A person's mental health refers to his physical and emotional condition. World mental health causes severe problems that affect not only mental health but also disrupt physical activities. Drugs and alcohol misuse is a significant cause of mental illness. Their short term usage may initially bring some kind of pleasure, but in the long term, they are relatively toxic. 

And when you have both the substance of the use and the mental health problem, you badly fail to perform your responsibilities and obligations as well as manage your personal and professional life. A report published in the journal of American medical association says the following:

  • About 50% of individuals suffering from mental issues are drug users.
  • 37% of all the alcohol consumers and 53% of substance consumers go through severe mental illness once in their life.
  • Of all the people suffering from different health issues, 29% are those who overuse legal or illegal drugs.
  • Black tar heroin, marijuana, meth, and opium are considered significant intoxicants that led to severe mental disorders. About 60% of the patients I was suffering from mental health problems due to drug overuse consume one of these substances.

How does substance overuse affect your brain activity?

The brain is the most complex body organ which is responsible for regulating all the body activities by communicating various systems. Any problem with the brain can interfere with information processing and can lead to many health problems. It may cause memory loss, impaired learning, and lack of self-control.

The doctors prescribe some drugs like Adderall in certain conditions, as it is safe to consume according to the prescription. It increases the brain activity, boosts up the memory, and energizes the user depending upon how long Adderall is in the system. As soon as its effect vanishes, the body starts coming back to normal condition. But if the user consumes it daily, it can lead to memor

y loss and unable the user to think or process. 

In short, it does not matter if you consume prescribed or the street substance; overuse of both is harmful to your mental health. A glimpse of these problems is given below;

Drugs lead to unpredictable mood swings. The overuse results in a lack of tolerance, anger, anxiety, and depression. It also reduces the serotonin levels and disturbs the document levels in the body, which affects the sleep and regular activities, causing changes to the individual's mood. 

  • Self-harm and suicidal thoughts

Alcohol and drug misuse lead to psychological problems. Users fail to deal with tough situations and failures & whenever it happens; they try to harm themselves. They also go through hallucinations, delusions, and disturb thoughts. In Europe, 400 out of 100,00 drug users ham themselves, whereas 188 of them commit suicide.

  • Memory loss

Sometimes they result in blackouts and short term memory loss. This happens when someone drinks too much. In some time, people are unable to read, let your memory of whatever happened to them while they were drunk. It does not mean that your brain cells associated with consciousness are damaged, but if the same situation continues for a long time, they may be damaged permanently.

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