Substance Abuse And Mental Health Problems

A difficult challenge to the juvenile justice system and child welfare system is working with adolescents with comorbid difficulties, causing these adolescents to becoming at risk for incarceration and involvement with the juvenile and adult justice system. The juvenile justice system appears to be having a challenging time in determining how to respond and treat adolescents with mental health and substance use. "Many

According to the Diagnostic Statistic Manual 5 (DSM-5) substance use disorder is when the individual has a dependency on alcohol or drug, followed by penetrating craving and antisocial behavior to acquire the substance. The terms substance abuse and substance dependence refer to substance use disorder, which has been separated into three classifications as follows

Substance use disorder is defined as being a pattern of maladaptive behaviors and reactions brought about by repeated use of a substance, sometimes also including tolerance for the substance and withdrawal reactions. (pg. 294). The individual I will be talking about for the project is someone that came to crave a particular substance and rely on it every day. Their choice to devote so much of their time to their substance caused issues between their family and friends. Both family and friends started to drift away from this individual. It was almost like all they literally cared about was making sure that they got their substance. Their choice of substance was alcohol. The individual had built up a tolerance where if there was a longer period of time where they would have to go without they would start to feel anxious and get sweaty, that was their withdrawal reactions exposed. A lot of people that have alcohol use disorder specifically start off by developing their drinking problem in there young college years. It is the prime time to be pressured by your peers to try and drink until you puke your cuts out. For other individuals they are so lucky and it actually can be seen as being disorder that is hereditary. For the specific individual that I am talking about for this paper he developed it because a majority of his dad’s side of the family had alcohol use disorder. This individual new the odds were against him, but still fell into the same steps his father’s side did.

There is a wealth of literature about the relationship between substance use and mental illness. Bahorik, Newhill, and Eack (2013) reported that individuals who have a mental illness have a higher prevalence rate of substance use than individuals who do not have a mental illness. Fluery, Grenier, Bamvita, Perreault, and Caron (2014) cite that at least one half of people who develop a substance abuse problem report being diagnosed with a co-occuring mental disorder. There is an abundance of information in the field that provides support for the assertion that there are high rates of comorbidity, which leads into the question of why the two constructs are often found together. Specific factors such as demographics, types of mental illness and motivation for engaging in substance use are considered. Ratnasingham et al. (2013) conducted a study in Ontario on the burden of mental illness and found that the burden of living with comorbid substance use and mental illness increases the risk of early mortality and decreases overall quality of life, so much so that the consequence of living with each ailment is greater than the consequences of the four most common types of cancer and all other infectious diseases. The primary motivation for substance abuse is to cope with psychological distress or negative emotions stemming from

Just as complex as the trillions of cells that keep our bodies functioning are the effects and correlations of mental health and substance use disorders. The effect of substance use disorder and psychiatric illnesses impact individuals biologically, psychologically, and sociologically, however, the correlation among mental illnesses and substance use disorders are not clearly defined. Due to a lack of knowledge of substance use as a disorder and the correlation with mental health, the individuals who suffer from these conditions are marginalized and pushed to tattered edges of their social strata. Mental health and substance use disorder can create devastating effects on the individuals as well as their micro, meso, exo, and macrosystems, which perpetuate the negative effects and realities of these individuals. In our current times with the mass amount of substance use the plagues our society, and the continued high volume of mental health, it is critical that we gain an understanding of the correlation between mental health and substance use disorders to better treat and support those whose realties are filled with unknown pain and exile. Mental health and substance use disorder and their affects are clearly related, however, the question that remains is whether or not substance use disorders can create the manifestation of mental illnesses?

According to UAB's health website, "Substance abuse is used to describe a pattern of substance (drug) use leading to significant problems or distress such as failure to attend work/school, substance use in dangerous situations (driving a car), substance-related legal problems, or continued substance use that interferes with friendships and or family relationships. Substance abuse, as a disorder, refers to the abuse of illegal substances or the abusive use of legal substances. Alcohol is the most common legal drug of abuse."

Researchers have found that a link exists between mental illness and substance abuse, which may have complications on the actual treatment for mental illness. It is very important for the addiction counselor to properly understand both the differences between acute primary psychiatric disorders and any underlying psychiatric symptoms, caused by alcohol and other drugs. Sometimes the addiction needs to be treated first in order for the mental illness to be properly identified and successfully treated. Also addiction counselors need to understand mental health disorder treatments. Clients with co-occurring substance abuse and mental health illness problems may benefit from substance abuse treatments, even those with serious mental health symptoms. This can set the foundation for the addiction counselor to provide a good integrated treatment strategy which can offer a lower relapse rate and achieve long term abstinence. When a counselor is a assessing a client, the client must understand how a co-occurring disorder may effect there addiction. Counselors must perform a thorough assessment in order to identify the proper criteria for each diagnosis that is identified.

The information I gathered from the research was that the major factors that contribute to homelessness are mental illness, drug and alcohol abuse. I also learned that many individuals need to develop skills and seek treatment to learn how to break the patterns which lead to cyclical or generational homelessness (Morris, 1997).

Substance abuse and mental health issues affect millions of adolescents and adults in the United States. An estimated 24.6 million individuals aged 12 or older were current illicit drug users in 2013; including 2.2 million adolescents aged 12 to 17. In 2013, 60.1 million individuals aged 12 or older were past month binge drinkers, including 1.6 million adolescents. In Kansas, the percentage of people over the age of 18 with mental illnesses is about 18.2% which is similar to the national average (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality, 2014).

The purpose of this literature review is to investigate methods for decrease recidivism among formerly jailed population who have mental illness or substance abuse problems. The first section of this literature review explores programs on help people with mental illness or substance abuse, the second section discusses finding health care for them and lastly, the third section reviews effective discharge planning.

Substance use is very common among people diagnosed with mental illness. This paper will examine the results of four studies by Shi (2014) and by Ortiz-Gomez et al. (2014), Marmorstien (2010) and Green et al. All of these studies examine substance use among individuals diagnosed with depression.

In 2013, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (2014), approximately 8.2 percent of the United States’ population age 12 years or older, 21.6 million persons, were classified with substance abuse or dependence. Longer patient treatment stays benefits patients and society; however, against medical advice rates for substance abuse treatment facilities are high despite the association between positive outcomes and treatment for substance users (Kosanke, 2000). The change of behaviors exhibited by substance users is essential and key for positive treatment outcomes (Mallows, 2014). The lack of substance abusers’ behavioral changes effects the completion rates of treatment facilities

Adolescence is the period when children socially grow and develop into adults. It is also during this time, that many children start to experiment with drugs and alcohol. According to Dictionary.com, substance abuse is “long-term, pathological use of alcohol or drugs, characterized by daily intoxication, inability to reduce consumption, and impairment in social or occupational functioning; broadly, alcohol or drug addiction.” While many adolescents may just experiment, addiction and abuse of substances is a very real possibility. Sharma found that most drug and alcohol users began using between the ages of fifteen and eighteen. The most common reasons given to them for initiation were peer influence, curiosity, and sense of growth (2015).

It is important to define fine lines among the terms mainly considered as synonyms with substance use. The substance use describes the occasional usage of the illicit drug or consuming alcohol, which has the potential to get converted into drug addiction if the person starts using illegal drugs/substances regularly (8). So it is relatively easy to link substance use with the substance abuse that further lead to addiction, some time described as substance dependency (9). From psychological and sociocultural perspectives the substance use is the mother of further issue associated improper use of drugs and other products harming people lives.

Researchers state that almost half of individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia in the United States also self-medicate with alcohol and other drugs (Elements Behavioral Health, 2014). This is suggested due to individuals attempting to lessen the symptoms of their disorder. As discussed previously symptoms can include hearing and seeing things that others don’t hear or see, problems falling asleep or staying asleep and problems with concentration and memory. In an effort to lessen these symptoms alcohol and other drugs are used to induce sleep (NIMH, 2014). Research suggests that approximately fifty percent of individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia have a co-occurring substance abuse disorder. The most common used are alcohol, marijuana and tobacco (Green, Drake, Brunette & Noordsy, 2007) (Dube, 2012).