Drug & Alcohol Issues

As well as the health impact, using any type of recreational drug – be it nicotine, alcohol or a street drug, will be a problem if it impacts:

  • The way you act: 
    • Less motivated
    • Irritable
    • Anxious
    • Aggressive
  • The way you live your life:
    • Not getting on with people
    • Not having enough money
    • Finding it hard to keep living in the same house
  • Getting in trouble with the law
  • The way you look - for example losing or gaining weight

It can be hard to tell which problem came first – the drugs or the mental illness.

Having a mental illness can make a person more likely to abuse drugs, to make their symptoms feel better in the short-term. Other people have drug problems that may trigger the first symptoms of mental illness. Some drugs cause a condition called drug-induced psychosis which usually passes after a few days. However, if someone has a predisposition to a psychotic illness such as schizophrenia, these drugs may trigger the first episode in what can be a lifelong mental illness.

Using drugs can also make the symptoms of mental illnesses worse and make treatment less effective. Anyone who has, or is vulnerable to, mental illness is therefore strongly discouraged from using drugs.
Psychological counselling can help re-channel damaging thoughts about taking drugs and develop different ways of coping with these thoughts.

If you would like to speak to someone or organise an appointment with one of our experienced psychologists, please contact us today.

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