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
So informative and well organised, thanks for sharing it with the community 
I would just like to add a few additional lines to your text, as just last summer I had aced my Psychology of Addiction class. Addiction is actually very real in our brains, what I mean by is, an addiction's brain has less self-control than normal. It will seek the drug as an attempt to medicate mental health, or for recreational purposes. And certain drugs will have stronger side-effects, and so avoiding these adverse effects. Without picturing other drugs, let's take cafeine for example. Those who have crammed know, that coffee at 3-4 AM in order to keep going, the one you took at 11PM is now leaving you exhausted - buuuuuuuuuuuut your paper is not done, so another coffee it is.
When looking at opiods and stronger drugs - we NEED to be mindful of their adverse effects as well. Some prescription drug are not to be used for long duration, because your brain could become depend on it in order to function as to what it perceives to be the norm
Great forum
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOE THE INFO.
@eeveeon
@eeveeon
Very Helpful, Thank You So Much @eeveeon 
@eeveeon
Well done! I especiially liked your box chart that showed the positive and negative, that worked really well. And HALT Marvellous! Hungry, Angry, Lonely, Tired, I will remember that!
Thanks Eeveeon.
Are addictions not considered to be mental illnesses themselves?
@AffyAvo, I have found addiction to take forms, physical and mental. Just because someone has a physical dependence o a substance does not mean they have or don't have a mental addiction to it. Chronic pain patients have a bad go of it sometimes because of this. It is important to correctly accertain which addiction(s) are most llikely to be the result when a person is labelled as an addict. I am a chronic pain patient that is also an addict by nature. I have a Dr., a sponsor in a recovery program and a psycologist that work hand in hand with each other. I trust them implicitly so if they decide I need to alter my intake on a perscribed substance, I do just thatwithout question. It's taken me a lot of work and research to get where I am today; 28+ years clean. If a medication messes with my head I just let them know I want to either switch to a less powerful one or they may even cut the dosage down. I'd rather feel a little pain than be whacked outta my gourd. Pain lets me know I'm still alive. A physical dependance on something may or may not lead to a mental addiction. It's all a matter of being able to take life as it comes instead of trying to scape it.
@kookbug1959
Very informative, thank you for sharing that. I believe your answer really answers @AffyAvo 's question. It depends on who it is, what they are addicted to, and their circumstances!
Someone may become mentally addicted to something, physically addicted to something, or both! However, someone may only become physically addicted to something due to certain circumstances (such as medication like SSRI's, pain medication, anxiety medication, etc), as if they stop taking them without properly tapering off, their body reacts poorly/negatively, still considering that they may not be mentally addicted to the medication.
@kookbug1959 @eeveeon I don't think of physical dependencies as addictions, and I think it's problematic when the term addiction is used in those cases. Some medications that have withdrawal effects aren't even ingested.
Reading this (and the information would have come from other sources) the statistics seem a little bit off - are they talking about addiction as both the physical & mental and thus the mental illness stats include the mental addiction and not those with just the physical?
i find as well that addiction and mental problems go hand in hand. as a teen i was struggling with my surroundings, became depressed and used alcohol to overcome my emotional pain. it became worse and worse until i hit rock bottom (emotionally), that was the point where i decided to live and stop drinking.
i stayed away from anything which included alcohol, like parties, come-togethers in bars, anything where i knew a lot of alcohol would be involved. the party people stayed away from me as well, real friends stayed and supported me.
avoiding contact with alcohol was number 1 for me, no alcohol at home (friends adjusted to juice/tea/coffee), having someone to call when the urge comes up (a mentor), most important going into an aa group to find support.
when i was told in aa how to manage my addiction by excluding everything which had to do with alcohol i thought there will be no fun anymore in my life, i could not imagine it at that point. however, life without drinking was difficult in the beginning but became easier and easier with time and today i am a happy and proud alcoholic (not drinking anymore for 28 years).
@amiablePeace77
Thank you for sharing that and a big CONGRATULATIONS. I'm so proud of you! You have come so far.
I completely agree with what you have said, and I am glad that your friend supported you. You must have tried so hard to get where you are at now and I am glad that you could share this with the community.
Again, well done on your efforts, you have done so well.
