Psychosis
This refers to the condition in which an infidel thoughts and emotions gets impaired that reality appear to not exist. The effect is normally observed in an individual through psychotic episodes such as hallucinations, delusions, confusion and disturbed thoughts.
- Stress
The addiction of alcohol and drugs causes stress to the families of the affected individual. This is because of the financial constraint required for the treatment, lack of responsibility from the infidel, family conflicts that sometimes lead to death when quarrel gets out of control.
Conclusion
From the above complications, it is evident that alcohol and drugs adversely affect an individual’s mental health. Most long term mental health effects are irreversible. Before drinking, remember the complications and read the labels to know the percentage of alcohol content in any the drink. Also, the regulations on illegal drugs should be made stricter with high penalties imposed on those dealing with illegal drugs.