Mental health decline can have several causes. It can be the result of physical or emotional trauma, exposure to violence, or even just the stresses of daily life. Whatever the reason, though, declining mental health can lead you to drug addiction.
Addiction is a disease that affects both your mind and your body. When you’re struggling with addiction, your brain chemistry changes, making it difficult to resist the urge to use drugs. At the same time, your body becomes dependent on drugs, and you may experience withdrawal symptoms if you try to quit.
Let’s explore why declining mental health can lead you to drug addiction.
Self-medicate
If you’re struggling with depression, anxiety, or other mental health issues, you may turn to drugs in an attempt to self-medicate. Often, the fast-acting nature of drugs provides people with quick relief.
While drug use can provide temporary relief from your symptoms, it’s not a long-term solution. In fact, using drugs can actually make your mental health problems worse.
Cope with trauma
If you’ve experienced a traumatic event, such as sexual abuse or the death of a loved one, you may be more likely to turn to drugs in an attempt to cope with your pain. Drugs can help numb the hurt and make it easier to cope with your trauma.
However, using drugs can also make it more difficult to process your emotions and reach a point of healing. Drugs can mask your trauma, and it would be better to seek healthy ways to address it.
Numb your emotions
Similar to dealing with trauma, if you’re struggling to deal with difficult emotions, such as sadness, anger, or guilt, you may turn to drugs as a way to numb yourself. Drugs can help you escape your emotions, even if only for a short time.
Numbing your emotions with drugs is not a healthy solution. It’s important to find healthy ways to deal with your emotions. Otherwise, they may come out in destructive ways.
When you’re overwhelmed
The demands of work, school, and life, in general, can be overwhelming. If you’re struggling to keep up, you may turn to drugs as a way to escape the pressure. Drugs can provide an escape from reality, even if it’s only temporary.
But using drugs is not a healthy way to cope with stress. In fact, it can make your stress worse and lead to even more problems. This can create a vicious cycle where you need to use more drugs to deal with your increased stress.
Cope with loneliness
Loneliness is a common emotion, but it can be especially difficult to deal with if you’re struggling with mental health issues. If you feel like you don’t have anyone to turn to, you may turn to drugs as a way to cope.
Using drugs to cope with loneliness can make these feelings increase. Instead of making attempts to interact with others, you might further isolate yourself by resorting to using drugs to manage your loneliness.
Seeking escapism
Reality can often be tough to deal with, especially if you’re struggling with work, health, school, or relationship issues. If you’re struggling in your life, you may turn to drugs as a way to escape your problems. Drugs can provide an escape from reality, even if it’s only temporary.
Using drugs to escape reality doesn’t do you much in the long run. Your problems will still be there, even if you try to escape. You may even find yourself in a position where you need to do harder drugs even further to escape reality.
Declining mental health can make you more susceptible to drug addiction. If you’re struggling with mental health issues or drug addiction, it’s important to seek help from a professional. They can help you find healthy ways to cope with your emotions and stress. Drug addiction treatment can also help you manage your mental health issues and avoid relapse.
Recovery from mental health issues is possible. It’s hard, but with time and effort, you can see improvements in your mental health.
Photo by Eric Ward on Unsplash
Author: Mandy Kloppers
Mandy is a qualified therapist who treats depression, anxiety, OCD, PTSD, trauma, and many other types of mental health issues. She provides online therapy around the world for those needing support and also provides relationship counselling.
