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Drugs and mental health
Messing with brain chemicals has its effects.
When we think of mental health we often think of illnesses like depression or schizophrenia. However there is more to mental health than this. Mental health also refers to the general state of your mind; so you can have positive mental health or negative mental health, even if you are generally coping well.
It’s normal to have good days and bad days and to feel negative sometimes. Certain drugs (even prescription ones) can impact your mental health also, so it is wise to be informed about this.
Psychoactive drugs (heroin, cannabis, alcohol, ecstasy) affect your mood. This can create positive feelings in one person and negative feelings in another. It can also create positive feelings in the short term, but bad ones in the long term. For example, cannabis makes most people feel relaxed and zen; but long term usage may contribute to depression or other mental ill health, according to some studies.
Of course, the mood affects is one of the main reasons why people take drugs. However you need to figure out if the short term buzz is worth it to you. If you have a tendency to depression or a family history of it for example, you may not do well with alcohol or illegal drugs.
It’s a complex issue and everyone reacts differently to drugs. So drugs.ie has recently put up a factsheet on the link between drugs and mental health. Just click here to check it out. Drugs.ie also has a range of factsheets on all aspects of drugs and alcohol.
Further Information:
www.drugs.ie
