Addiction and Mental Health

Addiction and Mental Health

When we hear of addiction, most of us tend to refer instantly to someone with no job and lack of education; maybe parents abandoned them and other odd ideas related to addiction. The truth is that anyone can become addicted. A person does not have to be poor or uneducated or from criminal family background. Addiction can come from a well-reputed physician giving you a prescription for some form of narcotic medication, and you can start falling into the trap of drug abuse.

In many cases, a person suffering from a physical injury can be prescribed painkillers during recovery. It can result in and has resulted in a significant number of people becoming addicted to pain suppressors. That can include Tylenol, Percocet, Oxycodone, Fentanyl, and even morphine; in any case, the person is now a drug addiction victim.

But what about emotional distress, say a person loses a family member to some illness, or a girlfriend breaks your trust. It can be as simple as being laughed at by others. In any case, you may feel emotional pain or mental stress that causes unwanted emotions or feelings. These, too, are painful; one is emotional; the other is physical, but both are painful. Many adults will offer a drink to cope with the loss of a loved one. In other cases, a “good friend” will provide drugs to forget about the breakup of a love relationship gone bad.

Now in either circumstance, physical or emotional, the medication or drug will suppress the pain. It might temporarily mask the pain until prescription medication, drug or alcohol wears off. Then the unwanted feeling returns, so more drugs are taken, but now the body is accustomed to the dosage, so larger doses are needed, and so begins the cycle of addiction.

You did not want to become an addict. You may have been a star ballplayer with a bad ankle now addicted to painkillers. You could also be a well established legal secretary with a horrible relationship with your boyfriend and discover that cocaine with the girls brought relief for that one terrible night. Still, just like the ballplayer, the drug wears off, and you need more of that drug to cope.

Very rarely is someone born a drug addict. You become addicted because of some unwanted feelings, physical pain, or painful emotion that had no immediate solution, and drugs brought some relief to the issue for you. But the initial problem has now turned into an addiction problem, and the consequences of addiction are far more devastating than the original pain received. Family members, co-workers, and friends are now worried and concerned about your health. You start dropping your life standards, become less responsible, don’t care anymore, be late, tired all the time, no energy unless you have a drink or a high to get the day going, etc. But this can change. Life without drugs and alcohol is possible; happiness and solutions are available.

Don’t wait until your mental health has spiralled into drug induce psychosis or you find yourself on the table of the ER or in front of a judge, get help now. If you know someone with this situation, call us for assistance in resolving their addiction, a counsellor is waiting to take your call.