Impact of Drugs and Alcohol on Mental Health

This critical literature review explores the impact of drugs and alcohol on mental health, including issues such as depression, anxiety, and aggression. It examines the correlation between substance abuse and mental disorders, as well as the importance of treating both simultaneously. The review also discusses the role of social support and stigma in mental health recovery.

Mental Health Nursing
CRITICAL LITERATURE
REVIEW
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CONTENTS
Contents...........................................................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
LITERATURE REVIEW................................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9
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INTRODUCTION
Literature review is defined as the process of critically reviewing the number of scholarly
paper for developing an understanding about the area of study. This support in developing
current knowledge by including the substantive findings and theoretical as well as
methodological contribution for a particular topic (Hart, 2018). The current report is about the
impact of drugs and alcohol on the mental health of people. The main aim behind conducting
literature review on this topic is because the drug addiction as well as habit of alcohol
consumption has now become a lifestyle of people throughout the world. But the over does of
these substances have a direct influence over the mental health of people by creating several type
of issues such as depression, anxiety, aggression, paranoia, hallucinations and many more. Many
of the people who remain addicted to drugs are also diagnosed to have mental disorder and vice
versa. Therefore, with the help of this study several scholarly papers bad articles are being
reviewed where the study about effect of drug and alcohol consumption has bene found on the
mental condition of people (Han, Compton, Blanco and Colpe, 2017). So this critical review of
articles will support in developing understanding about the impact that drug consumption bring
over the mental health of people and what other consequences it create in context with the help
of people who are addicted to drugs.
For performing this critical review the qualitative articles are consider so that better
understanding about the study area can be represented in detailed manner. This involves use of
several theoretical concepts and practices that help in explaining the things in more clear manner
as well as support in developing better understanding about it.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Mental health is considered to be a way of thinking, happiness, control, contentment,
order and also a sign for living life in a positive manner. When an individual get mentally ill then
it creates several heath issues and also create barrier to happiness as well as self-control. The
substances like alcohol, drugs etc. are also consider to be a major reason behind increasing
mental health issues among people throughout the world which in turn creating issues such as
depression, anxiety, anger etc. On this the Bacolod, M., Cunha, J.M. and Shen, Y.C., 2017,
stated that the alcohol has now become a pervasive part of society and its consumption has
increased which in turn creating a widespread consequence. This increasing consumption of
alcohol is now linking it to numerous adverse outcome like increasing crime rate, death ratio,
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sexual activities, unemployment, poor educational performance, low productivity etc, these all
happen due to increasing consumption of drugs, alcohol, tobacco etc. These things directly affect
the inter and intra personal health and at the same time also affect the mental as well as physical
health of a person. From this literature it has been found that the poor psychological of people
are found to be correlated with the habit of alcohol consumption among people. Other than this it
also found that the depression and suicide ideation among the individual is also found to be
correlated with the consumption of drugs and alcohol as this directly affect the mental condition
of people and make them live into a world where they realise all their pain and emotional stress
back. This in turn further enforce them to get into a big depression and also get an ideation about
suicide to get out of this situation in their way.
On other hand del Pino‐Gutiérrez, A. and et. al., 2017, the people consume drugs or drink
alcohol for lots of reason but it brings up a long-time negative effect on people who consumes it.
The possible long term effect on people who take drug and alcohol mainly includes the
symptoms like feeling to take drug again and again, sudden mood swing, skipping may create
sweaty, shaky or a feeling of sickness, loss of motivation, not able to work properly etc. Hence
is one take drugs for longer duration then it may directly affect the mental health as drug make
people unwell and also more likely to try for harming oneself. These are some of the major
factors that shows the mental illness which is created by the consumption of drugs among
individuals.
Despite of this the Robinson. L., Smith. M., M.A., Saisan. J., and Segal. J., 2020, stated
that there remains a link between the substance abuse and mental health and when an individual
have both then it is known as co occurring disorder or dual diagnosis. Dealing and getting
recover form the substance abuse, drug addiction, alcoholism etc. never remain easy for an
individual and this become more difficult for them when the menta health problems are also
there. Within this co-occurring disorder both the mental health issues as well as drug addiction
have their own symptoms which affect the ability of an individual to have self control, emotional
stability, ability to work and manage their data to day life. But this situation get worsen when co-
occurring disorder started affecting one another. As when the mental health issue goes untreated
then the substance abuse issues make the mental illness more severe for the individual which in
turn make the recovery rate from the mental health issues as well as addiction to drug more
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difficult to get recover. This co-occurrence of substance abuse and mental health issues are very
common problem among people.
From the study published in Journals of American Medical association it has bene found
that around 50 per cent of people that are having a sever issue of mental disorder are the result of
substance abuse to which they go through which affected their mental health. Other than this,
around 37 per cent of people are found to be the alcohol abuser and 53 per cent of drug abusers
have at least a serious mental illness. Hence, I can be said that the substance abuse problem is
there and mental illness get ignored then it become worsen so in order to get an individual
recover from the drug addiction and substance abuse then it is very much essential to treat the
mental illness of individual alongside. So, all it requires right support, treatment and self help
one become able to deal with co-occurring disorder and can be able to get their life on right track
again.
In continuation to this the Robinson. L., Smith. M., M.A., Saisan. J., and Segal. J., 2020,
further stated that eh substance abuse and mental health disorder mainly involve anxiety,
depression etc. which are closely linked to one another but always not ae the direct cause to one
another. Abusing substance like marijuana or methamphetamine causes a prolong psychotic
reactions while on the other hand the alcohol make a symptoms of anxiety and depression.
People mainly intake the alcohol or drugs in order to ease the symptoms of an undiagnosed
mental disorder such as emotions or temporary mood swing. But the self-medication actually
brings side effects and in long run also make it worsen the symptoms of mental health issue.
Since such problem mainly causes due to changes within the genetics, the environment and some
another factors and it remains quite difficult to say that abusing substance directly cause these
types of mental disorder. But when an individual remain at the risk of mental disorder then the
use of alcohol or drugs directly push up the situation at the edge.
In continuation with this the Parker-Grewe, T., 2017, state that substance use disorder
brings up a devastating impact over the individuals, families and communities throughout the
nation. This is so because an disorder of substance of one individual also bring up influence over
other [people surrounded by them as well. As per the study presented by National Centre on
addiction and substance abuse, it has bene found that every seven individual has a substance
disorder which in turn affect the mental health of individual. This required he mental health
professional that they remain intentional regarding the outreach, assessment and intervention
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method while working with people having substance related and addictive disorder. This is so
because individual with the substance use may get suffer from several kind of public and
internalized stigma. But the social support can be a lot much helpful in dealing with this issue as
it support in reducing the stigma which in turn support toward improving the mental health and
well being of the people. As the social stigma around the addiction does not affect solely to
individual who are struggling with the substance use disorder but also have a negative impact
over the members of the recovery community. Other than this the internalized stigma also
remains a serious indicator for the health and well being of an individual while recovering from
the substance use disorder. This is so because its impact over mental health is relatively higher
and the high level of internalized stigma is directly linked with the less hope, self esteem,
empowerment, social support and quality of life. This happens due to stigmatization and
criminalisation of people due to substance use disorder the general public usually try to aim at
maintain social distance from people who are active and recovered from substance use disorder.
Petersen. S., 2017, said that while treating the substance abuse such as addiction of drugs
and alcohol the stigma encounter by the people and social support they get brings up a wide
range of effect over the mental health of that individual. From a study performed within United
kingdom where the survey done over around 64 people that fall under the age group of 18 to 64
years, they answer about the perception they get while getting treatment of the alcohol or drug
abuse. From their responses it has bene identified that the people who perceive more stigma are
tend to have lower sleepy, low self esteem, higher anxiety and depression. But on he other side
the people who get the social support have just an opposite impact on themselves. As the people
who think that they have more social support then they tend to have better sleep, low chances of
depression and anxiety, higher self esteem etc. In other words it can be said that there is a
connect between the perceived stigma, psychological well being and perceived social support.
From this it can be said that the people who get less social support they are likely to seen with
more cognitive issues as they remain in depression, sleepless and low at self esteem. These kind
of mental issues within the individual under recovery from drug abuse not able to respond well to
the treatment. While on the other side people who have more social support they tend to have
better mental health and also likely to recover on timely manner when they have self-esteem,
better sleeping condition etc.
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According to the information provided by Müller, C.P. and Kornhuber, J., 2017, that
psychoactive drugs mainly causes a behavioural deficit and also leads to damage of tissue after
chronic as well as getting a high dose consumption. But when it is to be taken at medium dose
range, the psychoactive drugs effect is found to be beneficial for the organism as low
consumption of alcohol may reduce the chances of anxiety and also have a disinhibitory effect
which is turn provide with a social interaction and also mating the behaviour of humans. Other
than this the nicotine in contrast enhance the attention and improve the cognitive performance.
These effect are consider to be the basis for wide distribution as well as integration of
psychoactive drugs in virtually human culture. This is based on the assumption created within
the drug instrumentalization theory which suggest that there remains a net benefit of
psychoactive drugs which when consumed within the controlled way and in non-addictive
manner as per the neuronal basis then it remain helpful in managing the mental condition.
Addition to this it has been confirmed by the survey as well as clinical studies that the
patients having psychiatric disorder mainly exhibits disproportionately because of high
consumption of a sort of psycho active drug which occur with he schizophrenia patients who
consumes nicotine and the patients having certain type of depression or anxiety disorder mainly
consume alcohol to get relaxed. This brings up negative impact over the mental condition of
people. It was the only theory until the neuroscience neurobiological and neuropharmacology
focuses over the primary conditioned effect of drug over an individual i.e. both positive and
negative impact. So for these two studies has been conducted in which first shows that the drugs
such as alcohol and nicotine mainly support in overcoming deficits which remain specific for the
schizophrenia or depression. Nicotine help in effectively improving the cognitive defects within
the mouse model of schizophrenia resembling about the human condition. Hence this indicates
that the not only the pharmacological effect of the psychoactive drug matters but also the
quantity in which t is consumed also need to be consider within an organism so that the distinct
effect of the drug as per the mental condition of an organism can be detect and treatment can be
provided accordingly and avoided the chances of over dose that may make the situation worse.
These mechanisms unclear with the help of study shows the expanded view of what drive the
consumption as well as instrumentalization of psychoactive drugs which is significantly beyond
the prevailing reinforcement theory. From this study it is clear that more than the rewarding
effect which is usually observed from the study the effectively dive consumption by an organism
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within particular environment and mental state. This is so because when the alcohol consumes
for at minimum amount to relax the mental stress is quite effective and better but when it is
started being over consumed then it increase the mental issue and make the situation more bad to
tackle.
CONCLUSION
From the above performed literature review it has been found that the over consumption
of drugs and alcohol remain harmful to the mental health. This creates several issues such as
depression, anxiety, fear, shivering, uneasy to stay, fever and many more. These issues mainly
arise as when an individual over consumer the drugs and alcohol then it affect the nerves of mind
that make the cognitive functioning disbalanced and individual lose his control over mind which
creates emotional disability. Addition to this if an individual is already suffering from any kind
of mental issue and then over consume drugs then this make the situation more critical and it
become difficult to get back in normal mental condition easily.
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REFERENCES
Books & Journals
Bacolod, M., Cunha, J.M. and Shen, Y.C., 2017. The Impact of Alcohol on Mental Health,
Physical Fitness, and Job Performance (No. w23542). National Bureau of Economic
Research.
del Pino‐Gutiérrez, A. and et. al., 2017. Impact of alcohol consumption on clinical aspects of
gambling disorder. International Journal of Mental Health Nursing, 26(2), pp.121-128.
Han, B., Compton, W.M., Blanco, C. and Colpe, L.J., 2017. Prevalence, treatment, and unmet
treatment needs of US adults with mental health and substance use disorders. Health
affairs, 36(10), pp.1739-1747.
Hart, C., 2018. Doing a literature review: Releasing the research imagination. Sage.
Müller, C.P. and Kornhuber, J., 2017. Biological evidence for paradoxical improvement of
psychiatric disorder symptoms by addictive drugs. Trends in Pharmacological
Sciences, 38(6), pp.501-502.
Parker-Grewe, T., 2017. Fostering Awareness, Inclusivity, and Self-Efficacy: Facing Social and
Internalized Recovery Stigma.
Online
Robinson. L., Smith. M., M.A., Saisan. J., and Segal. J., 2020. Dual Diagnosis: Substance Abuse
and Mental Health. [Online] Available through:<
https://www.helpguide.org/articles/addictions/substance-abuse-and-mental-health.htm>.
Petersen. S., 2017. Stigma and Social Support Matter in Substance Abuse. [Online] Available
through:<https://blog.allpsych.com/stigma-and-social-support-matter-in-substance-
abuse/>
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