Why Addiction Can Lead to Poor Mental Health

When addiction takes hold, it often plunges individuals into a downward spiral that results in poor mental health. Understanding how addiction can degrade mental wellbeing is important for those struggling with addictive disorders and their loved ones who want to help.

Addiction Changes Brain Chemistry

One of the main reasons why addiction can lead to poor mental health is because prolonged substance abuse actually changes the chemistry of the brain. When addictive drugs are consumed, they flood the brain’s reward center with dopamine. Over time, the brain adapts to the dopamine surges by producing less of it or becoming less responsive to it. This leads to a phenomenon called tolerance, where more of the drug is needed to achieve the same high. It also causes powerful cravings when the drug wears off. These brain changes make it very difficult to stop using the addictive substance. 

This is why rehabs offer mental health treatment in addition to standard addiction treatment because they recognize that addressing both mental health and addiction is crucial for recovery. 

Addiction Disrupts Healthy Coping Mechanisms

People often turn to drugs or alcohol as a way to cope with emotional distress or trauma. The problem is that addiction disrupts the brain’s natural ability to cope. People who struggle with addiction often have underlying mental health issues like depression, anxiety or post-traumatic stress disorder. Instead of learning healthy coping mechanisms, addiction provides immediate escapism. This means that when addiction spirals out of control, people are left extremely vulnerable to mental health problems without the ability to cope or self-soothe in healthy ways.

Addiction Isolates People from Loved Ones

Addiction can lead to declining mental health by isolating people from family and friends. As addiction becomes more severe, people’s ability to function at work or school deteriorates. Their focus centers more and more on accessing and using their preferred substance. They abandon previously enjoyed hobbies and social activities. Over time, relationships become strained or are lost entirely, leaving the addicted person lonely and detached from previously supportive loved ones. This isolation and loss of intimacy often precipitates conditions like depression.

Addiction Depletes Mental Resources

When consumed by the daily cycle of securing access to the addictive substance, using it, and recovering from its effects, people in addiction lose bandwidth to care for their mental health. Basic self-care falls by the wayside. Addicted individuals may stop taking medications properly, paying bills on time, eating nutritious foods, engaging in physical activity, and following other positive routines. This depletion of mental resources takes a cumulative toll, leaving addicted people vulnerable to anxiety, depression, paranoia and disordered thinking.

Addiction can wreak havoc on mental health through biochemical changes in the brain, disruption of healthy coping mechanisms, damaged relationships and the sacrificing of positive routines and self-care. Breaking the cycle of addiction is essential for allowing normal brain functioning to resume and mental well-being to be regained. But it takes knowledge, social support and often professional treatment.

With proper help, those in the depths of addiction can recover and rebuild mentally, physically and spiritually.