Mental Health and Substance Misuse

This essay highlights the long-term and short term consequences of substance misuse and how the people of UK are getting mentally affected by it. It also throws light on the stigmatization of such substance misuse people and how it is affecting them negatively.

Running head: MENTAL HEALTH AND SUBSTANCE MISUSE
Mental Health and Substance Misuse
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Introduction
According to the reports published in The Guardian (2015), more than 15 million
people in UK that on nearly out of three adults use illegal drugs. Moreover, the proportion of
the population who have ever consumed drugs is also increasing over time. There is no
gender variability in the consumption of drug in UK. As per the survey conducted by
Observer, 31% of drug users in UK belong under the age group of 16 to 24 years however,
the higher number of drug users belongs to under the age group of 35 to 44 years (47%). The
following essay aims to highlight the long-term and short term consequences of substance
misuse and how the people of UK are getting mentally affected by it. The report also plans to
throw light on the stigmatization of such substance misuse people and how it is affecting
them negatively. Towards the end the report will provide a brief recommendation in order to
overcome the problem.
Classification of Drugs in UK
In UK, the illegal drugs are sub-divided into three different categories namely class A,
B and C. the classification is based on the controlled analysis of Misuse of Drugs Act 1971
and the allocation against any one class is based on the harm it cause to the mankind. The
drugs which belong to class A category attract most serious punishments along with
penalties. Under the Misuse of the Drugs Act, it is a punishable offence to unlawfully possess
a controlled drug along with taking intent to supply the same. The Misuse of Drugs Act also
condemns unlawful supply of any controlled drug and providing premises for the use of such
controlled drugs (National Institute of Health 2017).

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Figure: Drug Classification in UK
(Source: Alert Toxicology UK 2017)
Legal and illegal substances and forms of consumption
According to the National Institute of Health UK (2017), legal drugs are those drugs
which are used as medicines like pain-killer, anti-depressant, stimulants, suppressants and
drugs for central nervous system. However, these drugs are also frequently misused for
example dextromethrophan (DXM) an over-the-counter medicine is use as cough suppressant
but DXM are at times swallowed directly or administered via mixing with soda, a process
known as robo-tripping" or "skittling. They are also injected directly intravenously or are
taken in combination with alcohol or marijuana.
According to the reports published in The Guardian, the illegal drugs which are
popular in UK are crack cocaine, cocaine, diamorphine, ecstasy (MDMA), heroin, LSD,
magic mushrooms. The route of drug administration is the method that is employed in order
to take the drug inside the body. Smoking is the common route of drug administration and the

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drugs administered via smoking include marihuana, opium, cocaine, cannabis, crack, heroine
and tobacco. Snorting of drugs or insufflations is another mode commonly used by the drug
addicts for the administration of drugs inside the body. Heroin, cocaine, amphetamines and
ecstasy are inhaled via the process of snorting. Recently drug is injected directly inside the
body via the use syringe the methods include subcutaneous, intravenous and intramuscular.
Injection is regarded as the most dangerous mode of drug administration as it hits the body
within a fraction of seconds. Some drugs are also taken orally like chewing of tobacco.
Impact of short-term and long-term intoxication of substances on mental and physical health
According to Hall and Degenhardt (2014), regular intake of drugs increases
dependence syndrome and leads to the generation of impaired respiratory function,
cardiovascular complications, negative effects on the adolescent psychological development,
mental health disease and residual cognitive impairment. Volkow et al. (2014) further opined
that young people without cardiovascular risk may develop complex cardiac problems in
long-term upon regular use of drug. Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) a major component of
cannabis impairs the normal functioning of the mitochondrial respiratory chain and thereby
increasing the concentration of reactive oxygen species within the body and increasing the
vulnerability of stroke (Volkow et al.2014). Use of drugs such as cocaine can cast detrimental
effects upon the pregnant women for example cocaine, it a regarded as a potential teratogen.
The reports published by Zhang and Tantibanchachai (2013), revealed that cocaine use
during pregnancy increases several obstetric complications like spontaneous abortion,
premature delivery or uterine rupture. As per a report published in The British Journal of
Psychiatry, short term cannabis intake cause short-term symptoms like depersonalisation,
irrational panic, feeling of loss of control a fear of dying or paranoia. Acute or large doses of
cannabis cause organic psychosis along with confusion and hallucination.

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Social issue that contribute to misuse
According to Livingston et al. (2012), substance misuse disorders are extremely
stigmatised in comparison to other health conditions. Stigma is often employed as a tool to
discourage and marginalised substance misuse which in turn has a collateral consequences of
devaluing and marginalizing social groups. Attitude of stigmatizing against specific
mannerism (substance misuse during pregnancy) and group (injection of illegal drugs) are
globally accepted and culturally endorsed. Livingston et al. (2012) have further opined that
reducing the stigma of substance misuse may generate adverse outcomes like increase rate of
drug use among youth and reducing motivation to vouch help among drug addicts. Substance
use disorders are mostly treated as criminal offense than that of adverse health concern. This
projection of criminal offense exacerbates stigma and elicits exclusionary processes that
strengthens the marginalisation of addicted people. Thus social processes which are generated
to restrict substance abuse in turn contribute to its continuance (Livingston et al. 2012).
Dual term diagnosis in relation to substance misuse and mental health
When dual diagnosis comes into action, it is imperative that the treatment addresses
both the substance abuse and mental health complications. If only single aspect is addressed,
original recovery cannot be achieved on contrary recurrence is likely to happen when the
basic symptoms of the untreated disorders accelerates. An optimised treatment for substance
misuse and mental illness signifies one-on-one therapy. This therapy occurs in a face-to-face
format with a psychiatrist who has experienced in tackling challenges associated with
addiction and mental health. Medication can be employed to manage several psychiatric
disorders. It is also used to reduce the withdrawal symptoms associated which the
detoxification process. Behavioural modification therapies and experiential treatments can

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accelerate a therapy regime. This will help to alter the thoughts and behaviours (Drake et al.
2001).
Evaluation of concept of harm reduction with the context of substance misuse
Harm reduction is described as a process directed towards individuals with an aim to
reduce the self-harm elicited in response to drug addiction. Harm reduction approaches
decreases mortality and morbidity associated with complex mental health behaviours. Harm
reduction is achieved mostly via counselling and with reducing the withdrawal symptoms and
engaging the drug misused individuals into some group activities (Leslie 2008).
Evaluation of methods of working people who misuse substances
Stigmatizing behaviour of healthcare practitioners towards people with substance
misuse negatively affects the health care industry and leads to avoidance of treatment or
interruption during disease relapse (van Boekel et al. 2015). Moreover, negative attitudes of
the healthcare professionals towards the patients with substance misuse, causes poor
communication between the nurse or doctors and patients. This lack of communication
diminishes therapeutic alliance causing diagnostic overshadowing. Moreover, negative
attitudes of the healthcare professionals have a significant adverse effect on the
empowerment of the patients and as a result, patient suffers from poor-self-esteem(van
Boekel et al. 2015).
Exploring how attitudes and approaches of dependency change over time
The increase of the drug dependence has increased with time. For example, pregabalin
and gabapentin are licensed in UK for the treatment of neuropathic pain and epilepsy. In UK,
pregabalin is also used for treating anxiety disorder. Dependence on supratherapeutic doses
has increased in specific settings like prisons. This is because the drug has an ability to

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generate euphoria along with a sensation of relaxation. Some users’ have also reported
stimulant effect. On the other hand, it can also be stated that despite the success with the
reduction in the number of young people addicted to heroin, the mortality and morbidity and
long-term needs of an ageing cohort with inclination on heroine highlights that therapy is
difficult and proper coordination between services is important (Department of Health UK
2017).
Examining the role to voluntary sector in relation to substance misuse
National Institute of Health (NIH) is willing to take active efforts to decrease the
group of population using illegal drugs while increasing the group of people who has
successfully recovered from drug abuse. NIH is supporting children during the initial years,
preventing them to indulge in drug misuse during the later stages of their life. Through
Business Rates Retention Scheme, NIH has funded £2 billion to local councils of UK in
between 2014 to 2015 in order to use the money to sponsor special programs to prevent
young people from drug misuse. NIH has also extended its hands to help adults to recover
from drug dependence while helping offenders to get proper rehabilitation treatment.
National Crime Agency is also helping NIH to take national and international efforts to
reduce drug supply.
Conclusion
Drug abuse is a criminal offense in UK. Regular intake of illegal drugs and high level
intake of legal drugs cause significant long-term and short term-effect along with mental
health complications. Moreover from the above discussion it can also be seen that there exists
a stigmatization against these people in the society which prevent substance abuse people
from the process of speedy recovery. The healthcare professionals also have certain negative
feelings against this particular group of population which delays the overall recovery and

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proper treatment. Thus more specific education along with proper training of the healthcare
professionals are required to refine the attitude of these healthcare professionals towards the
patients with substance misuse.

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