Half of alcoholics and drug addicts suffer from mental health problems
The charity Turning Point have released a report suggesting that 50% of all alcoholics and drug addicts suffer from mental illness, in the UK at least.
Unfortunately many people still associate the term ‘mental illness’ with considerable stigma – as it may conjure up images of psychosis. However the illnesses referred to here are primarily depression and anxiety.
The main point to consider from this is that alcoholics or drug addicts are struggling with addiction as a way to deal with their mental health. Alcohol or drug use often arises as a means of dealing with emotional problems, then from there they develop into additional problems in their own right.
Many alcoholics wonder why they have such a difficult time with alcohol, when others around them seem to cope with it more easily. The answer is often that they have other mental health problems which are not being dealt with.
The only way to beat alcoholism or addiction then is usually to find other ways to deal with depression or anxiety. Once those are having less of an impact on your emotional life, then the purely ‘habit’ element can be addressed.
Thank you for this resource. I like very much the non judgemental approach to helping us
after many years of drug addiction i am now training to be a counsellor and in my first year of a diploma. i never thought that i would be able to achieve this and withought counselling i dont think i would have had the courage or even energy to try. i am now preparing a workshop for counsellors to try to give them an insight to what the needs of addicts are when seeking counselling. any one who thinks they cant get out of it or feels stuck dont give up. thanks to all who belived in me.
i am trying to find out and understand alcoholism a lot better, i have just recently separated from my husband who is a alcoholic. however, he is very angry all t he time, especially when kids are home.. bashes himself in the head a lot when he is in a rage with me… i am trying to work out if he either has a mental health issue or mental illness or even both!… your reply would be much appreciated
by the way.. he wont get HELP. i am leaving that to him and that now we are a part it is down to him to do it.
Sue
I too left my husband who was an alcoholic and also had addiction issues. In his divorce he finally admitted he had mental health issues which prevented him from working. His mental health issues meant he had lost all grip on reality and as a result went bankrupt also.
I feel for you in that you probably left your husband as a result of his addictions and not because of him per se.
Alcoholism is tougher to fully recover (stay sober) from than heroin addictions. It is linked to many other challenges such as gambling addictions (which my husband had), infertility (which my husband was), domestic violence.
Post divorce you will be looking for answers to his alcoholic behaviour and why you left him, but as Al-Anon said to me ” Remember the three C’s – You are neither the Cause of his alcoholism, you cannot Control his Alcoholism and you cannot cure it”
My Mum is an alcoholic and is very violent towars me and my sister. We are convinced she also has a mental illness
My mum passed away recently and was shocked to find out it was not her liver but lung cancer. Her alcoholism had caused her to suffer with many health problems which masked the cancer symptoms.
I tried on many occasions to get the doctors to section her, but they said she would have to ask for help and admit she had a problem. Which she wouldn’t!
Why do doctors not recognise it as a mental health problem which is endangering their lives? I wish she could have been sectioned so that she could have enjoyed what years she had left, rather then wasting them.
Hello. I am an alcoholic. I was in the hospital last month for withdrawls. The worst thing ever! But yet here I find myself drinking again. I was diagnosed once as bi polar because I tried to kill myself. My dad molested me a lot when I was little. I think that has a lot to do with it. My husband hates my drinking. My teenage kids hate it and my younger ones don’t know better yet. I hate myself for it. I get sick when I don’t drink. I shake. I am scared. I think I am close to death and I am only 34. Help
sonya i have the same problem i need a drink firstt thing in the morning i hate myself for it i dont do it on purpose ive lost every job ive had either through being drunk at work or staff finnding tins of cider hidden im 32 and i feel so deppressed i could top meself i dont eat for days and lie in bed crazy thoughts going through my head only thing takes the edge off it is a drink,so i know the feeling, ive came off it before and been hospitalised several times your not alone bab xx