Mental Illness And Substance Abuse Essay

A common result of a person feeling like they have to change something about their life is turning to drugs. This is because drugs can give the person a sensation of escape from reality, but it is really only a temporary feeling. The addiction of escape can drive someone to continuously abuse drugs in order to make them feel in control of the thing they originally wanted to change. Likewise, when someone has a mental illness the symptoms may drive them to self medicate in order to soothe their imperfections. Studies have shown that there is a connection between substance abuse and mental illness. It is uncertain how someone can extract a substance abuse problem or a mental illness in both circumstances there is a trend of biological and environmental …show more content…
For example, kids may grow up in a rough neighborhood and be exposed to all types of drugs being used around them. When the abuse is happening in one 's community, it may seem like it 's normal, but those in the community are unaware of how they may be looked down upon because of it. This is supported by an article written in connection to the University of Utah that states that “Statistics show that if a person 's community has favorable attitudes toward drug use,... their [personal] risk is increased.” likewise “if parents have favorable attitudes towards drug use or use drugs themselves, often their children will be more likely to abuse drugs” (Lundberg). This proves that because they don 't know any different ways, drug abuse is easily contracted. Other things like peer pressure can factor into someone abusing the use of drugs. According to Dr. Lundberg, peer pressure is the “...single biggest contributing factor to drug abuse risk…” When trying to fit in people may do things that can ultimately affect their lives in the long run, and by using drugs there is the chance of addiction. Tracing back substance abuse problems to community is contrasted by environmental factors causing mental