What is the correlation with mental illness and drug abuse?

Ellen Rehm

Mental illness is very common among drug addicts. This relationship between mental illness and drugs is so strong that people believe drugs cause the illness, which is not true in most cases. People who have mental illness usually start using drugs to self medicate. These people do not realize that using drugs to ignore their mental illness will only cause many more problems.

According to the Journal of American Medical Association, "50 percent of the people who have a severe mental condition also have a substance abuse problem." JAMA also found that "37 percent of alcoholics have a mental illness, as do 53 percent of drug addicts." These correlations are so strong that the relationship between mental health and drug abuse is quite relevant. Only experimenting with drugs can be severe to a mental health patient and lead to dependency. People with mental disorders are more sensitive to the substance that they abuse, which makes them more affected than others affected.

Source: Coalition Against Drug Abuse. Mental Health and Drug Abuse. 2013. Retrieved from http://drugabuse.com/library/mental-health-and-drug-abuse/