Substance Use and Mental Health

Drugs and Alcohol

Did you know that addiction to drugs or alcohol is a mental illness? Substance use disorder changes normal desires and priorities. It changes normal behaviors and interferes with the ability to work, go to school, and to have good relationships with friends and family. In 2014, 20.2 million adults in the U.S. had a substance use disorder and 7.9 million had both a substance use disorder and another mental illness. More than half of the people with both a substance use disorder and another mental illness were men (4.1 million). Having two illnesses at the same time is known as “comorbidity” and it can make treating each disorder more difficult.

Tobacco

Tobacco is another substance associated with addiction and health risks. It can be smoked, chewed or sniffed. However, the most common way people consume tobacco is by smoking cigarettes. Research has shown that adults with a mental illness are more likely to smoke cigarettes than other adults. This is particularly true among people with major depression and those diagnosed with schizophrenia. It is estimated that people with psychiatric disorders purchase approximately 44 percent of all cigarettes sold in the United States. Smoking is believed to be one reason that individuals with mental illnesses have more physical health problems and die younger than people without a mental illness.