How Can Drugs and Alcohol Affect My Mental Health?
People drink alcohol and abuse alcohol for various reasons. Regardless of your reasons, using alcohol or drugs may have a long-lasting adverse effect on you. The likely long-term effects may include:
- Strokes and high blood pressure
- Constant craving to consume more to experience the same effect
- Complications with your pancreas and liver
- Development of particular cancers e.g., mouth cancer, bowel cancer, and liver cancer
- Difficulty maintaining or obtaining an erection
- Issues with orgasms
- Problems becoming pregnant
- Feel it’s a must to use alcohol or drugs to become sane. This is referred to as being dependent
- Withdrawal symptoms like feeling shaky, sweaty, cold, or sick when you don’t use them.
- Having sudden mood alterations
- Being pessimistic and viewing life in a bad light
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Loss of motivation
- Issues sustaining relationships
- Experiencing drug-induced psychosis
- Being secretive
If you abuse drugs and alcohol for an extended period, it can cause adverse effects and affect your mental health. Drugs have a tendency of making you feel ailed and more inclined to attempt and injure yourself or commit suicide. If you suffer from an alcohol addiction then make sure you seek out alcohol addiction therapy.
Research also indicates that consuming some drugs can result in mental illness. For instance, cannabis has been shown to increase your likelihood of contracting psychosis or suffering a psychotic disorder.
Which drugs can affect my mental well-being?
In this part, we have cataloged some of the various kinds of substances that may harm your mental welfare. Please note that this doesn’t list down all the substances that may be harmful to you.
Consuming any type of substance can be harmful. They can also react badly to any prescription medication or substances you might use.
Cannabis
(Also referred to as weed, skunk, pot, marijuana, herb, hash, grass, ganja, draw, dope, bhang, and bud)
Cannabis is among the most frequently consumed drugs in England. Going to one research study, one out of thirteen individuals aged between 16-59 had consumed it in the previous year. Young people between the ages of 16-24 tend to use cannabis more frequently. The same research found that under 1 in 5 young people consumed cannabis between 2018 and 2019.
Some users consume cannabis because it gives them a sensation of happiness and relaxation, but it also gives you feelings of paranoia or anxiousness. Others may experience things that aren’t there. This indicates drug-induced psychosis. Some research studies have indicated that the chances of psychosis may increase if you:
- Take cannabis for an extended period,
- Take it regularly, and
- Use ‘potent’ cannabis such as skunk.
If you are a regular cannabis user and you start experiencing problems with your health, book a consultation with your GP right away. Your attending physician shouldn’t judge you and should not inform other persons that you take drugs.
Alcohol
Some individuals with mental conditions have issues with consuming alcohol. Alcohol is lawful, which means it can be obtained easily. It can make feelings associated with mental health come to the surface.
The lasting effects of alcohol are also contingent on the amount of alcohol you drink and how frequently you do it. If you are a heavy drinker and you do it regularly, you are more likely to suffer adverse mental and physical harm.
Drinking can make you perform actions you normally wouldn’t attempt. This includes suicidal tendencies and self-harm. High alcohol levels can result in psychosis.