Substance abuse is another term used to refer to drug addiction or drug abuse. Basically a person who has no rational control over their thinking and cannot control urges to use drugs for no apparent reason can be considered addicts. Unfortunately, even though some of these substances may have therapeutic effects, when people who do not necessarily need these drugs abuse them, they can lead to a lot of side effects.
In this article we will be dividing most of the issues with substance misuse into two main categories. The focus of this article is to relay information regarding health and mental problems due to substance abuse.
Mental disorders
With chronic substance use, there are several mental illnesses that may arise. These conditions have been identified by associations that are geared towards these types of scenarios. Here are some of the most common mental disorders associated with substance abuse:
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Anti-social personality disorder
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Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
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Bipolar disorder
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Generalized anxiety disorder
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Manic depression
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Obsessive compulsive disorder
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Post-traumatic stress disorder
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Schizophrenia
Note that not all of these mental disorders or problems can manifest themselves by short or even long term misuse of legal and illegal chemicals. Obviously, there are some such as antisocial personality disorder that have a higher frequency rate when related to misuse of alcohol and other mild and not so mild drugs such as speed and heroin, although cannabis does tend to make users just feel tired and relaxed, but the effects are different from one person to another and it is widely documented that cannabis can be a major contributing factor to the steep rise in paranoid schizophrenia.
Among all the different disorders and conditions mentioned above, there is usually a chronological order when it comes to appearance or manifestation. There are cases where people suffering from undiagnosed mental illnesses take specific drugs in order to alleviate their condition. This may be considered as a case of self-medication. This is done by the patient in order to alleviate the different symptoms that come with their illness.
There are also cases where the abuse of drugs causes the mental illness. The overuse of certain medications, legal mind altering drugs such as alcohol and outlawed drugs such as heroin becomes the reason why these patients start exhibiting mental illnesses. These drugs can produce long term clinical effects that can will adversely affect the normal function of the brain. Chronic overuse or indulgence is a major concern especially because it can have a detrimental effect on the social and cognitive aspects of a person’s life.
Health Disorders
As for the health issues concerning substance abuse, it can have serious effects on different organ systems of the body. Here are some of the common issues and effects of using drugs to excess on the body in relation to health:
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Arrythmia or irregularity in the beating of the heart
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Changes in the blood pressure
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Heart failure
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Headache
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Brain damage
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Liver damage
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Reproductive problems such as infertility
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Contracting various diseases such as HIV and AIDS
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Kidney damage
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Increased sweating
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Sleeplessness or insomnia
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Poor eyesight or blurred vision
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Nausea
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Decreased or lack of appetite
As you can see there are many general effects of substance abuse on the body. If you want to go into more detail, you should consider looking at the specific effects of each drug on the body.
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