Honors Project: Addiction and its Correlation to Mental Health
Addiction and its Correlation to Mental Health
An addiction is something that is complex. It is a brain disease that is manifested by compulsive substance use despite harmful consequences. An addiction is a condition that arises when a person ingests a substances or engages in an activity that can be pleasurable, however, subsequently becomes compulsive and interferes with everyday activities that people go through, including a persons work life, relationships and their health.
While an addiction may not necessarily cause a mental health illness and vise versa, it is still important to note that the behaviour of both at the same time can cause greater issues. When you have both a substance/activity abuse problem and a mental health issue such as depression, bipolar disorder, or anxiety, it is called a co-occuring disorder or dual diagnosis.
The correlation between an addiction and mental health issues ultimately lies in a dual diagnosis. This is where both the mental health issue and the addiction have their own unique symptoms that may get in the way of your ability to function, handle lifes difficulties, and relate to others. The situation becomes much more complicated when the co-occurring disorders affect each other and interact. When a mental health problem goes untreated, an addiction or abuse problem will generally become worse as well. Similarly, when an addiction increases, mental health issues generally increase too.
The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) has shown that Americans suffering with a mental illness often experience drug problems at far higher rates than the general community. These studies suggest that around 50 perfect of people suffering with mental illness also have a drug or alcohol problem. NAMI has also shown that 37 percent of Americans that suffer with alcohol addiction, and 53 percent of Americans that suffer with drug addiction both suffer with at least one mental illness. Finally, of all people diagnosed as mentally ill, 29 percent abuse either alcohol or drugs. This justifies the importance of both conditions being correctly diagnosed and that they are appropriately treated.
Which comes first, the addiction or the mental health illness?
Although an addiction is commonly suffered by people with mental health issues, one does not directly cause the other.
Substance addiction
- Often used to self-medicate the symptoms of depression or anxiety.
- Causes side effects and in the long term, worsens the very symptoms they initially numbers or relieved.
Impulse Control Disorders
- Often manifest in sudden bursts of energy and a false sense of happiness/excitement.
- May result in excessive anxiety.
Behavioral Addiction
- Similar to ICD, behaviours may manifest in burst of excitement, resulting in the need to find a sense of relief.
- This may lead to anxiety or depression due to the need to continuously achieve it.
- Behavioural addictions (such as gaming/internet may increase depression due to lack of spending time in the real world, a lack of sunlight and interpersonal interaction (rather than online interaction).
A substance abuse or an addiction may trigger new symptoms and may intensify symptoms of mental illness. An alcohol or substance abuse, for example, interact with medications such as antidepressants, anti-anxiety pills, and mood stabilisers, making them less effective and resulting in negative side effects.
There are several possible causes of addiction. First, people may engage in behaviour that is harmful due to a mental illness. Second, people may learn unhealthy behaviour from the environment that they reside in. Third, peoples thoughts and beliefs create their feelings. This in turn determines their behaviour.
Someones thoughts and beliefs may be unrealistic or dysfunctional, thus leading to a similar pattern in their behaviour.
An example of this is the psychopathological model of addiction and recovery implications. The psychopathological model sees mental disorders as the cause of addiction. Cognitive difficulties, mood disturbances and other mental illness are all examples of mental disorders. Addiction and other mental health disorders commonly occur together (called comorbidity).
What are some types of addictions?
A person can be addicted to many different things. It may be sudden, may depend on potential risk factors, and any factor that is environmental, social, behavioural, genetics, previous experiences (trauma, injury), exposure, mental illness, etc.
Substance addiction
Drugs (illicit/prescription)
Alcohol
Tobacco
Substance addiction
Drugs (illicit/prescription)
Alcohol
Tobacco
Impulse Control Disorders
Kleptomania
Gambling
Pyromania
Behavioral Addiction
Food
Sex/Pornography
Pain (seeking)
Shopping
Working
Exercising
Technology (computer/internet/games)
What are the risk factors of an addiction? Are there preventative factors? 
As shown above, the risk factors that may be associated with an addiction can be reversed in a positive way. If a risk factor is known, it should be dealt with accordingly. Good behaviour and self control are one of the biggest preventative factors available for an addiction, and may drastically improve mental health at the same time, benefiting a person with a dual diagnosis.
At best, you should do your best to HALT (avoid high-risk situations):
- Hungry
- Angry
- Lonely
- Tired
Mental health symptoms of an addiction
Confusion, delusions and hallucinations
Irritability, anxiety or paranoia
Slow reaction time
Excess confidence
Behaviour changes
Anxiety - Panic attacks or panic symptoms
Depression
Mood swings (erratic behaviour)
Sense of entitlement - needing to utilise the substance/activity on a regular basis
An intense urge to utilise the addiction to block out other feelings and or emotions
Coping mechanisms that may work
Two skills that are essential are the ability to manage your stress levels and relax and to combat your negative thinking.
Be honest with yourself. Acknowledge your current state, and try to be mindful.
Find healthy alternatives (if you require an adrenaline release, a healthy amount of physical exercise may release those endorphins).
Listening to music, drawing, singing, dancing, exercising, mindfulness, writing, cleaning, stretching/yoga, conversing and general activities are all good examples of healthy coping mechanisms.
One important mechanism may be to keep a daily/weekly/monthly journal of your achievements. That way, you can track your progress and visibly see your results.
What help is readily available?
There are an abundance of programs that may be available to you, and it depends on your specific area, however, here are some specific examples of types of help that you can get if suffering with an addiction and mental health issues as a result.
Withdrawal programs
This may be a rehabilitation centre, or something similar, that detoxes the person of the drug or addiction in a healthy, safe way, typically run at a residential centre or in the community.
Self-help
Sharing experiences and providing communal support. This is an external source of help for people that provides motivation, connection and ongoing support.
An example of a community support agency is: Alcoholics Anonymous
Controlled use
A treatment to assist in the use of drugs in a safer way. May be offered by a community support agency who can provide information, accomodation, help with finding suitable work and housing as well as training and education.
Counselling
This may help rechannel damaging thoughts about taking drugs. It may also provide help it finding other, safer coping mechanisms.
Medication
There are numerous medications that can help ease cravings of addiction, cravings that make it hard to stop using some drugs. If you are experiencing cravings of addiction, please seek professional help from a psychiatrist for more information.
DISCUSSION
Here are some questions to get you thinking:
- How has this made you feel? Have you come out of this with a better understanding?
- What can you say about drug addiction and mental health? How could you describe its correlation?
- What risk factors can you identify? Why might they be risks?
- How can you avoid these risk factors?
- Have you got any coping tips that may benefit other people in the community?
For on-going support, please check out the Addiction Support community.
Mind Body Relaxation Guide
Cognitive Therapy Guide
HelpGuide - Addictions
National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
References
Dr. Steven Melemis, I Want to Change My Life. (2017, December 25). What is Addiction? Understanding Addiction. Retrieved December 28, 2017, from https://www.addictionsandrecovery.org/what-is-addiction.htm
Drug addiction (substance use disorder). (2017, October 26). Retrieved December 28, 2017, from https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/drug-addiction/symptoms-causes/syc-20365112
Drugs & mental illness. (2017, May 29). Retrieved December 28, 2017, from https://www.sane.org/mental-health-and-illness/facts-and-guides/drugs-and-mental-illness
Horvath, T., PH.D, ABPP, Misra, K., PH.D, Epner, A. K., PH.D, & Cooper, G. M., PH.D. (2013, August 26). Psychological Causes Of Addiction. Retrieved December 28, 2017, from https://www.mentalhelp.net/articles/psychological-causes-of-addiction/
P, R. (2017, January). What is Addiction? Retrieved December 28, 2017, from https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/addiction/what-is-addiction
Saison, J., Smith, M., & Segal, J. (2017, April). Substance Abuse and Mental Health Issues. Retrieved December 28, 2017, from https://www.helpguide.org/articles/addictions/substance-abuse-and-mental-health.htm
The Connection Between Mental Illness and Substance Abuse. (n.d.). Retrieved December 28, 2017, from http://www.dualdiagnosis.org/mental-health-and-addiction/the-connection/
What is Addiction? (n.d.). Retrieved December 28, 2017, from https://www.psychologytoday.com/basics/addiction
Hello well i know someone from here that have an addiction and he knows that he have it... He tries to stop but he always failed... I try to help him but he can't and he also can't afford some professional to help him.
What do i do?
@Alejandra98
Hello! Sorry to hear this - it must be tough for you to want to help but not be able to.
There should be some free services around you, depending on your location. Do you mind me asking what country you both reside in? This may be a good indicator to different support networks that could assist him for free or a lower price.
There is also a good selection of addiction support here or 7Cups. We host weekly discussions about coping, rehabilitation and other things to do with addiction if you'd like to tune into one of those?
@eeveeon well he is from Australia but the problem is that his addiction is kinda particular not like drugs or alcohol... More in like Masturbate
@Alejandra98
No problem, I know of this helpline that deals with an addiction to masturbation. Please feel free to check this out if you don't have any luck with 7Cups! Addiction to Masturbation (scroll down to find a free telephone number or their email if you'd like to contact them).
Thank you so much for the information and the effort you put into it! Very educational!
We really appreciate the effort the extra knowledge and will use it to help people in need. 
@eeveeon
Excellently done! You raised so many interesting and valid points in this project. Thank you so much for sharing your wealth of knowledge with the community. Here's my response, hope it's not too long winded and rambly. This is a topic I could spend days talking about without taking a breath.
I love how you touched on depression and it's link with the isolating nature of addictions. That's something I haven't put much thought into. It's often preached in 12-step literature that addiction is a disease of isolation but that poses the question...is depression a separate entity or is it part of the symptoms of an addiction? Or is the addiction a symptom of another mental illness? I think it varies from case to case but here are some of my personal insights.
It's a proven fact that people with ADHD are 4 times more likely than the rest of the population to become addicted to drugs and/or alcohol. I've seen this in action while interacting with residents of a local addiction treatment program. It was super fascinating because many of these lovely people, once they were off the dope for a while displayed some traits and behaviours that to me screamed out ADHD. A quick quiz on their past histories, including their childhood and how they did in school provided some evidence for my hypothesis. From what I know, people with ADHD often turn to substances as a way of self-medicating and helping their brains compensate for some of the difficulties they experience with executive functioning (working memory, mental flexibility, and self-control).
Along with ADHD, there's an incredibly strong correlation between a history of past traumatic experiences and addiction. In fact I've personally observed that correlation to be so strong that I can confidently say that I don't think I've met one single person who struggles with an addiction who hasn't endured at least one traumatic experience. I've had conversations with professionals who have decades under their belts working with the addiction population and many of them have said something along the lines of addiction being a symptom of trauma/PTSD.
As well, certain addictions to certain substances can create a whole slew of symptoms. For example, depressants such as alcohol or opioids depress the nervous system and can lead to a chronic low mood and energy level. Uppers such as crystal meth or cocaine can create strong feelings of anxiety, paranoia and can sometimes even lead to psychosis because of the way they stimulate the nervous system and essentially send it into overdrive. Cannabis has also been linked with psychosis and the onset of schizophrenia, especially in young people.
Anyways, these are just some of my own take-aways and observations. There's so much we don't know about the baffling disorder of addiction and the many other ailments that go hand in hand with it. It's so valuable and critical that we continue to have these conversations and share our wealth of knowledge with each other. The more we talk about it, the more people we are able to help and the closer we get to cracking the code and figuring out more effective ways of freeing so many people from the death grip that addiction and mental illnesses have on their lives.
