MENTAL ILLNESS AND DRUG ADDICTION
Depression and some
other mental illnesses also occur more frequently in substance users. Did the drugs cause the problem,
or did the problem cause the drug use?
Once someone's life has become complicated by substance addiction, the turmoil that has been created
can certainly contribute to the
development of depression. This fact makes it very difficult to understand the
complicated relationship between mental illness and drug addiction. However, some recovering addicts will
describe an opposite cycle: that
their anxious or depressed mood led them to drink or to use other substances to deal with feelings of
inadequacy or despair. Then, as time passed and substance use became more
frequent, the substance use became the dominant problem. This
"self-medication" process probably contributes to addiction in many people.
