I think there is a positive correlation between people with mental illness and drug abuse (i don’t mean drugs prescibed for them, either).
I know that correlation cannot show causation, but can we try to figure this out?
Do people who abuse heroin and crack and alcohol and whatever else you want to add here-
do they do it because they are seriously emotionally disturbed and turn to it for relief?
Or do the drugs cause these serious problems?
I know the answer is probably a little of both, but I want to discuss it further.
From what I’ve observed in people I know personally, it seems that they turn to drugs first because of emotional problems due to any number of things.
I’ve come to the conclusion over the years that what you’re seeing is a clumsy attempt at regulating the fluctuation of chemicals within the brain. It’s a crude form of self-medication, IMO.
There are a lot of issues here, though. It’s a pretty tangled web. It also involves economic level, stability of upbringing and other factors. There’s also the problem of getting accurate statistics.
It seems to me that they are all intertwined and tangled pretty tightly.
A good first step would be to to define what you mean by a mental illness- how severe? Does low self-esteem count?
As soon as i posted this I realized this was a tangled web and that’s why I wondered if it should be moved.
I think low self-esteem should count, though I think that low-self esteem always has an underlying cause.
And bear in mind, I am referring to ABUSE of drugs, not some college kids fooling around with ecstasy or people still living in the 80’s who snort coke in the bathroom at times in bars once in a while (though i DO wonder).
Does this mean I need to supply a definition of ABUSING drugs rather than merely using them?
Um-
using drugs to the point at which it interfers with normal functioning?
I think voluntary “recreational” drug use may well result
from mental problems of which the user is unaware. This
isn’t to say that everyone who uses pot, for example, is
treating a mental condition. But a significant subset of
pot users may well match that description, and the same may
be true of other drugs. In such cases the the user may
become irrational or otherwise difficult when the drug is
stopped, giving the impression that he is seriously addicted to the drug. Once I was in the courtroom audience when
a defendant with profound ADHD disorder had been kicked out
of the halfway house he was in due to combative behavior. According to the man he needed marijuana to prevent himself
acting out in that manner, but of course he wasn’t allowed to have it where he was. I knew one manic depressive
person in high school, and he used to toke up to stop his
thoughts from racing.
Further comment…I think this situation is an illustration of how difficult it must be for doctors and therapists to
sort out exactly what addiction is and how best to treat it.
Manic depressives need lithium or other medication all their lives to function normally, so that’s an addiction in a sense even if they don’t crave the drug.
Candidly, I don’t know the answer to that. More specifically I don’t know whether there is consensus in the scientific community as to the answer to your OP, or whether there is consensus as to whether there is an answer.
Let’s leave it here for now. We can move it if cites and links to scientific publications don’t show up.
A great percent of drug (you didn’t define ‘drug’) addicts
need the drugs just to get up or down to normal. Its those who become idiots on it that spoil it for them.
In jail there is a very high percentage of inmates with drug habits, at least 70%.
There are also a large number of individuals with personality disorders and from experience I would say that amounts to 30%.
By personality disorders I mean those whose mental state interferes with their ability to function, there are plenty more whom one would describe as eccentric.
The heroin, coke and ecstasy users are selfish and cynical but (coke and ecstasy are rarely found in prison) they function well enough.
The ones who stand out as being ‘not all there’ are solvent abusers and very long term cannabis users.
Those who seem to be bordering on the verge of sanity seem generally to be LSD users.
It is hard to say wether the drugs caused the damage or if they were damaged anyway and of course we are looking at those whose behaviour has already caused problems, it is not reprsentative of the whole population.
MHO FWIW is that long term use of drugs is a cause of mental health problems but, much more than that, if there is a mild underlying problem then drugs can increase the severity hugely.
That last is not to be underestimated because there are millions of people out there who function fairly normally and have no idea that there is anything wrong at all.
There are some afflictions–e.g., some anxiety disorders–where self medication is so prevalent (the drug of choice is typically alcohol) that doctors often have difficulty diagnosing cause and effect. The anxiety creates the “need” for alcohol, which can itself intensify anxious feelings, which leads to more drinking, and so on.
The less-expert diagnostician will wonder if this is an alcoholic whose abuse has created an anxiety imbalance (not at all unusual), or someone with an anxiety disorder who perhaps would not otherwise have abused alcohol. It is often not clear to the person who is ill. Both concerns probably require treatment, but the overall strategy selected would likely be different depending upon the conclusion as to what is the root cause–so this is not at all trivial question.
It might be worthwhile to distinguish between mental disorders and biological (i.e., nuerochemical) disorders. Some people with substance problems benefit from “talk therapy”, which impacts the way they think, whereas others do not. In the latter instance, the drug of choice is a substitute for something lacking in the brain, endorphins, for instance, in persons with a craving for opiates.
Some people will snort some coke, shrug thier shoulders and walk away, it ain’t worth it. Others take that first whiff of weasel dust and its like something that was always missing has just been found. I think the similarity to “falling in love” is very telling. (ahhh, love…great high, worlds worst hangover…)
If only there were a chemical that enhanced empathy and compassion! Sneak some into George W.'s coffee…
italics added. 'cuse me??? coke users rarely found in prison??? which prison doens’t have them?
individual drugs of abuse go in cycles. Cocaine use went skyrocketing in the 80’s, new law against “rock” cocaine were enacted all over the place, and at the very least, from the prisoners I interview in Michigan currently there’s lots in there for cocaine possession, use, delivery etc.
can’t give a cite since all records that I can access simply show crime categories (ie. assaultive vs. drug crimes vs. property etc.) and don’t break it down as to specific drugs involved.
and I’d also dispute the “function well enough” line.
when heroin and cocaine are used to the extent that the person is clinically addicted their days are centered around either getting high or getting the money together to continue to get high. Main difference is with heroin (central nervous system depressant), there’s a nodding off time where they’re quiet and sleepy. Not productive, mind you, but not running around. with Cocaine, there’s no such sleepy time, until the big crash happens.
I’ve often wondered why there are some drugs (e.g. alcohol, pot) that some people seem to get hooked on and some don’t. A few months ago, I emailed an addiction specialist with this question. His response was that it’s 40% genetic, 60% causes unknown.
I was watching a TV special on hookers or junkies or something in which one woman, an addicted prostitute, said that it felt like there was an empty hole where her feelings should be. Heroin, she said, was the only thing that filled that hole - but it wasn’t cement. She had to fill the hole back up with three grams of fresh dope every day.
Many would argue that one would have to have some kind of mental problem just to try heroin in the first place. I tend to agree. It’s self-destructive behavior, akin to cutting oneself up with a knife. It’s not that they don’t know the dangers or heroin; they simply don’t care. A few brief moments of euphoria can be worth the price of addiction to someone who has known only misery their entire life. It’s sad, but that’s life, and all the drug laws in the world aren’t going to change it.
Let’s not forget the other, less obvious, addictions. Overeating, gambling, smoking, thrill seeking, etc.
Addictions seem to be enterchangeable. Some people will give up one, only to take up another. I think that it has been proven that some folks have a addictive personality. It’s pretty common for a person who stops a high risk activity (police work, mountain climbing) to become addicted to some drug. Most often alchohol, I think.
The line between insanity and genius is about as vague as the line between addiction and abstinence. And so is the line between drug abuse and mental illness.
Good luck on trying to figure out the human mind.
Peace,
mangeorge
There are plenty of prisoners who are inside as a result of cocaine related offences but the majority of drugs actually in prisons are ‘downers’ not ‘uppers’.
Mandatory testing bears this out too, with the highest number of positives being for cannabis(no surprise since it stays in the body for so much longer than everything else).
The next highest positive is between Heroin, and temazepam though there does seem to be a fair bit of diamorphin about.
We have only recently started testing for temazepam so we don’t yet have enough data but the indications are there.
What may not have occurred to most people is that one very common group of drugs in prisons are steroids which are usually injected rather than taken orally - apparently this does less damage to the liver, at the moment these are not tested for.
As for ‘function well enough’ there are inmates in jail who seem to have great difficulty in doing basic tasks such as cleanliness, learning new tasks, being able to manage their lives in general.This is not because they are just unwilling but they are simply incompetant at life in general(mentally ill are not included in this)
Coke and heroin users generally seem to be able to do all the things one would expect of a reasoning person except give up their habit, though they will substitute one drug for another.Their reasoning is cynical in the sense that it is all geared('scuse the pun) to obtaining the werewithall to pay for more drugs, so they will befriend someone helping them through bad days when news from outside is bad but it is all about gaining confidence to bleed the unfortunate dry.
There is a theory that some individuals have personalities that are more likely to get addicted to something wether it is alchohol, class A drugs, or even over-exercise.
