We must recognize addiction isn’t just a behavioural issue—it’s a mental illness.
Substance use stimulates profound changes within the brain—it alters the operation of neurotransmitters by interfering with the way neurons send, receive, and process signals.
Substance use stimulates surges of dopamine and serotonin, mimicking reward and causing the brain to associate consumption with positive emotional and physiological sensations. The brain comes to crave this activation of its reward system, initiating a vicious cycle of seeking and consuming more substances.
In the case of addiction, this cycle isn’t vulnerable to fears of its relational consequences, nor the negative impact substance use has on the mental and physical health of the individual. Addiction is often characterized by feeling unable to detach oneself from this cycle of substance abuse to the point it causes substantial harm.
Just looking at an individual suffering from addiction can’t provide an understanding of this internal physiological struggle. The most visible aspect of addiction is the destructive behaviour it often prompts in its victims. Consequently—and unfortunately—many people’s perceptions of and feelings about addiction are coloured by their negative thoughts about these behaviours.
The cognitive dissonance involved in addiction—such as when an affected individual persists in their use of a substance despite wanting to quell the harm their consumption causes their loved ones—echoes thought patterns characteristic of many recognized mental disorders.
The overlap between addiction and mental health disorders is gravely underacknowledged, and the relationship may go both ways.
Studies have found people suffering from mental disorders, such as anxiety, depression, or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), may use drugs or alcohol to self medicate. Just as addiction is a mental illness, poor mental health and mental illness are risk factors for addiction.
Popularizing the understanding of addiction’s neurobiological roots and co-occurrence with mental health issues strongly clarifies and endorses its classification as a mental health disorder, rather than a simple behavioural problem. Considering addiction as a mental illness challenges the stigma around it and can encourage more compassion for its sufferers.
The co-occurrence of addiction with mental health disorders and mental illnesses intensifies the complexity of treatment for addiction, demanding approaches that integrate mental health care. Understanding addiction to be a mental health complication is therefore not only necessary for the promotion of empathy, but for its adequate treatment.
When thinking about addiction, let’s try to look beyond simplistic judgments and address it holistically and compassionately.
Ali is a second-year mathematics student and The Journal’s Graphics Editor.
Tags
addiction, Mental health, Mental Illness
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